Meet Sonia Wang And Johnum Palado | Composers and Co-Founders of “CrossRoads Music Services”

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sonia Wang And Johnum Palado and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sonia Wang and Johnum Palado, what role has risk played in your life or career?
For us, risk offers us more of an opportunity to challenge ourselves within our current circumstances and abilities. Our most recent example took place this past summer in July 2024, during which a short film required us to re-orchestrate 5 minutes of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, write two original cues that would fit within the Rite of Spring soundscape, recruit a 35-piece orchestra in NYC, and spearhead a recording session with said orchestra – all in less than a month. Despite many stressful moments and a couple of close calls, we came out of that experience with a recorded score and a surreal experience that no classroom setting could ever prepare us for. On the subway ride home after that successful session, both of us were exhausted yet euphoric that we were at the helm for such a project this early in our careers. We kept saying to ourselves: “wow, we really just did that!”

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
What makes CrossRoads unique is that we specialize in more than just writing music for the screen and concert stage (often the main and only line of work composers pursue). We are invested in all facets of the scoring process, not just the creative composition aspect. After a piece of music is composed for the screen, numerous steps take place behind the scenes before the music is added to the main piece of media: in most cases, the music must be engraved into sheet music, recorded with live players in a studio, and mixed/balanced against the media’s dialogue and sound effects tracks. In most industry-standard cases, these three steps would be handled by multiple different teams; in CrossRoads, however, we control all three. For every project that we contribute to as CrossRoads, we tend to every step in-house, granting us cost-efficiency and the creative control to make any changes and edits to the score as production progresses. Our name “CrossRoads” is a testament to this approach, as we are comfortable tackling different roles throughout the scoring process that often intersect with one other.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Without hesitation, Flushing in Queens NYC! Home to a predominantly Chinese population, Flushing is a haven for all things Asian, with tons of variety in cuisine as well as diverse activities and venues. You can haggle in a supermarket, stop by New World Mall for a quick and extremely delicious bite (we recommend Pan Bao 66 for amazing pan-fried baozi!), and then watch a movie at the local theater, all in one day trip!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
We dedicate this shoutout to our professor, mentor and friend Irwin Fisch, who has been our number one supporter for our composer duo since its inception. Frequently, when we discuss our projects with Irwin, the conversation often shifts to his disbelief of how our collaboration works. For context, most people within the scoring industry usually operate solo or as part of a larger composer team – a composer duo is much more rare within the industry, especially with its inception so early in our professional careers. We would like to profoundly thank Irwin for contributing to and believing in us, and for guiding us through the beginnings of our careers.

Website: https://linktr.ee/crossroadsmusicservices

Instagram: @suunaya_wang @jo.ha.num

Image Credits
Sin Young Kim
Anooya Swamy