Jonathan Sacks (composer)

Jonathan Sacks (b. 12/14/50) is a Los Angeles-based American composer & orchestrator. He has written music for both concert hall (chamber and orchestral) and theater, and works as an arranger for films. As the orchestrator of dozens of popular Hollywood movies, the composer's MusicAL talents have been exposed to wide audiences through his commercial work (including Mr. Holland’s Opus, Seabiscuit, Cars, and both X-Files films and episodes from the TV series). Sacks was also the orchestrator for the popular Metallica live orchestral album S & M. He has also collaborated with world-renowned songwriter Randy Newman on numerous projects over the years, including Toy Story 2, A Bug’s Life, and Meet the Parents.

Education

Sacks studied at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, with post-graduate compositional studies under Kenneth Gaburo and Roger Reynolds.

Recordings

5th (S)EASON, his first CD collection of his own music, shows a composer in command of a distinctly personal sonic language. Spanning three decades, they range from an early avant garde piece to ambitious tone poems for full orchestra, and include chamber works that are by turns moving, beguiling, meditative, and provocative. As a composer, Sacks creates music that often seeks to carry messages across long distances and sometimes broken terrain, oftentimes coming across very ethereal and cinematic.

Reviews

“… You've mostly heard his stuff in films like Toy Story 2 (he kind of looks like the goateed collector bad guy), Seabiscuit, or, most recently, The X-Files: I Want to Believe...His 5th (S)eason is a collection of works he's composed over the past 30 years, recorded by the Warsaw and Slovak Radio philharmonics, along with a slew of guest musicians. The orchestra pieces, "Incantations: Book V" and "Sagittarius Rising," are what you'd expect from a film composer: dramatic in their mood swings, moving from subtle flickerings to resounding cymbal crashes and storm-trooper drums to ultra-sonic woodwinds. The "Litanies," as performed mostly by [Richard] Stoltzman, with some piano accompaniment, are more esoteric, brief thought pieces that lean as much toward avant-jazz as classical. And "Sirian Blue" is a nine-minute exercise in distortion and drone, the sort of thing you'd find on the next Seekonk record.”

-Sam Pfeifle, Portland Phoenix, November 14, 2008

Orchestral

• 5th (S)eason (2008) Composer

*New American Works for Clarinet (Compilation) (2007) Composer

Film and Television Scores

• The X Files: I Want to Believe (2008) (orchestrator)

... aka The X-Files (USA: promotional abbreviation) ... aka The X-Files Movie (USA: promotional title) ... aka X-Files: Je veux y croire (Canada: French title)
*Leatherheads (2008) (orchestrator) ... aka Ein Verlockendes Spiel (Germany)
*Cars (2006) (orchestrator)
*Meet the Fockers (2004) (orchestrator)
*Against the Ropes (2004) (orchestrator) ... aka Die Promoterin (Germany) ... aka The Promoter (Germany)
*James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing (2003) (VG) (orchestrator) ... aka 007: Everything or Nothing (International: English title: wide-release title) ... aka Eon (International: English title: promotional title) ... aka Everything or Nothing (USA: short title)
*Seabiscuit (2003) (orchestrator) About a Boy (2002) (orchestrator) (uncredited) ... aka About a Boy oder: Der Tag der toten Ente (Germany) ... aka Pour un garçon (France)
*Feast of All Saints (2001) (TV) (orchestrator) ... aka Anne Rice's The Feast of All Saints (USA: complete title)
*Monsters, Inc. (2001) (orchestrator)
*The Miracle Worker (2000) (TV) (orchestrator)
*Meet the Parents (2000) (orchestrator)
*Frequency (2000) (orchestrator)
*Toy Story 2 (1999) (orchestrator) ... aka Toy Story 2 in 3-D (USA: promotional title)
*Crazy in Alabama (1999) (orchestrator)
*Metallica: S&M (1999) (TV) (orchestrator)
*A Bug's Life (1998) (orchestrator)
*The X Files (1998) (orchestrator) ... aka Aux frontières du réel (Canada: French title) ... aka The X-Files (USA: closing credits title)
*Miracle at Midnight (1998) (TV) (orchestrator)
*End of Summer (1997) (TV) (orchestrator)
*20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1997/II) (TV) (orchestrator)
*Michael (1996) (orchestrator)
*Mr. Holland's Opus (1995) (orchestrator) (uncredited)
*Seduced and Betrayed (1995) (TV) (orchestrator) (uncredited)
*The X Files (1993) TV series (orchestrator) (unknown episodes) ... aka The X-Files (USA)
*Blue Ice (1992) (orchestrator)
*Lethal Weapon 3 (1992) (orchestrator)
*Shining Through (1992) (orchestrator)
*The Last Boy Scout (1991) (orchestrator)
*Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) (orchestrator)
*Hudson Hawk (1991) (orchestrator)

References

• www.imdb.com1

*www.parmarecordings.com2
*www.navonarecords.com3

External Links

• www.parmarecordings.com4

*www.navonarecords.com5