I was the orchestrator, music copyist, and conductor during the recording sessions for the film Gosnell: America’s Biggest Serial Killer. I worked with composer Boris Zelkin, and we had the good fortune to work with a fantastic union orchestra in Oklahoma City at Castle Row Studios. The score was almost entirely orchestral, and there are many more recording session photos here.
Nina film released
A film titled Nina about the legendary musician Nina Simone was released today. I orchestrated the film score with composer Ruy Folguera, and we recorded the score in Prague. The film was written and directed by Cynthia Mort and stars Zoe Saldana.
Ben Hur plays with Pacific Symphony
Ben Hur played yesterday and today with the Pacific Symphony in Orange County. It was a pleasure to see it play in Southern California, and of course it’s always fun to watch Stewart play as featured percussionist for 90 minutes. It’s a very energetic and powerful score, and I love to see how the audience gets fully immersed in a silent film that’s nearly 100 years old.
I workedon this show with Stewart Copeland on and off throughout 2014 while he wrote new music for the most expensive silent film ever made. I helped him with orchestrations, did all the score prep for him, and helped him manage the technical hurdles of keeping a live orchestra in sync with film for 90 minutes straight. In late 2014 it was premiered by the Virginia Symphony Orchestra as part of the Virginia Arts Festival, and it has since played in many other cities.
These two shows were at the Segerstrom Center For The Arts in Orange county, and next weekend it will play again at the The Soraya, the performing arts center at Cal State Northridge.
John Gentry Tennyson sessions
John Gentry Tennyson is an EMI recording artist, brilliant music director of many live theater productions including Broadway and Cirque du Soleil shows, and he’s also a fantastic composer for film and television. Late last year he recorded a set of new orchestral compositions with the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra which will be put out by Parma Recordings, and I did the music engraving and copyist work for him. He’s very particular about the look and feel of his music, and we created something like the Boosey & Hawkes look except with our own twists. It looks great, and it sounded even better. Today, Gentry published live videos of the sessions and they sound fantastic.
The video above is a piece titled Adagio For Strings. The piece below is Petrichor.
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
On February 21, 2016 the Pittsburgh Symphony premiered a symphony which I orchestrated for composer Stewart Copeland. Originally a smaller commission from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, we expanded it to a full 3-movement symphony entitled Tyrant’s Crush. In addition to orchestrating for Stewart I also was the music copyist and engraver for sheet music publisher G. Schirmer.
Fun story about this piece:
My first project with Stewart was in 2010, a large one for the Dallas Symphony which required a lot of time for instrumental parts preparation. While doing that work I was listening to a lot of Stewart’s music, and late at night I landed on a track called Regret. It was the last track of a compilation album, only one minute long, almost thrown away, but it had a nice quiet vibe. I left it on repeat for hours while working in the middle of the night.
The CD liner notes, in tiny print, on the last page, also thrown away, said this little theme was one of his favorite and he hopes to make it into something larger one day. It was only piano and bass, and it sounded like virtual instruments. My guess was that it had never been transcribed, so I wrote it down for him.
My little transcription sat prominently on a music stand near his workstation for a long time, and eventually he got around to it. One of the prominent themes in this symphony Tyrant’s Crush is that theme from Regret.
Cask of Amontillado opera
The American Modern Ensemble performed the world premiere of new orchestrations of Stewart Copeland’s The Cask of Amontillado based on the story by Edgar Allen Poe. Stewart wrote the opera many years ago for a smaller ensemble, and I helped him re-orchestrate the show for AME’s orchestra. I was also the music copyist and did the music engravings for G. Schirmer.
Natalie Cole died
It’s with a sad heart that we all receive the news of Natalie Cole’s death. She and her father were both musical legends that will remain with us forever. It comes as a shock to me in particular because I just worked with her only a few months ago on a show she was doing in Asia with David Foster. Her voice, grace, and style left a permanent mark on us all, and I feel honored to have been a tiny little part of her musical journey.
Nina Simone biopic
Today we finished recording the film score for Nina, a biopic about the late jazz musician and classical pianist Nina Simone. We recorded the orchestra in Prague and the rest of the musicians in Los Angeles, and the film will be released in March 2016. The film stars Zoe Saldana and is directed by Cynthia Mort. The film composer is Ruy Folguera, and I was the orchestrator and music copyist.
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
Tomorrow and Saturday the San Francisco Symphony will perform the score from “It’s A Wonderful Life” by Dimitri Tiomkin live in sync with the film. In 1946 the grand finale of the score was cut from the film at the last minute, and the score was eventually lost. For this performance I recreated the full score from the 1946 handwritten instrumental parts. It was an honor, and I wish I could make the show. I worked with Justin Freer from CineConcerts.