AboutMoving effortlessly from drama to sharp satire to period piece, Thomas Newman has earned a reputation as one of the most versatile composers working in Hollywood today.The youngest son of the legendary Alfred Newman (whose motto theme for Twentieth Century Fox remains a fixed icon in the city of moving images), nephew of the equally legendary Lionel Newman, cousin of singer/songwriter and film composer Randy, and brother of film composer David, Thomas Newman hails from one of Hollywood's musical first families. With an extensive and impressive filmography of his own -- which in 1999 was augmented by The Green Mile, American Beauty and Three Kings -- he is among the front ranks of Hollywood composers in his own right. Newman's music appears on Sony Classical on the recently released soundtrack for Erin Brockovich (SK 89239), a film directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring two-time Academy Award-nominee Julia Roberts, who stars as the twice-divorced mother of three young children who defies the odds by taking on and defeating a major public utilities company. The story is based on true events. Sony Classical also released Newman's soundtracks for Little Women (SK 66922) and Oscar and Lucinda (SK 60088). For Little Women Newman drew elements not only from the story itself, but from the world as portrayed by the director. He seamlessly incorporated authentic nineteenth-century American popular music with an orchestral score that recalls the tenderness and grandeur of such classic American compositions as Aaron Copland's "Our Town" and Bernard Herrmann's "The Magnificent Ambersons". His soundtrack for Oscar and Lucinda is similarly evocative of the story, its place, and its time. Portions of the score were later included in the Random House AudioBook release of Oscar and Lucinda, which featured a reading by Ralph Fiennes. Newman studied composition and orchestration at USC with professors Frederick Lesemann and noted film composer David Raskin (Laura), and privately with composer George Tremblay; he completed his academic work at Yale, studying with Jacob Druckman, Bruce MacCombie and Robert Moore. Newman says another composer served as his greatest mentor, though: Stephen Sondheim. Sondheim championed one of Newman's earliest works, a musical theatre piece entitled Three Mean Fairy Tales. Since the 1980s, Newman has worked primarily in film and television, and his filmography includes Desperately Seeking Susan; Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael; The Rapture; Fried Green Tomatoes; Scent of a Woman; The Player; Phenomenon; The People vs. Larry Flynt and The Horse Whisperer. He has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score four times, for his scores to American Beauty, The Shawshank Redemption, Little Women and Unstrung Heroes.
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