A Tribute to James Horner

LA 12 PM  NY 3 PM  UK 8 PM  

A Tribute to James Horner  

Featuring

Steve Bramson, Simon Franglen, Jim Henrikson, Jean-Baptiste Martin, Joe E. Rand and J.A.C. Redford

Special Guest

Sara Horner

Moderated by

Dan Redfeld and Tim Rodier

Two-time Academy Award-winning composer James Horner wrote some of the most iconic scores of the past 30 years including Star Trek II and III, Titanic, Braveheart, Avatar, Field of Dreams, Cocoon, Willow and dozens of other well-known titles. Trained as a classical pianist and composer, Mr. Horner made an immediate impression with his unique melodic orchestration and spotting skills, which always seemed to capture the heart of every film he scored. He also penned hit songs including Céline Dion’s chart-topper, “My Heart Will Go On” from Titanic and the Linda Rondstadt/James Ingram hit, “Somewhere Out There” from An American Tail. Join us on September 26 to honor this titan of film music with longtime music editors Jim Henrikson and Joe E. Rand, arranger and producer Simon Franglen, orchestrator Steve Bramson and moderators Dan Redfeld and Timothy Rodier.

 

SPECIAL GUEST BIO:

Sara Horner has been a resident of Calabasas since 1983. She grew up in the Santa Monica Mountains and has a deep love for its mysteries and beauty.  She enjoys gardening, hiking, traveling and painting.   Ms. Horner is a graduate of UCLA with a degree in Studio Art and Landscape Architecture.  Sara joined the Board of the Santa Monica Mountains Fund in 2013 and was elected President in the fall of 2015.

 

PANELIST BIOS:

 

Steve Bramson is the Emmy™award-winning composer of hundreds of primetime television episodes and numerous feature films. He scored ten consecutive seasons of CBS Television Network’s long-running series, JAG, and worked with George Lucas on one of the final episodes of his popular series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. Bramson has also composed the music to many highly acclaimed independent feature films starring actors such as Samantha Morton, Elizabeth Shue, Helen Hunt, Rhys Ifans, Thomas Hayden Church, William Macy and John Malkovich. Known for his versatility and craftsmanship, Bramson was chosen to score the popular amusement ride, From the Earth to the Moon, written for the Disneyland Paris theme park. Bramson’s music has been called “imaginative and terrifically inventive” and of his score to Don McKay, one reviewer says “Steve Bramson works masterfully…, (his score is ) a virtual primer on the power of musical restraint...”

Originally from New York, Bramson was born into a family of musicians. Following undergraduate studies in economics, Bramson returned to music, earning a Masters degree from the prestigious conservatory, the Eastman School of Music.

While at Eastman, Bramson was noticed by distinguished film composer Laurence Rosenthal (The Miracle Worker, A Raisin in the Sun, Requiem For A Heavyweight). Upon graduation, Rosenthal invited Bramson to join him in Los Angeles to work as his orchestrator. Bramson went on to orchestrate many of the composer’s Emmy™ - winning scores and worked with him on some of the world’s most renowned recording stages in Hollywood and around the world. Bramson has also contributed his talents as orchestrator to scores for now classic movies such as Apollo 13 with James Horner, James and the Giant Peach with Randy Newman and Starship Troopers with Basil Poledouris.

During this time, Bramson was named one of the first Composer-Fellows in the newly formed Sundance Institute’s Composers Lab and began to forge his own reputation as a composer. One of his first commissions was to score the groundbreaking attraction at Disney’s Paris theme park, From the Earth to the Moon. The ride was the first to use an original orchestral score synchronized with the passenger’s journey. Though the ride has since been redesigned and rescored, his music continues to be a favorite among fans. From the Earth to the Moon was selected to open the popular Hollywood In Vienna concert in October, 2013.

In 1995, on the recommendation of theme composer Bruce Broughton, Bramson was brought on as composer for the hit TV series JAG. At the time, it was one of only a few series that utilized a large live orchestra for each of its weekly scores. Bramson received two Emmy™ award nominations for his work. Other television projects include music for The Nine and Journeyman.

In recent years, Bramson has turned his attention to scoring films, including In Enemy Hands featuring William Macy, Don McKay with actors Thomas Hayden Church and Elizabeth Shue, Decoding Annie Parker starring Helen Hunt and Samantha Morton and most recently, Dominion, based on the life of poet Dylan Thomas featuring Rhys Ifans and John Malkovich.

Bramson is also the composer of the musical Shimmy with lyricist Pamela Oland and choreographer Donald McKayle and numerous concert works. Of the live performance of his work Dream Rushes, Fanfare magazine says “…a haunting, atmospheric setting...” The New York Times added “…of particular interest. Imaginative and lushly scored.”

