An accomplished and innovative composer, Shoghi Hayes has written and premiered scores for numerous award-winning films in the United States and Australia. His music is known for its beautiful simplicity which elicits attention to drama and storytelling. Mark Snow, composer of X-Files, describes Shoghi’s music as "remarkably successful" and "an amazing example of how something so remarkably simple . . . works so well and holds your attention." Shoghi’s innate sense of musical storytelling is described as "profoundly effective" by Sean Callery, composer of 24 and Bones, and "refreshing!" by Michael Levine, composer of Cold Case.

 

In 2016, Shoghi's score for the film Private Eye won the Best Sound Score award in the 72 Hour Mind2Movie film competition sponsored by Rochester Movie Makers (now the Rochester Association for Film Arts and Sciences). He was also selected as a featured artist for his composition, "In Hendersight," at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film and Music Festival in Austin, Texas. His music is heard on award-winning short films such as Homesick (2015), On the Wall (2016), The Struggle of Malcolm Young (2016), and Roam (2016) as part of the Rochester Fringe Festival. His most recent works can be heard in various commercials and advertisements by the University of Rochester and the Rochester Institute of Technology.

 

Shoghi received his Bachelor of Music in Jazz and Contemporary Media at the Eastman School of Music. During his years as a student, his progressive jazz/orchestral composition, "Discovery of Twelve", sparked multiple collaborative performances across the Jazz and Strings departments at Eastman. His piece was later selected to be recorded and featured on the historic album, Jazz at Eastman 2014, which became the first of Eastman’s annual Jazz at Eastman record series. In 2016, Shoghi was selected as one of 20 orchestral film composers from around the globe to participate in the prestigious NYU/ASCAP Foundation Film Scoring Workshop, where he studied and worked with renowned composers such as Sean Callery, Mark Snow, Ira Newborn, Michael Levine, John Kaefer, and Mike Patterson. At the Workshop, Shoghi's music was performed by musicians from the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

 

Shoghi has worked closely with Emmy award-winning composer of Blackfish and House of Cards, Jeff Beal, in collaborative film productions with the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). Shoghi continues to collaborate with faculty, accomplished alumni, and students at RIT in cutting-edge film, video game, and commercial productions. He holds a Master of Music degree as a member of the inaugural class of the Beal Institute for Film Music and Contemporary Media at the Eastman School of Music.