Submission declined on 28 April 2024 by
ToadetteEdit (
talk). The content of this submission includes material that does not meet Wikipedia's
minimum standard for inline citations. Please
cite your sources using
footnotes. For instructions on how to do this, please see
Referencing for beginners. Thank you.
Where to get help
How to improve a draft
You can also browse Wikipedia:Featured articles and Wikipedia:Good articles to find examples of Wikipedia's best writing on topics similar to your proposed article. Improving your odds of a speedy review To improve your odds of a faster review, tag your draft with relevant WikiProject tags using the button below. This will let reviewers know a new draft has been submitted in their area of interest. For instance, if you wrote about a female astronomer, you would want to add the Biography, Astronomy, and Women scientists tags. Editor resources
| ![]() |
This article may have been created or edited in return for undisclosed payments, a violation of Wikipedia's
terms of use. It may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia's
content policies, particularly
neutral point of view. (December 2023) |
Jonathan Sheffer | |
---|---|
Born | New York City, U.S. | October 19, 1953
Genres | Film music, classical, opera, musical theater |
Occupation(s) |
|
Instrument(s) | Piano |
Years active | 1975–present |
Labels | RCA Red Seal Telarc |
Jonathan Sheffer (born 1953) is a Grammy-nominated American composer and conductor. [1] [2] [3] [4] His musical career spans several genres, including classical music, opera, ballet, film and television. [5] [6]
Born in New York City, Sheffer was raised in Westport, Connecticut, studied viola with Frank Brieff, and played Principal Viola in the All-Connecticut High School Orchestra. He attended Harvard University, where his teachers included Leonard Bernstein, Jay Gottlieb and Burton Fine. He co-composed the score to the Hasty Pudding Theatricals of 1974, Keep Your Pantheon with humorist Mark O’Donnell, then attended Juilliard Extension and the Aspen School of Music, studying with Michael Czajkowski, solfège with Renée Longy and composition with John Corigliano. [7] [8]
While attending the BMI Musical Theater Workshop, he teamed up with O’Donnell to write a revue that appeared in 1977 at the Spoleto USA festival, Caught In The Act. With lyricist Alan Poul, he created New Tunes at the Manhattan Theatre Club, and a musical, Ladies in Waiting with Patricia Resnick [9] and with David Zippel, Going Hollywood, [10] and songs for Diamonds, with lyricist Howard Ashman, which also appeared in 2011 off-Broadway in the show, Hundreds of Hats.
Sheffer composed scores for the PBS American Playhouse films, The Rise and Rise of Daniel Rocket, On Valentine's Day, Courtship, Bloodhounds Of Broadway, In a Shallow Grave, and completed Danny Elfman’s score for the film, Darkman, The Omen IV, Pure Luck (also with Elfman), and Encino Man. He conducted recording sessions for Elfman and Elliot Goldenthal, including Alien3, Batman Returns, Interview with the Vampire, Batman Forever, Heat, Batman and Robin, Sphere, In Dreams, Titus, Across The Universe, and others. [11] [12]
He studied with conductors Michael Tilson Thomas, Jorma Panula, Yuri Simonov, Jorge Mester and Tsung Yeh. Early engagements included the orchestras of San Diego, Oregon, Seattle, Minneapolis and London, appearing with David Byrne in programs of Wagner, Corigliano and Adams. Other early appearances included the European Youth Orchestra and at the Edinburgh Festival with of the Martha Graham Dance Company.
In 1995 Sheffer founded the Eos Ensemble (later called Eos Orchestra), [13] [14] playing 75 concerts in New York and on tour, appearing at the White House in 2000 [15] and in the 2000 PBS American Masters portrait of Aaron Copland. Eos published four books and recorded for RCA Red Seal, BMG and Telarc, was Grammy-nominated, [16] and received the ASCAP Adventurous Programming Award in 1999. [17]
Concurrently, Sheffer led six seasons of Red {an orchestra} in Cleveland, [18] and was guest conductor at The New York City Opera, American Ballet Theatre, Mark Morris Dance Group, Boston Pops and the festivals at Ravinia, Lincoln Center and Spoleto (Italy). Sheffer has served on several Boards, including The New York State Council on the Arts, as an appointee of governor Andrew Cuomo, [19] the New York City Opera, and represented the New York City Council to the Board of Lincoln Center.
Major works include the one-act The Mistake, libretto by Stephen Wadsworth, which premiered at the Central City Opera. Blood on the Dining Room Floor, from a novel by Gertrude Stein, was produced off-Broadway in 2000, received the Richard Rodgers Production Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters [20] and was seen in the Guggenheim Works & Process series. The Conference of the Birds, at the Cabrillo Festival, was led by Marin Alsop, [21] and Four 10-Minute Operas (Camera Obscura, HBP, Owl Creek Bridge and The Pat & Jerry Show) was recorded in September, 2023 by Royal Scottish National Orchestra, for release in 2024.
