He is a conductor and
composer born in Los
Angeles, California.He is the son of the film composer
and nine-time Academy Award winner, Alfred Newman, the brother of Academy
Award nominated composer, Thomas Newman, the nephew of the 11 time Academy
Award winning film music conductor, Lionel Newman, and the cousin of the
multi-award winning composer, Randy Newman.He studied violin and conducting at
the University of Southern California and his original intentions were
to be a classical conductor.After finishing his education he worked as a studio musician and
writer of scores for industrial films and he moved on to become a conductor
for orchestras that included the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra and National Orchestra of Belgium.He started writing for film in the
1980s and worked on releases such as Critters
and Vendetta.For 4 years, from 1987, he wanted to
raise funds and awareness of film music and conducted concerts and ran
workshops as a musical director of the Sundance Institute.His involvement with older film
scores and music saw him composing a new accompaniment for the 1927 silent
film Sunrise
and reconstructing the score of classics including The Wizard of Oz.He continued with composing for movies, mainly comedies, and his
numerous film scores include Throw Momma
From the Train, The Mighty Ducks, The Flintstones, The Cat in the Hat, Ice
Age and the Bill and Ted
films.In 1997 he received an
Academy Award nomination for the original music score for the animation of Anastasia.
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Recordings
Christmas Carol, A - Suite (Richard Addinsell)
Telarc 89408 88012 (CD: It's A Wonderful Life/A Christmas
Carol/Miracle on 34th Street)
Here he is talking about composing for the
movie Norbit...
