From Harvard to ‘La La Land’
Justin Hurwitz never even considered conservatory training. An accomplished pianist, the Los Angeles native wanted more from his college years than countless hours of practice and rehearsals. So he attended Harvard. And it changed his life. “I knew I wanted to study music but I also knew I wanted to go to school with a more diverse group,” said Hurwitz, whose score and original song “City of Stars” for the musical “La La Land” earned Golden Globes earlier this month, intensifying the Oscars buzz that has been swirling around the movie since the fall. (Academy Award nominations will be announced Tuesday.) The film, a love letter to song-and-dance spectaculars from the ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s, stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling as struggling artists who dream of making it big in Hollywood. The storyline struck a chord with Hurwitz, whose own dreams of success began taking shape in Cambridge in 2003. On the phone...