Sheffer has had fellowships at Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony, [22] and was a Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome in 2003, and was a Visiting Artist/Professor at UCLA, Harvard and New York University.
The musical Dirty Little Secret, about the Harvard Secret Court of 1920, with music and lyrics in collaboration with Bruce Roberts, is in development.
Year | Title | Director | Film studio |
---|---|---|---|
1988 | In a Shallow Grave | Kenneth Bowser | Warner Bros. |
1989 | Bloodhounds of Broadway | Howard Brookner | Columbia Pictures |
1991 | The Omen IV: The Awakening | Jorge Montesi and Dominique Othenin-Girard | 20th Century Fox |
Pure Luck | Nadia Tass | Universal Studios | |
1992 | Encino Man | Les Mayfield | Buena Vista Pictures |
2008 | Parasomnia | William Malone | E1 Entertainment |
2010 | Mann v. Ford | Maro Chermayeff and Micah Fink | HBO |
2014 | The Decent One | Vanessa Lapa | Cinephil |
2016 | Saving Jamaica Bay | David Sigal | Grounded Truth Productions |
Year | Title | Label | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1988 | In a Shallow Grave | Varèse Sarabande | Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Jonathan Sheffer, composer and conductor |
1991 | The Omen IV: The Awakening | Varèse Sarabande | Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Jonathan Sheffer, composer and conductor |
Pure Luck | Varèse Sarabande | Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Jonathan Sheffer, composer and conductor | |
2008 | Howard Sings Ashman | PS Classics | "The Straw Boater Rag" from Diamonds. Jonathan Sheffer, composer |
2016 | Concerto for Soprano Saxophone & Orchestra | Navona Records | Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra with Petter Sundkvist, conductor. Anders Paulsson, soprano saxophone |
The Conference of the Birds | Navona Records | Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra with Jonathan Sheffer, conductor. Joyce DiDonato, narrator | |
2019 | Y'did Nefesh (SATB) | Navona Records | Recorded by The Crossing, Donald Nally, conductor on the CD Evolutionary Spirits. Jonathan Sheffer, composer |
Year | Title | Label | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1995 | Paul Bowles: Music | RCA Red Seal | World premiere recordings of compositions from the popular expatriate novelist. Jonathan Sheffer, conductor |
1996 | Music for Merce | BMG Catalyst | World premiere recordings of works written for choreographer Merce Cunningham. Jonathan Sheffer, conductor |
1998 | Aaron Copland: American Master | BMG | The composer´s original chamber version of Appalachian Spring and a program of American masterworks. Jonathan Sheffer, conductor |
Gershwin: The Complete Works For Piano & Orchestra | BMG | The complete Gershwin piano and orchestra works. Jonathan Sheffer, conductor | |
2001 | Celluloid Copland | Telarc | World premiere film music by Aaron Copland. Jonathan Sheffer, conductor. Grammy-nomination |
Year | Title | Label | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1992 | Alien 3 | MCA | Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Jonathan Sheffer, conductor |
Batman Returns | Warner Sunset | Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Jonathan Sheffer, conductor | |
1993 | Sommersby | Elektra | Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Jonathan Sheffer, conductor |
1994 | Cobb | Sony | Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Jonathan Sheffer, conductor |
Golden Gate | Varèse Sarabande | Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Jonathan Sheffer, conductor | |
Interview with the Vampire | Geffen | Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Jonathan Sheffer, conductor | |
1995 | Smoke | Hollywood Records | Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Jonathan Sheffer, conductor |
Batman Forever | Atlantic | Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Jonathan Sheffer, conductor | |
Heat | Warner Brothers | Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Jonathan Sheffer, conductor | |
1996 | A Time to Kill | Atlantic | Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Jonathan Sheffer, conductor |
Michael Collins | Atlantic | Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Jonathan Sheffer, conductor | |
1997 | Batman & Robin | Warner Sunset | Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Jonathan Sheffer, conductor |
1998 | Sphere | Varèse Sarabande | Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Jonathan Sheffer, conductor |
1999 | In Dreams | Varèse Sarabande | Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Jonathan Sheffer, conductor |
Titus | Sony Classical | Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Jonathan Sheffer, conductor | |
2004 | Broadway: The American Musical | Columbia Broadway Masterworks | Jonathan Sheffer, conductor |
2006 | The Good Shepherd | Varèse Sarabande | Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Jonathan Sheffer, conductor |
2007 | Across the Universe | Interscope | Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Jonathan Sheffer, conductor |
2010 | Public Enemies | Decca | Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Jonathan Sheffer, conductor |
The Tempest | Alliance | Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Jonathan Sheffer, conductor |