Hollywood Symphony Orchestra

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The Hollywood Symphony Orchestra (HSO) is a large scale American symphony orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. Its founder was John Scott and its current Principal Conductor and consulting producer is John Everett Beal. [1] The HSO is dedicated to performing classic, contemporary and world premiere media scores, and comprises recording musicians from the Hollywood movie studios and the Los Angeles concert scene.

Contents

Many of the musicians appear in the original recording liner notes of the movie scores presented on stage. Concerts often include a large massed choir from the Los Angeles area, bringing the population on stage to as many as 140 instrumentalists and singers.

Background

Prior to 2006, this orchestra was primarily a recording orchestra, credited as far back in liner notes as The Robe (1953) composed by Alfred Newman conducting the Hollywood Symphony Orchestra (Varese Sarabande VSD 5295) [2] and 78 rpm recordings such as Invitation to the Ballet, [3] How Green Was My Valley and Street Scene (A Sentimental Rhapsody). [4] The inaugural stage concerts of the HSO under the baton of John Scott were on May 18 and October 7, 2006, at UCLA's Royce Hall and were produced by John Everett Beal and Peter Henton. [5] [6] Their first year, in addition to full programs of classic film scores from the 1930s through 2000s, the orchestra performed world premieres of music from Memoirs of a Geisha , Antony and Cleopatra , Flags of Our Fathers , World Trade Center and The Matrix . [7]

Composers represented in the debut concerts included Miklós Rózsa, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Maurice Jarre, Victor Young, Dimitri Tiomkin, Craig Armstrong, Clint Eastwood, Henry Mancini, Elmer Bernstein, Dave Grusin, Alex North, John Scott, Sergei Prokofiev, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Max Steiner, Don Davis, Ernest Gold and Bernard Herrmann. [8] [9]

The first radio broadcast of an HSO concert was on August 20, 2006. Southern California's classical radio station, K-Mozart 105.1FM, broadcast a one-hour program containing portions of the inaugural concert by the Hollywood Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of conductor John Scott.

Programming

The HSO is dedicated entirely to performing visual media scores and, where possible, live-to-film performances of scores in sync with the movie exactly as performed in the original motion picture. In addition to celebrating and preserving the work of Hollywood's master composers of the past, the HSO promotes the work of emerging Hollywood composers. [10]

Honorary advisors

The Honorary Advisors to the HSO are practically a "who's who" of the film, television and music industries, with Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Emmy Award and Grammy Award winners and nominees, including Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman, Marilee Bradford, Bruce Broughton, John Cacavas, Daniel Carlin, Budd Carr, Alf Clausen, Don Davis, John Debney, Allyn Ferguson, Dan Foliart, Charles Fox, Sid Ganis, Billy Goldenberg, Dave Grusin, Ted Kotcheff, Gary Le Mel, Michel Legrand, John Morgan, Randy Newman, Lennie Niehaus, Basil Poledouris (d), Sydney Pollack, Nick Redman, Edye & Pete Rugolo, Lalo Schifrin, Richard Sherman, William Stromberg, Patrick Williams, Christopher Young, Frank Yablans, and Hans Zimmer. [11]

Organization

Recordings

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References

  1. ↑ "John Beal".
  2. ↑ "The Robe". Amazon.
  3. ↑ "Alfred Newman and His Hollywood Symphony Orchestra - Can Can".
  4. ↑ "How Green Was My Valley". September 1946.
  5. ↑ Burlingame, Jon (2006-05-22). "FMS: Feature [Hollywood Symphony Orchestra Debuts at Royce Hall by Jon Burlingame]". Filmmusicsociety.org. Retrieved 2012-02-22.
  6. ↑ Burlingame, Jon (2006-10-11). "FMS: Feature [Hollywood Symphony Stages Second Concert – by Jon Burlingame]". Filmmusicsociety.org. Retrieved 2012-02-22.
  7. ↑ "Hollywood Symphony Stages Second Concert – by Jon Burlingame".
  8. ↑ "Hollywood Symphony Orchestra, Dedicated to Film Music and Film Composers". hollywoodsymphonyorchestra.com. 2006-10-07. Retrieved 2012-02-22.
  9. ↑ "Film Music Society".
  10. ↑ http://hollywoodsymphonyorchestra.com/ [ bare URL ]
  11. ↑ "Hollywood Symphony Orchestra Board of Directors and Staff". hollywoodsymphonyorchestra.com. Retrieved 2012-02-22.
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