Miguel Atwood-Ferguson

Did You Know?

• In 2011, with a full orchestra he reimagined some of J Dilla's music on an album titled Suite for Ma Dukes.
• He played at Melbourne Jazz Festival in 2013.
• He has scored for television and film with musicians such as Ray Charles, Flying Lotus, Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige, Bilal, Seu Jorge, and Thundercat.

Early life and education

Miguel Atwood-Ferguson was raised in Topanga, California, a creative enclave in western Los Angeles. His upbringing was shaped by parents who valued global cultural awareness and disciplined practice. His father, a multi-instrumentalist, performed with artists like Etta James, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Ry Cooder, and Johnny Otis. His mother, an educator, was committed to uplifting those around her.

Together, they filled his early years with a wide range of sounds. As a baby left alone in his crib, his parents would play looping tapes of Beethoven, Chopin, Mozart, Bach, and Brahms. At age four, after seeing other children play violin at the music school where his brother studied piano, he asked to learn the instrument, and his parents signed him up for weekly lessons. He then took weekly classes in violin, chamber music, and music theory, and from ages eight to fifteen played with the Orchestra da' Camera at the Colburn School.

During that period he started composing for symphony orchestras; at ten, his first original symphonic piece was performed by the Pacific Palisades Symphony. At twelve, he switched to viola and kept his focus on classical music while also developing a growing interest in Motown, Jimi Hendrix, and the Beatles. In high school, his curiosity expanded to jazz and hip-hop, passions that would define his lifelong career. Atwood-Ferguson went on to the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where he earned a bachelor's degree in classical viola.