Jonathan Goldstein (composer)

Background

Goldstein is a highly-awarded classically trained composer with prolific credits in film, TV and advertising. He began his career in theatre, at the Royal Shakespeare Company and Royal National Theatre, working with acclaimed directors including Trevor Nunn and Sir Peter Hall. Later, he began his screen career assisting on numerous important film score orchestrations including Cape Fear, directed by Martin Scorcese, and landmark re-orchestrations of classic film scores including Taxi Driver, performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Jonathan’s debut classical album, Cyclorama, was released worldwide to critical acclaim on the Brilliant Classics label and performed by The Balanescu Quartet and ensemble. In 2013, Jonathan’s Christmas hit, Magical Moments, reached No.1 in the Official UK Classical Charts where it stayed for three weeks over Christmas, ahead of J. S. Bach.

Film music

Also in his early career, Goldstein assisted the film music orchestrator Christopher Palmer, on the soundtrack orchestrations for Cape Fear, directed by Martin Scorsese, and re-recordings of classic film scores including Bernard Herrmann's music for Scorsese's Taxi Driver performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Elmer Bernstein. He has since scored several shorts including the BAFTA-nominated Candy Bar Kid which was screened at more than 100 festivals worldwide, and the BAFTA-nominated Sunny Spells, winner of an International Silver Heron award. The documentary short Manuel De Los Santos, directed by Peter Montgomery, which featured a score by Goldstein, won the Grand Prize at the International Arnold Sports Film Festival in 2012.

Advertising campaigns

In advertising, Goldstein has worked for agencies in the UK including Saatchi & Saatchi, M&C Saatchi, Ogilvy, Publicis, Euro RSCG, Leo Burnett, DDB UK, CHI & Partners, Lowe, MCBD and WCRS, and in the USA for Droga5 and Publicis, composing music for television and cinema commercials on behalf of many national and international brands, which have been broadcast globally. These have included American Airlines, American Express, BMW, Ford, IG Index, Intel, ITV, Kronenbourg, Lexus, Natwest, Nokia, Sky, Sony, T-Mobile, Tesco, Toyota, UBS AG, Visa, Volkswagen and Zurich.

Industry awards

Goldstein has won a D&AD for Outstanding Use of Music, an IVCA Award for Best Music and two BTA Craft Awards for Best Original Music, as well as receiving nominations for two further BTA Craft awards. He was also nominated for an Ivor Novello Award in 2007, for his score to the BBC/HBO film of Primo, directed by Richard Wilson featuring the contemporary celloist, Nicholas Holland, who has recorded with Peter Gabriel and David Byrne. Goldstein was Chairman of PCAM, the Society for Producers and Composers of Applied Music from 2005-2012.

Broadcast music

In television, Goldstein has composed music for several BBC productions including Nunn's adaptation of Othello, David Thacker's production of Ibsen's A Doll's House with Guy Woolfenden, the prize-winning documentary series Eutopia: The United States of Europe filmed in 22 countries, and Playing The Wife, starring Derek Jacobi, for BBC Radio. In 2010, he created music for the Little Crackers comedy series starring Meera Syal, broadcast in 3D on Sky and Sky1.

Events

He has also composed, produced and conducted scores for major events including work for Microsoft, British Telecom, Frankfurt Motor Show, Madame Tussaud's, a suite for the Bentley Experience at the Volkswagen Theme Park, Autostadt, Germany, and the United Arab Emirates installation at the Shanghai World Expo 2010, featuring the classical vocalist Jeremy Avis reedist Belinda Sykes and percussionist Paul Clarvis. His classical work Circles was shortlisted for performance by the Society for the Promotion of New Music, and premiered at St John’s Smith Square, London, performed by Music Projects London, conducted by Richard Bernas, featuring the oboe soloist, Christopher Redgate. [1] The concert also featured works by composers Judith Weir and Sadie Harrison.

Recording work

In 2012, Goldstein's debut classical album, Cyclorama, was released worldwide by Brilliant Classics. The music was performed by the Balanescu Quartet, founded by the violinist Alexander Bălănescu, and an ensemble of soloists including James Pearson, [2] a soloist with the Hallé, Philharmonia and BBC Concert Orchestras, and Artistic Director of jazz club, Ronnie Scott’s, London, whose collaborations include Paul McCartney and Wynton Marsalis. The recording also featured the soprano, Grace Davidson, who has performed with the Early Music groups The Sixteen, and Tenebrae, as well as on soundtracks such as Hans Zimmer's Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

The album, which consists of a mix of contemporary classical idioms which gradually present an unfolding story, like a cyclorama (the panoramic backdrop used in film and theatre), was recorded at the Church of Saint Jude-on-the-Hill, Hampstead Garden Suburb, London, noted for its haunting acoustics. The church has been the chosen venue for many important recordings of film and concert music including the Chandos Records re-recordings of William Walton’s scores for Laurence Olivier's Shakespeare films, performed by The Orchestra and Chorus of The Academy of St Martin in the Fields and conducted by Neville Marriner, on which Goldstein worked as an assistant orchestrator.

Awards

Awarded

Nominated

Musical works

Advertising

Film features

Film shorts

Television and radio

Theatre (composer)

Theatre (other)

Events

Associated recordings

Video

Audio