Western music grad Jeff Toyne wins Emmy
Jeff Toyne, who graduated from Western's Don Wright Faculty of Music in 1997 after studying music composition and theory, won an Emmy for composing the theme song for 'Palm Royale.' (Phil McCarten/Invision/AP)
Composer wins top TV award for title theme song on ‘Palm Royale’
Jeff Toyne, BMus’97, got his start crafting music for films while he was a student at Western.
It led him to a successful career crafting music for television and movie projects, including his latest venture with AppleTV+ series Palm Royale.
The journey hit a high note this month as Toyne won an Emmy for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music, the dark and spunky introduction for the star-studded dramedy set in 1960s Palm Beach, Fla., featuring Carol Burnett, Ricky Martin and Kristen Wiig. Watch opening credits (via YouTube)
Winning the Emmy was surreal, Toyne said, joking that he plans to carry around the iconic statue.
“With some distance from the rush of the moment, I’ve had a little bit of time to really reflect that I did not get here by myself. There’s a very long list of people who helped along the way who I respect and admire,” Toyne said. “The list is really quite long, and Western is one of the schools on that list.”
The Don Wright Faculty of Music was eager to celebrate his victory.
“Our community is absolutely thrilled for Jeff,” said dean Michael Kim.
“This milestone accomplishment not only recognizes his exceptional talent and versatility – his Emmy also exemplifies the dynamic range of successes our Western Music graduates continue to have, and their formidable impact on our musical ecosystem internationally.”
Read full Western News article (by Megan Stacey, September 17, 2024)
Related links
Music Research and Composition Department at Western
