Lalo Schifrin to Receive Society Career Achievement Award

LALO SCHIFRIN TO
RECEIVE SOCIETY CAREER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD OCTOBER 6, 2000

Stephen M. Fry to receive FMS Film Music Preservation Award

Elmer Bernstein, President of The Film Music Society is pleased to announce that Lalo Schifrin has agreed to receive the Society's 2000 Career Achievement Award at a Gala Dinner to take place Friday night, October 6 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, Hollywood, California. Also that evening, the Society's Film Music Preservation Award will be presented to UCLA Music Librarian Stephen M. Fry for his outstanding work in developing that university's film music collection and making it accessible to researchers. Lalo Schifrin is one of the most versatile composers on the scene today. As a pianist, composer and conductor, he is equally at home conducting a symphony orchestra, performing at an international jazz festival, scoring a film or television show, or creating works for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra or the London Philharmonic.

Born in Argentina, Lalo was classically trained from an early age by his father, Luis Schifrin, concertmaster of the Orchestra of the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. While attending the Conservatory in Paris, Lalo led a double life: he would study classical music during the week and jam with Europe's hottest jazz players on the weekend.

When Schifrin returned to Buenos Aires in the mid 1950's, he formed his own big band. When the legendary trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie heard Lalo play, Dizzy brought Lalo to New York to be his pianist and arranger. As a jazz musician he has performed with such great personalities as Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Getz, and Count Basie.

A prolific composer, Schifrin has written more than 100 scores for film and television, garnering four Grammy awards out of 20 Grammy nominations, one ACE, and six Oscar nominations. Among Schifrin's well known scores are: Mission Impossible, Cool Hand Luke, The Competition, Dirty Harry, The Fox Bullitt, Rush Hour, and Tango.

Schifrin has performed in the world's greatest concert halls: Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Los Angeles Music Center, the Concertgebouw, Royal Festival Hall, Teatro Colon, Salle Pleyel, and the Champs Elysee Theatre, as well as at all the major jazz festivals in the United States and Europe.

Schifrin's classical works include “Cantos Aztecas” recorded by Placido Domingo with orchestra and choir; “Piano Concerto No. 2” commissioned by the Steinway Foundation, performed by Mstislav Rostopovich and Cristina Ortiz; “Guitar Concerto” recorded by Angel Romero with the London Philharmonic; “Dances Concertantes” for clarinet and orchestra performed by David Shifrin; and “Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra” recorded by Gary Karr and the Paris Philharmonic.

The Three Tenors, Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo, and Luciano Pavarotti, commissioned Schifrin to write all three of the Grand Finale concerts celebrating the World Soccer Championships: Italy in 1990; Los Angeles in 1994; and Paris in 1998. Schifrin's contribution was to arrange the medleys featuring all three of the Tenors singing together. This highly successful series of recordings have enticed many new fans into the world of classical music. Schifrin has arranged the music for two highly acclaimed Christmas programs: “Christmas in Vienna” in 1992 with Diana Ross, Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo, and also “A Celebration of Christmas” in 1995 with Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo and Natalie Cole.

Beginning in 1993, Schifrin has been featured as composer, pianist and conductor for his ongoing series of “Jazz Meets the Symphony” recordings. These works have featured the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra and such jazz stars as Ray Brown, Grady Tate, Jon Faddis, Paquito D'Rivera, James Morrison, and Jeff Hamilton. The “Jazz Meets the Symphony Collection” contains the first four releases and has garnered three Grammy nominations.

Other recepients of the Society's Career Achievement Award include Miklós Rózsa, David Raksin, Alex North, George Duning, Ernest Gold, Elmer Bernstein, John Williams, Henry Mancini, Jerry Goldsmith, Ennio Morricone, Hans Salter, Toru Takemitsu, Stephen Sondheim, Maurice Jarre and Laurence Rosenthal.

Stephen M. Fry is celebrating his 25th year as music librarian at UCLA, which now has one of the largest collections in the world of film and television music, thanks in part to Steve's vision and hard work. He has contributed several hundred articles to the literature of music and librarianship, ranging from brief reviews to scholarly articles and monographs, including many important articles on film and television music. He served as Secretary of The Film Music Society's Board of Trustees for a decade. He is also well known in the Los Angeles area as the leader of The Westside Jazz Ensemble, based in Culver City. Other recepients of the Society's Film Music Preservation Award include Gillian Anderson,Marilee Bradford, Herschel Burke Gilbert, JoAnn Kane, Nick Redman, Fred Steiner, Eldridge Walker, John Waxman, and Leslie Zador.

The Career Achievement Award Dinner is the Society' s annual fundraising event and the proceeds benefit the Society's film music preservation projects. The evening will begin with cocktails at 6:30 pm and dinner at 7:30 pm in the historic Blossom Room. For reservations and ticket information, contact the Society at 818-248-5775 or toll free at 1-877-995-5775. Congratulatory messages are being accepted for the evening's program booklet. The producer of the event is FMS's Executive Director, Jeannie Pool.