Leo Award celebrates young musician's talent
A bright light shone on Lions Bay resident Trevor Hoffman last week, as he and writing partner Daniel Ingram won a Leo Award for Best Musical Score: animation, for Strawberry Shortcake's Perfect Holiday.
The Leo Awards were founded by the BC Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Foundation, and have celebrated achievement in British Columbia's film and television industry since 1999. Awards honour artists and programs in categories including motion pictures, television movies, dramatic series, documentaries and animation.
Hoffman specializes in scoring and producing music for children's animation, providing the musical background and songs for shows from My Little Pony to Charlie Brown and from Lego Ninjas to award-winning Deepa and Anoup. These days, he also devotes some of his busy schedule to writing songs and underscoring video games, and he has produced and arranged more than 400 songs for independent artists and companies including Netflix, Nickelodeon, Disney and HBO.
His route to success has been a winding one. He grew up in Maple Ridge surrounded by church music, and studied classical piano from the age of four. When it became clear that he wanted to turn his love of music into a career, he admits his parents were a little worried.
"They did suggest I consider a trade, and asked 'are you sure'?" he laughs. "But they've always been very supportive."
By age 15 he was touring with gospel group 'One Accord' as well as other Indie artists, all the while hard at work building his musical skill set. He studied orchestration and composition at both Douglas College and the University of British Columbia, and it was at UBC that he first met writing partner Daniel Ingram, with whom he would eventually go on to win the Leo.
"Daniel writes the songs, and I orchestrate and produce them. He's amazing to work with," says Hoffman.
Hoffman credits Ingram, along with former dean of Douglas College (and current Vancouver Sun music critic) David Gordon Duke and musician and DJ Matt DP, as career-long mentors.
These days he and his partner Bobo Zhao are enjoying Village life with their 'office manager' Bourbon (already a Coastal Canine alum).
Hoffman has a number of projects in the works that he is excited about, including Billie Bust Up, a video game premiering in 2025. He's also set to head out on tour in the next few weeks with local group Citizen West.
"I feel so lucky," he says. "I have the best job in the world."
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Aren't we lucky to live in this beautiful community amongst so many talented people? I loved reading this story about resident , Trevor Hoffman. Congratulations to Trevor on winning the Leo award with his writing partner, Daniel Ingram!