Adrienne Arsht Center and Frost School of Music collaborate on a concert series that brings movie music to the community.

By UM News

The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County and the University of Miami Frost School of Music have forged a new community collaboration to showcase exciting music from iconic motion pictures, in a “live-to-picture format” performed by the Frost School’s Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra.

The inaugural concert, From The Dark Knight to The Hunger Games—The Movie Music of James Newton Howard, will be presented on Friday, February 19 in the John S. and James L. Knight Concert Hall at the Arsht Center. James Newton Howard, who began his term as the new artistic director of the Henry Mancini Institute in January, will conduct. It is his first appearance with the orchestra since the institute moved to Miami in 2008. In addition, filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan will make a guest appearance at the concert, in conjunction with music to The Sixth Sense, composed by Howard. The dean of the Frost School of Music, pianist Shelly Berg, also will make a cameo appearance.

Howard is a Grammy-winning and eight-time Oscar-nominated composer whose music resonates with young moviegoers. The new movie music concert series aims to introduce younger audience members to orchestral music in an exciting new format with scene excerpts from iconic movies such as The Hunger Games, The Dark Knight, Snow White and the Huntsman, King Kong, Water for Elephants, and Pretty Woman, shown on a large screen while the music is performed live by a vibrant, youthful orchestra.

The average age of students performing in the Henry Mancini Institute is 24.

“Most of our orchestra members grew up with these movies, and love the music,” said Berg. “They are eager to perform it, especially with the composer on the podium. The opportunity to learn first hand from a film composer about the recording process, and the protocol in the studio, will be invaluable. For this concert, James also plans to debut several medleys of themes presented in new suites, which will also be an amazing experience for the performers, and the community.”

Liz Wallace, vice president of programming at the Arsht Center, said it’s the center’s mission “to present innovative programming that is unique to attract new audiences and to keep our loyal arts patrons interested, entertained, and excited. Concerts such as The Movie Music of James Newton Howard allow audiences to experience something they already love in a brand new way. It is an opportunity for film buffs, symphony lovers. and fans of all ages to reconnect with their favorite movies and listen to stirring scores of music in a natural setting such as the acoustically superb Knight Concert Hall.”

“The pairing of music with motion pictures is powerful, emotional and memorable,” Howard said. “I’m looking forward to sharing a retrospective of some of my most popular film scores with the community, and helping to create a new audience for live music through my life’s work. I hope this community collaboration with the Arsht Center and the Henry Mancini Institute will inspire a new generation of concert goers to discover live orchestral music, perhaps for some for the very first time. I’m looking forward to experiencing this new live-to-picture format myself. My goal is to impart the same excitement I feel when I hear and see my music synced with the film footage for the very first time. It is indescribable.”

The Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra is highly popular throughout South Florida for its outstanding musicianship and genre-blending focus. It is the resident orchestra of the highly popular Jazz Roots series at the Adrienne Arsht Center, founded by producer Larry Rosen, and also has appeared several times at the Dr. Phillips Center in Orlando and at the Boca Festival of the Arts at the Mizner Park Ampitheater. It has appeared on several PBS television specials including the acclaimed Jazz and the Philharmonic concert, produced in conjunction with the National YoungArts Foundation, Frost School of Music, Larry Rosen Productions, and the Arsht Center.

The Arsht Center is currently celebrating its momentous 10th anniversary season. Spotlighting legends and serving as a launch pad for local artists to make their mark on the international stage, the Arsht Center presents nearly 500 events each year across its eight flexible, state-of-the-art performance spaces. The center programs 12 signature series, including the largest jazz series in South Florida, the biggest flamenco festival on the East Coast, and a robust program of new theatrical works as well as free programming for the community and an arts education program that serves nearly 30,000 children each year.

The Phillip and Patricia Frost School of Music at the University of Miami is one of the largest, most comprehensive and relevant in all of higher education. With over 700 students and 100 faculty it a top choice for instrumental, keyboard, contemporary, jazz, and vocal performance as well as composition, music business, music education, music engineering technology, music therapy, and more. The mission of the Frost School of Music is to foster musical leadership by providing an innovative, relevant, and inspiring education; advance performance, creativity and scholarship; and enrich the world community with meaningful outreach and brilliant cultural offerings.

James Newton Howard / Photo by Wim Lippens

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (April 15, 2015)—James Newton Howard, one of the most versatile and respected composers working in film today, was named the new artistic director of the Frost School of Music’s Henry Mancini Institute.

Howard succeeds film composer, arranger, and multi-Grammy Award-winning trumpeter and bandleader Terence Blanchard, who has served with distinction as artistic director for the past seven years. Howard’s term will begin in January 2016. An inaugural large-scale concert featuring Howard’s original film music is planned for Spring 2016 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County.

