Carlos Rafael Rivera

Carlos Rafael Rivera is a Grammy and two-time Emmy winning composer and educator with a multifaceted career in Film, TV, and the Performing Arts. His work includes scores for Netflix’s GODLESS, for which he received a Primetime Emmy, his award-winning score for THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT, for which he won his second Primetime Emmy and first Grammy Award, Universal Pictures’ A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES, starring Liam Neeson, the hit show HACKS for HBO Max, Universal’s CHUPA, as well as the global hit LA REINA DEL SUR 3 for Netflix/Telemundo.  

This past year, Carlos scored the Apple TV series LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY, starring Brie Larson, for which he received EMMY nominations in the Outstanding Music Composition For A Limited Or Anthology Series, Movie Or Special and Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music in addition to Society of Composers and Lyricists (SCL) award for score and won for his main title sequence. Other titles include the Netflix limited series GRISELDA, starring Sofia Vergara; Bleecker Street’s EZRA, starring Bobby Cannavale, Rose Byrne, and Robert DeNiro; as well as his continued collaborations with writer/director Scott Frank on AMC Network’s MONSIEUR SPADE and the Netflix series DEPARTMENT Q. Carlos is nominated as Television Composer of the Year in 2024, an award he previously won in 2021.

A protégé of Randy Newman, Carlos was named TV Composer of the Year by the World Soundtrack Awards in 2021. He serves as Chair and Associate Professor at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music in Media Scoring and Production.

He resides in Miami, Florida.