 

 

British born, Simon Franglen is a composer of film and classical music. He received a Grammy Award for Record of the Year as producer for "My Heart Will Go On" from James Cameron's Titanic, and received Golden Globe, Grammy Award and World Soundtrack Award nominations for co-writing and producing the theme song "I See You" from Cameron's Avatar.

Publicly announced projects for 2020 include composing the film score to the ground-breaking ‘Brahmastra’ and premiering a new opera set on the backdrop of the Second World War in Asia. best known for his Golden Globe nominated work on Avatar (2009) and Grammy winning work on Titanic (1997), Franglen’s credits include four of the top grossing films of all time and six of the top selling albums (Wikipedia). In 2019 he premiered a 90-minute orchestral and choral work "The Birth of Skies and Earth" based on the great creation myths of China. Featuring 176 musicians and singers, with libretto in Mandarin Chinese, it premiered in Shanghai before touring throughout China. He recently finishing composing scores to Xiaolong Zheng's historical epic Turandot and Jean-Jacques Annaud's TV thriller series The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair. Other recent work includes multiple films with Antoine Fuqua and Terrence Malick.

Franglen has major 3D installations running the USA, Europe and China. In 2017, Pink Floyd asked him to produce 3D audio mixes for "Their Mortal Remains" recently seen by 400,000 people in London. Shanghai Tower commissioned him to compose a permanent installation for "The Highest Art Space In The World" (CNN), this required recording four interlocking 60 piece orchestras to give a true immersive experience within an array of 240 loudspeakers - 2000ft up on the 126th floor.

With over 400 credits, from Michael Jackson to Celine Dion, Franglen was A top line session musician and producer in Los Angeles for several years. He started in films working for John Barry, initially on the soundtrack to Dances with Wolves and then for many projects after. He created the gritty electronica for Howard Shore's score to David Fincher's Se7en and David Cronenberg's Crash, produced the vocals for Moulin Rouge, programmed for the Bodyguard soundtrack. He was well-known for his long time collaboration with James Horner as arranger and score producer on films such as Avatar, The Amazing Spider-Man, Titanic and others. After Horner's tragic death in 2016, Franglen completed the score to The Magnificent Seven (2016), for which he received an ASCAP award and finished the composition and delivered the music to Lightstorm/Disney's Pandora, World of Avatar - the groundbreaking theme park area in Florida.

 

 

After working as music editor on the television series The Texan and the 1964 film The Best Man, Jim Henrikson built a long and distinguished career in music editing, spanning five decades. He worked in this capacity on such classic films as The China Syndrome (1979), Being There (1979), Raging Bull (1980), The Cannonball Run (1981), Flashdance (1983), Stroker Ace (1983), Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989), Willow (1988), Glory (1989), The Pelican Brief (1993), Braveheart (1995), Apollo 13 (1995), Titanic (1997), Deep Impact (1998), The Mask of Zorro (1998), A Beautiful Mind (2001) and Troy (2004) as well as James Cameron's 2009 science fiction blockbuster Avatar.

 

 

Jean-Baptiste Martin hails from the beautiful coastal town of Gréville-Hague in the French Normandy. In 2011, he founded James Horner Film Music and continues to be the managing editor http://www. jameshorner-filmmusic.com, with over 280 articles and videos about the legendary film composer and his life and works. And speaking of “works”: Jean-Baptiste is currently writing a book about the maestro and is organizing a concert with several of his almost unknown concert works, scheduled for May 7, 2021.

 

 

It would seem that it is easier to list the films Joe E. Rand has not worked on. Joe has dozens of credits to his name–and not just any films: Having early on worked as a music assistant for Cheech & Chong’s The Corsican Brothers (music by George S. Clinton), he was an assistant music editor for such films as The Rocketeer, The Pelican Brief and Jumanji (all scored by James Horner), and rose through the ranks to become the music editor of choice for Horner (Clear and Present Danger, Titanic and The Amazing Spider-Man, among others). In addition to Horner, his collaborations read like the Who is who of Hollywood film composer royalty: He has worked with Don Davis (The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions), Michael Giacchino (Speed Racer, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom), Alexandre Desplat (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Alan Silvestri (Captain America: The First Avenger) Brian Tyler (Crazy Rich Asians) and Randy Newman (Toy Story 4), to name just a few.

 

 

J.A.C. Redford is a composer, arranger, orchestrator and conductor of concert, chamber and choral music, film, television and theater scores, and music for recordings.

Artists and ensembles that have performed his work include: Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Joshua Bell, Liona Boyd, Cantus, Chicago Symphony, De Angelis Vocal Ensemble, Debussy Trio, Israel Philharmonic, Kansas City Chorale, Los Angeles Chamber Singers, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Anne Akiko Meyers, Millennium Consort Singers, New York Philharmonic, Phoenix Chorale, Staatskapelle Dresden, St. Martin’s Chamber Choir, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Utah Chamber Artists and Utah Symphony.

