Tomás Hradcky began playing music at the age of eight. Nearly right from the start, he eschewed "practicing" for experimenting with what the instrument could do and what he could create with it. His true passion became clear, in hindsight, when he figured out how to record himself playing multiple parts using 2 cassette decks at the age of 10. The next 12 years culminated with a B.A. in music performance from The Dana School Of Music. Growing up in a home filled with culturally rich music he remembers thinking, "In my early teens I remember wondering why anyone would want to do anything else in life."

In 1986, after 6 years of performing with The Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, The Warren Chamber Orchestra plus numerous jazz & casual gigs Tomás was accepted with scholarship to pursue a Masters Of Performance degree from Mannes College of Music. On the eve of leaving for Mannes, after some serious soul searching, he realized that his love of performance wasn't enough. He looked at the fact that in college he was more and more drawn to composition for his walk through life, studying classical composition with Robert Rollin and Jazz arrangement with Sam D'Angelo. As he looked back at his decision to divert from a life as an orchestral player it was the two weeks he spent (letting his normal classwork slide a bit) with composer in residence Gunther Schuller that convinced and reminded Tomás that writing music was what he had always loved most and would always continue to do for the rest of his life, no matter where it lead.

It lead, in 1986, to Los Angeles California where for 22 years Tomás worked closely with composers Michael Convertino, John Williams, Danny Elfman, John Debney and Steve Bartek, and scored over a dozen shorts and small films. In essence it was working with these composers that Tomás feels he got his "Masters", this time in composition. "I was an active player in the scores these composers wrote, creating the sounds and textures they used - which was very exiting in itself, but seeing first hand the process, the difficulties and the rewards of writing music to picture was the best education I could ever have received." Tomás used that education scoring a diverse set of films such as "The Table", a film set in the days leading up to the German invasion of Poland - the film originally temp'd with Górecki's third symphony, "The Black Shield" a parable set in the heart of Chicago, "The Morning Fog" filmed in India and, most currently, the documentary "American Dumpling", a story of how a basic food is shared by so many divergent cultures and people.  

His films have been accepted and screened in festivals such as:
The Tiburon International Film Festival
The New York City Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival
The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles
The New Orleans Film Festival
The Fifth Annual Providence Jewish Film Festival
The Hollywood Black Film Festival
The San Francisco Black Film Festival
The Ann Arbor Independent Film Festival
Bollywood and Beyond Film Festival in Stuttgart, Germany
Big Bear Lake Film Festival
Riverside International Film Festival
Aarhus Festival Of Independent Arts (AFIA)
The Sinking Creek International Film Festival in Nashville
The Idyllwild International Film Festival
Tasveer South Asian Fest - Seattle
Dam Short Film Festival in Boulder City
and at the Director's Guild of America, Los Angeles:
Cinematographer's Guild Emerging Filmmakers Showcase.

His diverse influences range from the early impact his parents love of the music of their Eastern European lineage - Slovak, Croatian, Slovenian - (Tomás is 2nd generation Eastern European) - and the continual music played through the house in his childhood from the likes of Cat Stevens, Harry Belafonte, Johnny Cash and Chet Atkins. Artists he gravitated to when he was in college such as Genesis, Yes, Todd Rundgren, Harry Nilsson, Jane Siberry, Richard Buckner, Jocelyn Pook, Joseph Arthur, Elliot Smith and Peter Gabriel. Not long after, he discovered his devotion to classical composers such as Serge Prokofiev, Samuel Barber, Brahms, Philip Glass and always, Beethoven, - composers that moved him so deeply emotionally and more importantly compositionally. 

Tomás currently resides with his longtime partner and soundtrack co-producer Kelly Mahan Jaramillo and is continuing his pursuit of quality and meaningful projects.

Time to clear up any confusion!
For those who looked up independent film composer Tomas Hart, you've found the right page and a different name. Tomás had chosen to return to his families original Eastern European name last year. At the beginning of the year 2006, he made the change to Hradcky. On his two latest films, "The Morning Fog" and "The Black Shield" Tomás officially reverted to the name his family traveled with to America.

