{"id":426453,"date":"2026-05-14T00:19:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T00:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/426453\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T00:19:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T00:19:09","slug":"nz-born-composer-mark-smythe-dies-suddenly-on-hiking-trip-at-53","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/426453\/","title":{"rendered":"NZ-born composer Mark Smythe dies suddenly on hiking trip at 53"},"content":{"rendered":"
He was also the department head for composing for visual media at the Los Angeles College of Music.<\/p>\n
Ward-Smythe said in her post that she was grateful to her brother\u2019s friends who tried so hard to resuscitate him, alongside first responders.<\/p>\n
\u201cMark was a strong, larger-than-life connector in LA, as a professor, composer, musician, and loyal friend. He was also fiercely talented, and an absolute cheerleader for music performance and recording across multiple genres.<\/p>\n
Smythe, known for his film scores, was also the head of composing at the Los Angeles College of Music. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was only just getting started and had so much more to give … We are heartbroken and trying to process this tragedy, as are all Mark\u2019s friends and family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smythe\u2019s obituary said a private cremation and ceremony would be held in LA. There would then be a celebration in Nelson of his life and music.<\/p>\n
It said he would be \u201cforever remembered in the hearts and minds of all whose lives he blessed with his beautiful music and generous presence\u201d.<\/p>\n
Smythe is remembered by his family in New Zealand, including his father, Brian Smythe; mother Ginny Ward; sisters Pepe Becker and Kate Ward-Smythe; Brian\u2019s wife Liz; Ginny\u2019s partner Paul; nephews Daniel, Thomas and Nick Becker; niece Ella Ward-Smythe; as well as extended family and friends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He was also the department head for composing for visual media at the Los Angeles College of Music.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426454,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[83636,1975,10752,7126,156,25902,32573,111,139,69,218685,90,218686,23333,1315],"class_list":["post-426453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-83636","tag-at","tag-composer","tag-dies","tag-entertainment","tag-hiking","tag-mark","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-nzborn","tag-on","tag-smythe","tag-suddenly","tag-trip"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}