Ben Hur show an epic success

I have been working with composer Stewart Copeland for the last year on a cinematic show called Ben Hur In Concert. The show is a 70 piece orchestra playing with Stewart as percussion soloist, all in sync to the 1925 silent version of Ben Hur which is being projected behind them. We just had a sold out premiere at the Virginia Arts Festival and it was brilliant! The reviews are saying “pure genius”, “visual and musical triumph”, and “unexpected and daring”. I was the score editor for Stewart and music engraver for Schirmer, our publisher. It was a real pleasure to work on this 90 minute epic. The next show will be with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on October 14.

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Arranging for Liliana Tanoesoedibjo and Indonesian Idol

Musician life is funny, and we never know where opportunity will come from!

I just completed some arrangements for the live band in a finale concert for Indonesian Idol & Idola Cilik (“little idols”, or youth). One of the songs was a kind of patriotic group song with many of the winning adults and youth contestants, so I was arranging for the whole cast of the show. The title means Indonesia Unite. The song was written by Liliana Tanoesoedibjo, who along with being a major part of HITS Records is also an activist, businesswoman, socialite, and fashion expert in Indonesia.

Liliana is a stunning beauty. She appears to be in her 20’s, but in fact she’s 53! I’m happy our paths crossed, however briefly.

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Dreamworks film “The Need For Speed”

The Dreamworks film “The Need For Speed”, based on the extremely popular video game series, was released worldwide Friday in standard and 3D theaters. It had a fantastic opening weekend. I was one of the orchestrators with Penka Kouneva for film composer Nathan Furst. We recorded it here in Los Angeles at Sony studios, which is one of the best studios in the world, and we had a 90-piece orchestra of some of the best Hollywood musicians. The film score turned out wonderfully, and we’re happy to see the great reviews and enthusiastic attendance. It’s a ton of fun, so check it out!

Mark Abel’s song cycle “Terrain Of The Heart”

The album “Terrain Of The Heart” was released today, my third album with Mark Abel and Delos Records, which is run by the classical piano legend Carol Rosenberger. Terrain is an album of classical art songs made of three different song cycles, all with Mark’s text and music. I was again the score editor and music copyist for Mark.

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic

Stewart Copeland recently completed another score and I was again his orchestrator and music copyist. It’s a percussion concerto that will be premiered by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic in the UK, and today we sent the finished manuscripts to them. The concert will be May 23, 2014 at a show titled Bringing Down The House. The scores are published by G. Schirmer.

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The Need For Speed recording sessions at Sony

Today we began recording sessions at the Sony Scoring stage for the Dreamworks film The Need For Speed. The fantastic film score is by composer Nathan Furst, and I am helping to orchestrate the score under lead orchestrator Penka Kouneva. The film is a nostalgic American classic car chase action film, and the 80 piece orchestra sounds amazing. More photos are available on my Facebook page.

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Vicente Fernandez on DVD

“The Man Who Shook The Hand of Vicente Fernandez”, a film I orchestrated last year directed by Elia Petridis, is available today on BluRay and DVD. It stars the legendary Ernest Borgnine at age 94, and it was his last film before he died. It’s a very cute family comedy film, and you can find it on Amazon, Netflix, etc. The score was written by film composer Ruy Folguera.