Elliot Goldenthal was born in Brooklyn, New York, in May 1954 and, as a child, studied piano.
His interests included jazz and rock, and once he reached his teenage years, he played piano and
trumpet and also sang in a touring blues band. He composed a ballet at age 14 that was given a
full performance at his high school. In 1972, Goldenthal came under the influence of Aaron Copland
through an introduction by Leonard Bernstein. He stayed at Copland's house and they would play
four hands on the piano. Goldenthal, in his learning process, would continuously ask Copland
questions of every musical kind. Encouraging him in music were his house-painter father and
seamstress mother. He would lock himself in his room and listen to everything from Jimi Hendrix
to Charlie Parker to Gustav Mahler. Citing the many classical composers who indulged in
considerably varied outputs, he claimed that it is a healthy thing for a composer to be skilled
in eclectic and dynamic styles.
With his first major influence being Louis Armstrong, Goldenthal attended the prestigious Manhattan
School of Music, where he was a student with both Copland and John Corigliano. Soon, his idol would
be legendary composer Bernard Herrmann. After earning both his Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in
musical composition, he would write extensively for full orchestras as well as chamber and
vocal compositions being published by G. Schirmer. His talents and education have led to a
successful career on the small stage, and he now divides his time between composing for films,
theatre and the concert hall. Goldenthal's film career began in 1979 with the score for
Cocaine Cowboys. After a ten year interval he scored the first of his major movies,
Pet Sematary, in 1989. His mastery of a wide variety of styles and types of instrumentation
has made him a competent choice to score projects in many genres of film.
In 1980, a mutual friend arranged for Goldenthal to meet the director Julie Taymor, saying, "I know
a person whose work is just as grotesque as yours." The match was a success; Goldenthal rose to
prominence in 1988 for his Obie Award-winning work on "Juan Darien: A Carnival Mass," a
collaboration with Taymor, who would become his wife. The popular, critically acclaimed theatrical
oratorio was based on the short story of Horacio Quiroga and the Requiem Mass. First performed in
New York City, it subsequently toured festivals in Edinburgh, France, Jerusalem, Montreal, and
San Francisco, garnering the American Arts and Letters Richard Rogers Award and the Critics Choice
Award at the Edinburgh Festival in 1990. The following year, Goldenthal also scored Gus Van Sant's
film
Drugstore Cowboy, continuing to alternate between stage and screen throughout his
early career.
In 1990, he composed "Shadow Play Scherzo," commissioned by ASCAP in honor of Leonard Bernstein's
70th birthday. The piece was performed by the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra at Town Hall in New
York City. Later that year, he was commissioned to compose a new work for the Haydn-Mozart
Chamber Orchestra commemorating the 75th anniversary of Ebbets Field, former home of the Brooklyn
Dodgers baseball team. Titled "Pastime Variations," it was performed at the Brooklyn Academy of
Music that same year. His other stage credits include the musical "The Transposed Heads" (based
on Thomas Mann's novella, performed at Lincoln Center Theater and the American Music Theater
Festival in Philadelphia), "The King Stag" at the American Repertory Theater, and the musical
"Liberty's Taken" (produced at the Castle Hill Festival). Goldenthal has also composed incidental
music for Shakespeare's "The Tempest," "The Taming of the Shrew," "Titus Andronicus," and "A Mid
Summer Night's Dream."
Goldenthal returned to film in 1992 with his score to David Fincher's
Alien 3, and earned
his first Academy Award nomination for his work on Neil Jordan's 1994 film
Interview With
the Vampire. He and Jordan remained regular collaborators in the years to follow, teaming on
pictures including
Michael Collins (for which he would receive his second Oscar nomination),
The Butcher Boy,
In Dreams, and
The Good Thief. In 1995, Goldenthal would
replace Danny Elfman as the composer of the
Batman film franchise, scoring
Batman
Forever and
Batman & Robin. Arguably Goldenthal's most acclaimed project is 1996's
"Fire Paper Water," an oratorio commissioned by the Pacific Symphony Orchestra in honor of the
20th anniversary of the Vietnam War; the Sony Classical recording of the piece featured soloist
Yo-Yo Ma. The oratorio received its East Coast debut with Seiji Ozawa conducting the Boston
Symphony Orchestra in critically acclaimed performances in Boston, in New York at Carnegie Hall,
and at the Kennedy Center.
After reuniting with Taymor on a limited New York stage adaptation of the Carlo Gozzi fable,
"The Green Bird," Goldenthal was commissioned in 1997 by the American Ballet Theatre to compose
a ballet inspired by Shakespeare's "Othello." It debuted at the Metropolitan Opera that year and
was eventually released on DVD in 2003. Choreographed by Lar Lubovitch, it one of the most
acclaimed events of the 1997 dance season. In 1999, Goldenthal would score Taymor's first feature
film,
Titus, providing a diverse musical piece that the composer considers a strong
compilation of his styles. Following a massive score for the film adaptation of the
Final
Fantasy video games in 2001, Goldenthal would once again collaborate with Taymor for
Frida in 2002, for which Goldenthal would receive an Academy Award win.
Along with his Oscar recognition, Goldenthal has received Grammy nominations for
Batman
Forever and
A Time to Kill in successive years. He would receive nominations for the
Chicago Film Critics Award for
Michael Collins,
Heat, and The Butcher Boy
(also in successive years). In 1998, Goldenthal was honored with the prestigious L.A. Film Critics
Award for Best Original Score for his work on
The Butcher Boy as well. His other awards
include the Arturo Toscanini Award, the New Music for Young Ensembles composition prize, the
Stephen Sondheim Award in Music Theater and New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship. Living most
of the time in New York, Goldenthal continues to maintain his presence on and off the big screen.
Julie Taymor and Elliot Goldenthal, 2003
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