James Horner | Artist
James Horner was an American composer born 1953 in Los Angeles, California. He worked on more than 160 high profile film and television productions between 1978 and 2015, winning two Academy Awards for musical composition. He was known for the integration of choral and electronic elements alongside traditional orchestrations, and for his use of motifs associated with Celtic music. Horner's sountrack to James Cameron's Titanic became the best-selling orchestral film soundtrack of all time, and he wrote the score for the highest-grossing film of all time, Cameron's Avatar. Horner, who was an avid pilot, was killed at the age of 61, in a crash while flying solo his Short Tucano aircraft. Horner's parents were both immigrants whose families fled Europe at the onset of Nazi jewish persecution. His father Harry worked as a set designer and art director and his brother Christopher is a writer and documentary filmmaker. James started playing piano and violin at the age of five, spending his early years in London, attending the Royal College of Music, studying under György Ligeti. He returned to America, where he attended Verde Valley School in Sedona, Arizona, and later received his bachelor's degree in music from USC California. After earning a master's degree, he worked on his doctorate on music theory at UCLA, where he studied with Paul Chihara. Horner's first credits as a feature-film composer were for B-movie director and producer Roger Corman. 1979's The Lady in Red was followed by 1980's Humanoids from the Deep and Battle Beyond the Stars. As his work gained notice in Hollywood, Horner was invited to take on larger projects. His big break came in 1982 when he was asked to score Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, establishing him as an A-list Hollywood composer. Horner continued writing high-profile film scores in the 1980s, including 48 Hrs, Krull, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Commando, Cocoon, Aliens, Willow, Glory, and Field of Dreams. Cocoon was the first of his many collaborations with director Ron Howard. In 1987, Horner's score for Aliens brought him his first Academy Award nomination. A prolific composer, Horner is credited with writing scores for more than 100 full length films, often re-working themes from previous works. From a musical perspective, a selection of standout albums includes Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), Krull (1983), Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), Cocoon (1985), Aliens (1987), Willow (1988), The Land Before Time (1988), The Rocketeer (1991), Legends of the Fall (1995), Braveheart (1995), Titanic (1997 ), The New World (2006), and Something Wicked This Way Comes (2009). Also recommended is his 2015 modern classical collaboration with composer Arvo Pärt for the Norwegian film Pas de deux. At the time of his death, Horner had scored two films yet to be released: Southpaw, a boxing drama by Antoine Fuqua and The 33, for director Patricia Riggen. A month after his death, it was discovered Horner had also written the score for the 2016 remake of The Magnificent Seven, planning it as a surprise.
Artist Website: wikipedia/James_Horner
Featured Albums: James Horner
Related Artists: Arvo Pärt
