composer

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Composer 'Nearly Fell Over' at What He Found at Auschwitz

Composer Leo Geyer has re-created incomplete scores of music played by orchestra at Nazi camp

(Newser) - Music played amid the highs and very deep lows of Auschwitz will be heard again for the first time in 80 years. Leo Geyer, a composer and conductor pursuing a doctorate in music and composition at Oxford University, has re-created musical scores from sheets held in the archive of the...

Burt Bacharach Dies at 94
Burt Bacharach
Dies at 94
OBITUARY
Feb 9, 2023 10:04 AM CST

Burt Bacharach Dies at 94

Oscar-winning composer penned songs for movies, Broadway, and Dionne Warwick, among other stars

(Newser) - Burt Bacharach, the singularly gifted and popular composer and Oscar winner who delighted millions with the quirky arrangements and unforgettable melodies of "Walk On By," "Do You Know the Way to San Jose," and dozens of other hits, has died at 94. Bacharach died Wednesday at...

Twin Peaks Composer Angelo Badalamenti Dies
Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet
Composer Dies at 85
OBITUARY
Dec 12, 2022 6:00 PM CST

Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet Composer Dies at 85

Angelo Badalamenti worked with David Lynch on numerous projects

(Newser) - Angelo Badalamenti, a classically trained composer best known for the haunting Twin Peaks soundtrack and his other work with director David Lynch, has died. Niece Francesca Badalamenti tells the Hollywood Reporter that the 85-year-old died of natural causes Sunday, surrounded by family at his New Jersey home. Badalamenti was born...

James Bond Theme Composer Dies at 94
You Know His Theme
Music, if Not His Name
OBITUARY
Jul 11, 2022 12:27 PM CDT

You Know His Theme Music, if Not His Name

Monty Norman, creator of the James Bond signature sound, dies at 94

(Newser) - Monty Norman, a British composer who wrote the theme tune for the James Bond films, has died at age 94. A statement posted Monday on Norman’s official website said: "It is with sadness we share the news that Monty Norman died on 11th July 2022 after a short...

You'll Know This Composer's Work in an Instant
You'll Know This Composer's
Work in an Instant
obituary
May 19, 2022 1:52 PM CDT

You'll Know This Composer's Work in an Instant

Vangelis, who composed the 'Chariots of Fire' soundtrack, is dead at age 79

(Newser) - His name is Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou, but the Greek composer is better known as Vangelis. And if the latter still isn't familiar, his most famous work surely will be: Vangelis composed the soundtrack for the 1981 film Chariots of Fire . The composer—also celebrated for his...

NY Philharmonic Performs 7th-Grader's Composition

Grace Moore took part in the Very Young Composers program

(Newser) - A Brooklyn composer has had the pleasure of hearing her music performed by the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra—and she's in seventh grade. Grace Moore looked on as members of the orchestra premiered her original piece last month. The 12-year-old—who fell in love with music when her mother...

'Maestro' of the Movies Is Dead
'Maestro' of
the Movies
Is Dead
obituary
Jul 6, 2020 6:45 AM CDT

'Maestro' of the Movies Is Dead

Composer Ennio Morricone scored spaghetti Westerns, much more

(Newser) - He was called "The Maestro," which is what happens when you score more than 500 films and leave an indelible mark on what movies sound like. Ennio Morricone, who gained renown for scoring the spaghetti Westerns of director Sergio Leone, has died at age 91 in Rome after...

His Music Made This Scene Terrifying
His Music Made
This Scene Terrifying
Obituary
Mar 29, 2020 3:40 PM CDT

His Music Made This Scene Terrifying

Krzysztof Penderecki has died at 86

(Newser) - Krzysztof Penderecki, an award-winning conductor and one of the world’s most popular contemporary classical music composers whose works have featured in Hollywood films like The Shining and Shutter Island died Sunday. He was 86. In a statement emailed to the AP, the Ludwig van Beethoven Association said Penderecki had...

Simpsons Composer Sues, Says He Was Fired Over Age

Alf Clausen, 78, is suing Fox

(Newser) - Alf Clausen was fired from his role as composer for The Simpsons in 2017 after 27 years on the job , and he says he was told the show was "taking the music in a different direction." But the real reason, the 78-year-old says in a lawsuit against Fox,...