His music has been featured on programs at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., the Lincoln Center in New York, Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and London’s Royal Albert Hall. Most recently, he composed the Raymond W. Brock Memorial Commission for the American Choral Directors Association 2017 National Conference in Minneapolis, MN.

Redford has written the scores for more than three dozen feature films, TV movies or miniseries, including The Trip to Bountiful, One Night with the King, What the Deaf Man Heard, Mama Flora’s Family and Disney’s Oliver & Company, Newsies and The Mighty Ducks II and III. He has composed the music for nearly 500 episodes of series television, including multiple seasons of Coach and St. Elsewhere (for which he received two Emmy nominations).

His incidental music has been heard in theatrical productions at the Matrix Theater in Los Angeles and South Coast Repertory Theater in Costa Mesa, California, as well as in the American Playhouse series on PBS. Two of his musical comedies are published by Dramatic Publishing and performed frequently across North America.

Collaborating with other artists, Redford has orchestrated, arranged or conducted for Academy Award-winning composers, James Horner, Alan Menken, Randy Newman and Rachel Portman, as well as for Terence Blanchard, Danny Elfman, Mark Isham, Thomas Newman, Marc Shaiman, and Cirque du Soleil’s Benoit Jutras, on projects including The Little Mermaid, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Perfect Storm, WALL-E, Avatar, The Help, The Amazing Spider-Man, Skyfall, Bridge of Spies and SPECTRE. He orchestrated and conducted Adele’s Oscar-winning title song for Skyfall, wrote arrangements for Joshua Bell’s Voice of the Violin, At Home with Friends and Musical Gifts recordings, Anne Akiko Meyers’ Serenade: The Love Album, and has written for and recorded with other Grammy Award-winning artists Steven Curtis Chapman, Placido Domingo, Bonnie Raitt and Sting.

He has produced, arranged, and conducted music for the Los Angeles Master Chorale, and served as a consultant for the Sundance Film Institute, a teacher in the Artists-in-Schools program for the National Endowment for the Arts, a guest lecturer at USC and UCLA, and on the Music Branch Executive Committees for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Redford’s music is published by G. Schirmer, Hal Leonard, Fatrock Ink, AnderKamp, Fred Bock and Plough Down Sillion Music. He is the author of Welcome All Wonders: A Composer’s Journey, published by Baker Books. His many recordings include seven collections of his concert, chamber and choral music, The Alphabet of Revelation, Eternity Shut in a Span, Evening Wind, The Growing Season, Inside Passage, Let Beauty Be Our Memorial and Waltzing with Shadows.

 

  

Award-winning American composer, conductor, orchestrator and producer Dan Redfeld has had his music and arrangements performed internationally from the concert hall to the musical theatre stage to the recording studio. His credits include the following:

Music director: It Shoulda Been You, (Musical Theatre Guild), Bright Star, Beauty & The Beast, (Susan Egan), The Who's Tommy, (Alice Ripley), Chess, (Susan Egan/Matt Morrison), My Fair Lady, Jonathan Pryce, assistant MD), Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame, Peter Pan, Evita, and dozens more. Conductor for LA Opera's Educom since 2003.

Composer: A Hopeful Place, Arioso for Oboe, Percussion & Strings, (Santa Barbara Symphony premiere), January 15, 1947 for Solo Harp, Fantasy for Violin & Piano, Travels for Piano Quartet, and Dance Sketches. 

 

 

Tim Rodier is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music with no less than a dual major in composition and film scoring. He has since become a successful composer and orchestrator with dozens of top credits to his name: Among other things, he orchestrated on Sharknado 5: Global Swarming, Mr. Peabody & Sherman, Little Fockers and Into the Wild as well as the TV show Duets. Music prep credits include A-list titles such as Saving Mr. Banks, Skyfall, Men in Black 3, The Iron Lady, Despicable Me, WALL-E, Jarhead, Spider-Man 2, Charlotte’s Web and the TV series Angels in America.

In addition, Tim is also the founder and owner of Omni Music Publishing, a successful publishing company with the goal to make full film scores available to the public. Scores available through what composer Austin Wintory calls “a legitimate goldmine” are some of the great classics of film music history: Bernard Herrmann’s North by Northwest, Basic Instinct by Jerry Goldsmith and Elmer Bernstein’s score to Ghostbusters have found a permanent home here, as have Don Davis’ The Matrix, Danny Elfman’s Batman and Batman Returns, all-time favorite The Wizard of Oz by Herbert Stothart, Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg and James Horner’s Willow.

And after a long battle with a life-threatening liver disease that required multiple transplants in 2019, Tim and Omni Music Publishing have more titles are in the works.