Kris Bowers grew up in Los Angeles, just a few minutes away from The World Stage performance space, and immersed in jazz. Music, he knew, was always his path. When he was 12, he told his parents he wanted to go to school for jazz and tour before transitioning into film scoring. Scarcely two decades after that preteen declaration, the 34-year-old is an Emmy- and Grammy-nominated composer whose resume could fill pages, including 2023's “The Color Purple” and “Chevalier.” The pianist-turned-composer's prolific collaborations with high-profile filmmakers have earned him a spot among The Associated Press' Breakthrough Entertainers of 2023.