Biography

Justin Raines holds both Bachelors and Masters degrees in music composition. An award-winning composer, Mr. Raines has had music performed all over the world. Recent examples include the Tad Wind Symphony from Tokyo, Japan, which premiered several of his works and has released these recordings internationally on CDs and via Internet downloads. His musical styles range from classical to contemporary, and he has composed music for all popular mediums from chamber groups to orchestras and choirs.

Currently living in the Los Angeles area, Raines has worked as a freelance composer for production companies such as Voltage Pictures and Hollywood Media Bridge, to name but a few. His work has been featured in 13 films and numerous trailers, as well as three released film soundtracks including A Good Man, Ambushed, and Puncture Wounds. In 2012, Justin composed many adult-themed jingles for the Perfect 10 Podcast hosted by Lahna Turner and the late Ralphie May.

Throughout his career, Raines has had the opportunity to work and collaborate with many talented and creative artists. Under the guidance of Tony Award-winning writer Mark Medoff (Children of a Lesser God), Justin has composed music for many high-profile projects including orchestration work on the new musical We Are Enron, which was co-created by Christine Sanders and Bradford Hodgson. He also collaborated with Medoff on several other projects including the film 100 MPG, the first major project completed by the Creative Media Institute at New Mexico State University. Most recently, Raines again collaborated with Medoff for the short film Hatching Max, which won “Best in Fest” at the Sycamore Film Festival in Chicago.

As a composer regularly commissioned to create new works, Raines has developed a repertoire of chamber works that have been premiered and performed at instrumental conferences worldwide, including the International Trumpet Guild Conferences (Some High Notes, A Few Low Notes, and One Too Many Trumpets in 2003) and (Trumpet Soup in 2004), the Tuba Euphonium Society Association Conference (The Haunted America Suite in 2005), the North American Saxophone Alliance (Mad Hatter Suite in 2009), and the International Horn Symposium (Horn Trio in 2010).

Also recently completed was a new work for tuba and string quartet titled Cauterizing The Soul, which was premiered on April 12, 2012 by James Shearer and the La Catrina String Quartet. Cauterizing The Soul subsequently won the Harvey Philips Award for Composition Excellence on May 21, 2014. Haunted America Suite and Cauterizing the Soul have both been released on albums recorded by Jim Shearer through Summit Records.

Justin Raines was born in El Paso, Texas in 1979. He earned his Bachelors Degree in Music Theory and Composition from New Mexico State University under the guidance of Michael Staehle-Laburda, and he completed his Masters in Music Composition at the University of Las Vegas under the guidance of Jorge Grossmann and Virko Baley. He lives in Redondo Beach, California.