'Intolerable' Verdi Situation About to Be Righted

5K pages of composer's drafts and sketches will go public

(Newser) - A 19th-century trunk filled with 5,000 pages of Giuseppe Verdi's "musical musings, stage directions, afterthoughts, and reconsiderations" has long been considered a "holy grail" of sorts, inaccessible to all but the most elite scholars. Per the New York Times , however, that trunk is now about to...

Titanic Composer Missing After Plane Crash
Titanic Composer
Killed in Plane Crash
UPDATED
Jun 23, 2015 4:08 AM CDT

Titanic Composer Killed in Plane Crash

James Horner wrote scores for more than 100 films

(Newser) - Oscar-winning film score composer James Horner was killed when his small plane crashed in California yesterday, his assistant has confirmed. "We have lost an amazing person with a huge heart, and unbelievable talent," his assistant wrote on Facebook , per the New York Daily News . "He died doing...

Remembering Jazz Titan, Saturn 'Native' Sun Ra

Late artist's legacy lives on in his Arkestra

(Newser) - He was a jazz titan who achieved little mainstream success, a big band leader, a free spirit, a poet, the author of thousands of songs, and, as he sometimes claimed, a resident of the planet Saturn who dropped by our humble planet for a little musical interlude. NPR today takes...

Japan's 'Beethoven': I'm Still Kinda Deaf

Samuragochi says he'll never appear on TV again

(Newser) - Mamoru Samuragochi, the acclaimed deaf Japanese composer who was outed by his ghostwriter as neither deaf nor a composer , held a contrite press conference today that he promised would be his last. "I will speak the truth. I will make this my last appearance on TV," the 50-year-old...

'Japan's Beethoven' Accused of Faking Deafness, Too

Also, he can't even write scores, says ghostwriter Takashi Niigaki

(Newser) - For decades, Mamoru Samuragochi has been hailed as "Japan's Beethoven" because he was a deaf composer. Now, he appears to be neither. The man who actually wrote Samuragochi's music , Takashi Niigaki, held an hour-long press conference yesterday in which he revealed that Samuragochii a) "cannot even...

'Japan's Beethoven' Admits 18-Year Fraud

Mamoru Samuragochi lost hearing at age 35

(Newser) - The success of 50-year-old composer Mamoru Samuragochi, who is deaf, has prompted the nickname "Japan's Beethoven." Trouble is, it turns out he hasn't written his own music in decades. "I started hiring (a) person to compose music for me around 1996, when I was asked...

Composer Marvin Hamlisch Dead at 68

Broadway to dim lights for 'Chorus Line' maestro

(Newser) - Broadway will dim its lights tonight in memory of composer Marvin Hamlisch, who has died at the age of 68 after a short illness. Hamlisch, whose hits included "A Chorus Line" and "The Way We Were," worked in movies, theater, and TV in his long and prolific...

Epilepsy Likely Fueled Chopin's Visions

Composer saw creatures emerging from piano

(Newser) - The 19th-century composer Frédéric Chopin suffered frightening hallucinations, ranging from ghosts to creatures coming out of his piano. Now, researchers believe the visions may have been prompted by temporal lobe epilepsy, the Daily Telegraph reports. The disease can cause short, detailed hallucinations, and “could easily have been...

Outcry Kills Plans for Wagner, Israel Reconciliation

Composer's great-granddaughter calls off Israel trip

(Newser) - The great-granddaughter of Hitler's favorite composer has called off a visit to Israel amid a public outcry. Katharina Wagner had planned to announce that the Israel Chamber Orchestra would be invited to play at an annual festival in Germany celebrating Richard Wagner's music. Israeli orchestras have been boycotting the anti-Semitic...

Composers Seek Pay Tune-Up With Teamsters

Hollywood composers, lyricists form alliance with Local 399

(Newser) - A group of composers for movies and TV seeking a better deal now have the Teamsters in their corner. The musicians, who complain that their pay is shriveling as studios expect them to absorb more costs, were one of the few groups of Hollywood workers not covered by union contracts....

Lloyd Webber Diagnosed With Prostate Cancer

Disease in early stage; expects to be back at work before end of year

(Newser) - British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, a spokeswoman said today in a statement that said "the condition is in its very early stages. Andrew is now undergoing treatment and expects to be fully back at work before the end of the year."

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