Zackary Hernandez is an avid composer for media and the stage, with a love for collaboration. In 2024, he worked with some of the top Los Angeles studio players recording his rescore to World of Dinosaurs at Evergreen Studios, which he composed, arranged, and conducted. Additionally, he recorded a video game music arrangement at the famed EastWest studios, which he conducted. His music was also performed by the California State University Northridge Wind Symphony, and he conducted his own arrangements with the CSUN Studio Ensemble at the Plaza Del Sol Performance Hall. In total, he has written for concert band, big band, chamber orchestra, symphony orchestra, studio orchestra, chamber brass, and chamber strings.
For media scoring, he feels a special affinity for scoring video games, as he grew up enjoying videogames on every platform, from Nintendo DS to Xbox 360 to PC He loves to play and listen to some of his favorite games, including Hearts of Iron IV, Plants vs. Zombies, and Star Wars Battlefront 2 (2005). Zackary Hernandez is an active participant in game jams, contributing music to games made for competitions such as the biannual Historically Accurate Game Jam. He combined this love of both video games and live performance in his senior recital in early 2025. He composed, arranged, and conducted music for a chamber orchestra,which performed original works he composed, featuring several rescores of video games such as Travellers Rest and Torn and short films such as Abiogenesis.
Mr. Hernandez’s music draws from an eclectic range of inspirations, including traditional music, jazz and every classical style. In his compositions, he often draws inspiration from John Williams, Gustav Holst, Alexandre Desplat, and Andreas Waldetoft. His music always tells a story, giving each composition its own voice and character.
He earned his B.M. in Commercial and Media Writing at CalState Northridge in spring of 2025. Zackary has performed as a trombonist in the CSUN Wind Ensemble, Jazz B Band and the Studio Ensemble. His composition teachers include Dr. Kyle Simpson and Prof. Elizabeth Sellers, and Paul Radke of the Los Angeles Philharmonic on trombone. Zackary is an Eagle Scout, and in his free time enjoys hiking and folding origami.