Press Release - 6/2/07:

Tomás Hradcky scores director Martin Hudson's "The Black Shield".

Tomás Hradcky has teamed up with director Martin Hudson, who wrote, produced and directed the 23 minute short film "The Black Shield". The film has been accepted into the Hollywood Black Film Festival, and is screening Wednesday, June 6th, at 2 p.m., at the Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills. "The Black Shield" has also been accepted into the San Francisco Black Film Festival, Sunday, June 10th, at 7:10 p.m., at the Artaud Theatre in the Mission District of San Francisco.

We are thrilled to have worked with such fine talent - Oscar Nominee (2001) for Best Animation Short Joseph E. Meredith, along with animator B.J. Crawford, the Association of Music Producers (AMP) mixer of the year (2004) Bob Gremore as our music scoring mixer, and the Chicago Crew - Editor Steve Delisi, sound designer and mixer Lou Malozzi, D.P. Ben Wolf, and the Black Shield himself, Rocky Russell-Brown. There are so many more people who poured their time and heart into this film, I wish we had the room.

"The Black Shield" is the story of an ordinary man struggling with everyday issues, his family and his work as a comic book writer and illustrator. Through this he ponders the question - does an individual truly have the power to change the world? To even change his? The film beautifully blends animation and live action, and speaks to what we might want to be able to do, if we could. A personal film that takes a wider viewpoint of the world, and what may possibly lie untapped inside us all.

Hope you can make it.
Thank you everybody!

Kelly Mahan Jaramillo
Soundtrack Co-producer

http://www.hbff.org
The Hollywood Black Film Festival
8556 Wilshire Blvd.
Suite 2057
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
(310) 407-3596

http://www.sfbff.org
The San Francisco Black Film Festival
450 Florida St.
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 626-4370

News 2007

"The Morning Fog" had it's Los Angeles Premier at the 5th Annual Indian FIlm Festival of Los Angeles hosted in Hollywood at the ArcLight Theatre. We were in wonderful company with many talented filmmakers - Aminta Goyel, (naturally) with "The Morning Fog", Shyam Balsé with Monsoon, Gitanjali Rao's "Printed Rainbow, Pavitra Chalam's "Anamika - Her Glorious Past" and Stephanie Argy and Alec Boehm's "Ghandi at the Bat". We felt honored to be among so many fabulous, hard working artists. We all had a wonderful time and were happily exhausted by the end of it all. Aminta will be taking "The Morning Fog" to many more festivals, and this time we will be ahead of the game and have the information up BEFORE the event, we promise.

Tomás is currently composing the original soundtrack for the "City of Fire Graphic Novel Soundtrack". Read all about the project at:

News 2006

"The Morning Fog" premiered in New York City at the the Indo-American Arts Council Festival on November 3th. Tomas had the wonderful opportunity to work with director Aminta Goyel and producer Paul Rater, and their dedication and talent made for a exciting collaboration.

Joseph E. Meridith, an Oscar nominated animator, gave the short 'The Black Shield" a visual quality that was instrumental in the inspiration for the score. Inspiring visuals and the haunting, unique story gave Tomas direction that reached in hard and deep, and came out the other side extremely rewarding musically.

After "The Morning Fog" and "The Black Shield", there was a short break which seemed to be a good time to re-do and update the web page. In came filmmaker Eileen Nelson's documentary "American Dumpling", a simple story of flour, water, and salt, and how these three ingredients tie us all together. "American Dumpling" is about history, families, ethnicity, food, and how people are not as different as we would like to believe.

"American Dumpling" is currently in post, and clips will be up in early 2007.

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It is the 10 year anniversary
of the small cult film
"Laughing Dead".

The clips will be up for all to hear,

the menacing cello, such holiday cheer,

both a delicious delight and a midnight fright,

a simply perfect, brand New Year!

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For more on "Laughing Dead",
Go here to read reviews.
And say "bye-bye 2006!",
We now have no more news.
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"Goodnight... and good luck."