New York born composer and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda, Pulitzer Prize winner for the hit musical Hamilton, met with the HFPA to talk about his new musical score for Disney’s animation Moana.  Asked to define music he replied:

“My definition of music?  You’re kind of like asking me to define a sunrise or define a hurricane, you know. I can talk to the power of music which is one of the few things that requires both hemispheres of the brain to comprehend.  It’s one of the things that is linked to memory, most intrinsically linked to memory which is why when you hear a powerful reprise of a song later in a film it dredges up emotions in a way that a scene never will and – and, you know, Leonard Cohen passed away this week and I will tell you what he said about it.  He said being a songwriter is like being a nun, you’re married to a mystery and I’m very proud to engage with that mystery every day.”