From piano to ‘Palm Royale’: Jeff Toyne shares his journey from concert hall hopeful to Emmy Award-winning composer
The Arts Camp alumnus chats about his formative time at Interlochen, the diverse influences behind the ‘Palm Royale’ score, and the awe of being nominated for television’s biggest prize.
Jeff Toyne. Photo credit: Kaori Suzuki
When show creator Abe Sylvia tapped Jeff Toyne (IAC 92) to compose the score for the Apple TV series Palm Royale, the brief was simple, if not entirely straightforward: Write music that sounds the way a Slim Aarons photo looks.
“It was a little oblique for the pitch stage, but it was a fun challenge,” Toyne says.
Toyne wove diverse influences—including orchestral works, classic film scores, jazz, and Latin music—into a lush score that instantly transports the listener to 1960s-era Palm Beach, Florida. On July 17, Toyne’s work on the series was recognized with two Emmy Award nominations: One for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score), and a second for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music. Earlier this month, he received the 2024 Emmy Award for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music.
The Emmy Award is the latest accolade in a decorated career that has seen Toyne receive three Canadian Screen Award nominations, a Global Music Award, and a Leo Award. A past composer-participant at the prestigious Henry Mancini Institute, his composition credits include the Fox series Filthy Rich, the independent feature Dirty Girl, and the 2011 biographical drama Magic Beyond Words: The JK Rowling Story—plus numerous credits as an orchestrator.
From concert pianist to film composer
Toyne began his musical journey as a pianist, and aspired to become a concert performer. In the summer of 1992, the Sault Ste. Marie, Canada native attended Interlochen Arts Camp as a piano major.
“I remember enjoying being immersed in music all day long,” Toyne says. “My instructor there was the first really strict piano teacher I had ever had in my life, who had very high expectations.”
Toyne’s experience at Camp offered a glimpse into the life of a professional musician and solidified his desire to pursue a career in music.
“I felt like this was probably what it would be like to study music at university—to be immersed in music, and to be surrounded by people who are also immersed in it,” Toyne says. “It was great to be able to ‘try before you buy’ in terms of a music career and have a little bit of a peek into my future. It was a formative time.”
After graduating from high school, Toyne attended the University of Western Canada, where he soon pivoted his focus from performance to composition.
“My hopes as a concert pianist fell away during my undergraduate years, but at the same time, my interest in and aptitude for theory, harmony, and composition was growing and replacing it,” he says.
As Toyne developed his voice as a composer, he realized his style and interests aligned well with a career in film scoring: his works were often dramatic, and he enjoyed having the opportunity to work with full orchestras.
Toyne earned a master’s degree in composition from the University of British Columbia before attending the University of Southern California’s Film Scoring program. He has also participated in the BMI Sundance Composer’s Lab and ASCAP LA Film Scoring Workshop.Toyne first met Abe Sylvia while Sylvia was a film student at the University of California Los Angeles. The meeting sparked a long and generative creative partnership: Toyne and Sylvia have since collaborated on a number of projects, including Dirty Girl, Filthy Rich, and now, Palm Royale.
Writing the soundtrack of 1960s south Florida
Jeff Toyne. Photo by Teppei Tanabe.
Palm Royale—a comedy series which stars Kristen Wiig, Ricky Martin, and Carol Burnett—follows an ambitious woman as she attempts to break into the upper echelon of Palm Beach society in 1969. Sylvia’s creative vision for the series, both visually and musically, was based on Slim Aarons’ famed photos of celebrities and socialites from the era.
Toyne took two approaches to translating these visual references into music.
“I had a couple of options,” Toyne says. “I could take what the photo was showing in terms of the epoch and place, which led me to some deep dives into the music of the 1960s. That was great fun: discovering the catalogs of composers that I already loved, like Henry Mancini and Bernard Herrmann.”
“The other part of it was to dig a little under the surface of the photographs and think about what the inner lives of the people depicted in these photographs were all about,” Toyne continues. “I think that’s what Abe was getting at in the show: What are the lives like of these people that live this very picturesque, rarified existence?”
Beyond Mancini and Herrmann, Toyne was inspired by a variety of composers and musical artists spanning the classical, jazz, and popular genres.
“I spent a good amount of time trying to put grist for the mill and source material into the ‘sausage grinder,’” he says. “We were really inspired by a Peruvian singer named Yma Sumac. I was also inspired by the composer of The Merry Widow, Franz Lehár, because I liked the idea that the characters in the show were merry widows—in some way or another.”
Other influences included Russian composers Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich; jazz icon Marty Paich; violinist and recording engineer Enoch Light; and Hollywood composer/arranger Hal Mooney and his orchestra. Toyne also had the challenge of harmonizing his original compositions with a number of licensed songs that were included in the show.
“It was very important to have the score feel like it could move from and towards these songs and sound very natural and in the same world as these songs,” he says.
Toyne also channeled the sound of the 60s by taking an old-school approach to film scoring.
“We took the idea of working on the score as if I were scoring in 1969,” Toyne says. “What that meant to me was a score that was thematic and melodic, but also orchestrally colorful, bright, and with a lot of attention to detail.”
As part of this retro approach, Toyne created themes for each of the show’s main characters—a practice that is no longer common in the field.
“Once I was able to watch the episodes, I was off and running with ideas about the emotional colors I wanted to use for different characters,” he says. “I liked the idea of having specific instruments attached to the characters so that we can call back to the characters in an abstract way by using their instruments or their melody. This gives us a lot more tools in the toolbox dramatically: We can even suggest characters that aren’t on screen by playing their themes underneath the score.”
Palm Royale premiered on March 20, 2024 and was renewed for a second season in June. The series earned 11 total nominations for the 2024 Emmy Awards—including Toyne’s two nominations.
“It didn’t even occur to me that both nominations were a possibility,” Toyne says. “It took a couple of days to really settle in, and then I had to get my head back on to consider that there was another round of voting after the nominations. It was a little bit shocking.”
Learn more about the ten other alumni nominated for 2024 Creative Arts and Primetime Emmy Awards.
