Copious Notes

Composer AJ Hochhalter wrote much of the score for the documentary “Blood Brother,” which is an official selection of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. This photograph was taken Jan. 14, 2013, at The Livery, a downtown Lexington, Ky., space he shares with four other creative artists. © Herald-Leader photo by Rich Copley | staff.

Monday morning, ­composer AJ Hochhalter was settling into his new workspace at The Livery, a downtown Lexington space he shares with four other artists.

Moving into a cool ­downtown location is an exciting step for the 24-year-old University of Kentucky graduate, still wading into his career. But a lot more excitement for Hochhalter lies west this week, in the ­mountains of Utah.

Hochhalter, above, composed music for Blood Brother, a documentary about a man who gave up a design career in the United States to run an orphanage for children with AIDS in India. It is an official selection of the ­Sundance Film Festival.

“Every year, something I have been a part of has been submitted,” Hochhalter says. “And honestly, anyone can submit.

“But I watched it for the first time with the group that made it in Pittsburgh, and after we were done ­watching it, you know, everyone thinks whatever they’re involved with is the greatest thing ever, and I try to take a step back and say, ‘If I wasn’t so closely attached to this, would I think this was a great movie?’ The answer was yes a hundred times. We thought it had a lot of potential.”

That means Hochhalter’s trip to Park City, Utah, this week has a lot of potential to get his own name out there as a film composer for hire, certainly a non-traditional career path for a business major.

“Blood Brother,” directed by Steve Hoover, is a documentary about Rocky Braat, who left a career as a graphic designer in the United States to run an orphanage for children with AIDS in India. Photo courtesy of Blood Brother Film.

Hochhalter was born and raised in Louisville, ­spending his entire school career at Christian Academy of ­Louisville. There, he got into a variety of ­musical ­endeavors, from school ensembles to bands, and he knew he wanted to pursue a music career.

“I had gotten into ­Belmont,” Hochhalter says, referring to the Nashville ­university with a prestigious music program, “and I thought, do I go into music or do I go into business? And ­business made the most sense. ­Everyone thinks they’re ­going to make it in the music industry, and it’s a very small crowd that ­actually gets in, so I knew most of the bands and that they were ­businesses, and you need to know how to market yourself and do stuff like that.”

So the lifelong Wildcats fan came to UK and majored in business marketing. At the same time, his market was being defined.

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