James Horner, Film Composer for 'Titanic' and 'Braveheart,' Dies in Plane Crash

Hollywood Reporter WIKIPEDIA VIDEO: The music of James Horner

James Roy Horner (August 14, 1953 – June 22, 2015) was an American composer, conductor and orchestrator of film scores. He was known for the integration of choral and electronic elements in many of his film scores, and for frequent use of Celtic musical elements. Horner was an accomplished concert hall composer before he moved into writing film scores. His first major film score was for the 1979 film The Lady in Red, but did not establish himself as a mainstream composer until he worked on the 1982 film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Horner's score for Titanic is the best selling orchestral film soundtrack of all time while Titanic and Avatar, both directed by James Cameron, are the two highest-grossing films of all time. Horner collaborated on multiple projects with directors Jean-Jacques Annaud, Mel Gibson, Walter Hill, Ron Howard and Joe Johnston. Horner composed music for over 100 films, and won two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, three Satellite Awards, three Saturn Awards and was nominated for three British Academy Film Awards.

Gunther Schuller, Composer Who Synthesized Classical and Jazz, Dies at 89

NYTimes Obit

 Gunther Schuller (November 22, 1925 – June 21, 2015) was an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, and jazz musician.

    WIKIPEDIA     

Ronald Wilford, Manager of Legendary Maestros, Dies at 87

Ronald A. Wilford, a spotlight-shunning manager who became one of the most powerful figures in classical music in the second half of the 20th century....

NYTimes Obit

COLUMBIA ARTISTS MANAGEMENT, INC

James Last, 86

His numerous albums best-sellers in Germany and the United Kingdom. His composition "Happy Heart" became an international success in interpretations by Andy Williams and Petula Clark. According to British Hit Singles & Albums (2006), he is reported to have sold over 100 million albums worldwide. Last's trademark sound employed big band arrangements of well-known tunes with a jaunty dance beat, often heavy on bass and brass

Official website...|... NYTimes

VIDEO: James Last, his orchestra & singers perform live at the BBC TV Studios, London on 15th October 1976.

 

Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015)

Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015) was an American jazz saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s, a term he invented with the name of an album. Coleman's timbre was easily recognized: his keening, crying sound drew heavily on blues music. His album Sound Grammar received the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for music. WIKIPEDIA


NYTimes Obit VIDEO: Ornette Coleman Sextet - Free Jazz 

Voice of The MET, Margaret Juntwait (March 18, 1957 – June 3, 2015) was an American radio broadcaster

Ms. Juntwait, who became the Met’s third radio host in 2004, hosting 229 Saturday radio broadcasts, also presided over 898 broadcasts on the Met’s satellite-radio channel.
  NYTimes Obit
 Margaret Juntwait (March 18, 1957 – June 3, 2015) was an American radio broadcaster, and the voice of the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts. She debuted in this position on December 11, 2004, replacing Peter Allen upon his retirement after twenty-nine years. WIKIPEDIA


VIDEO: Maestro Fabio Luisi, in conversaon with Margaret Juntwait, May 7, 2013