The Hollywood Symphony Orchestra Performs World Premieres Along With Classic Film Music

The Hollywood Symphony Orchestra followed its highly successful inaugural concert with another evening of exquisite symphonic music from the movies. Over one hundred of Hollywood\'s top musicians and singers appeared on stage for an exciting gala event and concert program which ranged from Sergei Prokofiev\'s classic score for the 1938 film "Alexander Nevsky" to exclusive world and national concert premieres. Composers represented include Craig Armstrong, Elmer Bernstein, Clint Eastwood, Don Davis, Ernest Gold, Dave Grusin, Maurice Jarre, Sergei Prokoviev, Miklós Rózsa , John Scott, Dimitri Tiomkin, and John Williams.

Charles Durning, John Scott and Sydney Pollack at the Hollywood Symphony Orchestra\'s Gala Reception (Photo Credit: Bill Dow)

For more than thirty years, conductor John Scott has been regarded as one of the finest composers working internationally in films today, having collaborated with the foremost producers and directors including Richard Donner, Mark Damon, Hugh Hudson, Norman Jewison, Irvin Kershner, Daniel Petrie, Roger Spottiswoode, and Charlton Heston, among others. Frequently associated with other well-known Hollywood composers, including Jerry Goldsmith and John Williams, he has created a body of work that is some of the finest music ever written for film. Scott worked with Beatles producer George Martin, recording with such artists as Tom Jones, Cilla Black, and The Hollies. His first film score, "A Study in Terror" led to music for almost 100 films, among them "Antony and Cleopatra," "North Dallas Forty," "The Final Countdown," "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan," "King Kong Lives," "Shoot to Kill," "Lionheart," and a series of scores for Jacques Cousteau\'s documentaries. He has conducted many of the world\'s finest orchestras, including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Munich Symphony Orchestra.

Clint Eastwood is one of the most prolific, versatile artists in the history of the medium, involving himself first as an actor, then as a director, producer and composer. In 2004, Eastwood\'s critically acclaimed drama "Million Dollar Baby" earned seven Academy Award nominations and won four Oscars. In 2003, "Mystic River" won six Academy Award nominations and two Oscars. Eastwood\'s 1993 foreboding, revisionist western, "Unforgiven," won nine Academy Award nominations and four Oscars. Successful soundtrack albums have been a consistent Eastwood signature to his films, be they jazz-oriented ("Bird," "The Bridges of Madison County," "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil") or country ("Every Which Way But Loose," "Bronco Billy," "Any Which Way You Can," and "Honkytonk Man".) Working with composer Lennie Niehaus, Eastwood wrote the key melody for both "Unforgiven" (Claudia\'s Theme) and "The Bridges of Madison County" (Doe Eyes). Eastwood also composed the score for "Million Dollar Baby" and "Mystic River." This Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement and Kennedy Center Honors Award winner has won the People\'s Choice Award five times.

Craig Armstrong, is known for his versatility in musical styles. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, he studied at the Royal Academy of Music, became resident student composer for the London Contemporary Dance School, won the 1982 GLAA Young Jazz Musician of the Year, and in pop music, provided orchestral arrangements for Madonna and U2. He orchestrated scores for the films "Goldeneye," "Batman Forever," and "Mission Impossible" and, after creating additional scoring for Baz Lurhman\'s film "William Shakespeare\'s Romeo + Juliet," went on to compose scores for "The Bone Collector" and "Plunkett & Macleane." Combining pop music with orchestral composition, he received a Golden Globe Award and the American Film Institute Award for his work on "Moulin Rouge!" and a Grammy for his soundtrack to "Ray." His recent scores include "The Quiet American," "The Clearing," "Love Actually," "Fever Pitch," "Must Love Dogs," and "World Trade Center."

Don Davis has composed the scores for dozens of top television movies and series, which have garnered him eight Emmy nominations and two wins. In 1997 Davis composed the score for Larry and Andy Wachowski\'s off-beat thriller "Bound." The directing brothers immediately formed a close working relationship with Davis, which prompted them to bring him on for their Matrix trilogy. "The Matrix" turned out to be not only one of the biggest blockbusters, but one of the best received films of that year. In 2004, Don Davis and Erik Lundborg re-worked music from all three Matrix films into a concert suite. It was re-orchestrated for performance by a standard orchestra and was first performed in Sweden by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. Davis is currently composing music for his opera "Río de Sangre" and is scoring the music for the movie "Ten Inch Hero," directed by David McKay.

The concert was presented by the Hollywood Symphony Orchestra Society. Dedicated to preserving and presenting timeless works by contemporary composers of film and television music in a setting worthy of their creative gifts and talents, the Hollywood Symphony Orchestra Society honors an art-form too rarely heard to its full dramatic effects on the concert stage. The Hollywood Symphony Orchestra Society is pleased to bring these exquisite concerts featuring symphonic film and television to our community. In addition to its concerts, the HSOS is working to set up activities involving interaction between schools, the orchestra and a variety of multimedia projects to help their students explore and understand the concept and value of music for film and providing mentoring from masters of the art to emerging film composers. For more information, please visit www.hollywoodsymphonyorchestra.org or email info@hsos.org

John Scott with Richard and Elizabeth Sherman at the Hollywood Symphony Orchestra\'s Gala Reception (Photo Credit: Bill Dow)

FILM AND MUSIC PROGRAM