“The Frost School is very fortunate to welcome James Newton Howard, one of the greatest and most significant film composers over the last 30 years, to oversee the artistic direction of the Henry Mancini Institute,” Frost School Dean Shelton G. Berg said. “James’ experience at the highest level of music making will be invaluable to an educational institution that places real-world excellence at the heart of its activities.”

To date, Howard has received eight Oscar nominations, including six for Best Original Score for his work on Defiance, Michael Clayton, The Village, The Fugitive, The Prince of Tides, and My Best Friend’s Wedding. He also was nominated for Best Original Song for the films Junior and One Fine Day.

Howard, along with Hans Zimmer, won the 2009 Grammy Award for the score for The Dark Knight. He also has received Grammy Award nominations for music from Blood Diamond, Dinosaur, Signs, and the song from One Fine Day. In addition, he won an Emmy Award for the theme to the Andre Braugher series Gideon’s Crossing, and received two additional Emmy nominations for the themes to the long-running Warner Bros. series ER and the Ving Rhames series Men. Howard has also been nominated four times for Golden Globe Awards for his massive orchestral score for Peter Jackson’s blockbuster remake of King Kong; for the songs from Junior and One Fine Day; and for his provocative symphonic score for Defiance.

“Henry Mancini was one of my great musical heroes, and I am delighted and honored to serve as artistic director of the Henry Mancini Institute,” Howard said. “I’m eager to begin working with the talented students at Frost School of Music and engage them in an ever-evolving musical world.”

During Blanchard’s term as artistic director, the Mancini Institute Orchestra was named resident orchestra of the popular Jazz Roots series produced by Larry Rosen and the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County. The HMI Orchestra also performed in three PBS television specials and one HBO special, and recorded multiple CD/DVD projects with international superstars such as George Benson, Gloria Estefan, Chick Corea, and Bobby McFerrin. In 2009, the Henry Mancini Institute received a $500,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to expand the Frost School’s community engagement throughout the South Florida region, and received matching grants from performing arts philanthropists Ginny Mancini and Adrienne Arsht.

Howard will continue the Mancini Institute’s mission to bring genre-blending recording and performance opportunities to more than 65 auditioned Mancini Fellows, plus interactive experiences to all 700 students enrolled at the Frost School. He also will elevate the Mancini Institute’s worldwide reputation through new multimedia and collaborative opportunities.

In addition to his eight Oscar nominations and Grammy Award and nominations, Howard received the 2008 World Soundtrack Award for Film Composer of the Year for his work on the films Charlie Wilson’s War, Michael Clayton, and I Am Legend. He has received the Soundtrack of the Year Award from the Classical BRIT Awards for The Dark Knight (2009) and Blood Diamond (2008). In 2009 he received the Special 5^th Anniversary GoldSpirit Award for Best Composer of the Last 5 years (2004-2008) from the Úbeda Film Music Conference in Spain. He has had two concert pieces premiere with the Pacific Symphony—I Would Plant a Tree, performed in February 2009, and most recently his Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, performed in March 2015, featuring renowned violinist James Ehnes.

Howard, who has been honored with ASCAP’s prestigious Henry Mancini Award for Lifetime Achievement, now has more than 120 films to his credit. Among them are all of M. Night Shyamalan’s films, including The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, The Village, Lady in the Water and The Last Airbender. His other wide-ranging credits include all three installments of The Hunger Games, Maleficent, Nightcrawler, Snow White and the Huntsman, The Bourne Legacy, Salt, Water for Elephants, Gnomeo & Juliet, Batman Begins, Collateral, Snow Falling on Cedars, Outbreak, Hidalgo, Peter Pan, Wyatt Earp, Freedomland, Treasure Planet, Falling Down, Primal Fear, Glengarry Glen Ross, Waterworld, The Devil’s Advocate, Dave, and Pretty Woman among many others.

Howard’s success reflects the experiences of a rich musical past. Inspired by his grandmother, a classical violinist who played in the Pittsburgh Symphony in the ’30s and ’40s, he began his studies on the piano at age four. After studying at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, and at the USC Thornton School of Music as a piano major, he completed his formal education with orchestration study under legendary arranger Marty Paich.

Though his training was classical, he maintained an interest in rock and pop music, and it was his early work in the pop arena that allowed him to hone his talents as a musician, arranger, songwriter, and producer. He racked up a string of collaborations in the studio and on the road with some of pop’s biggest names, including Elton John; Crosby, Stills & Nash; Barbra Streisand; Earth, Wind and Fire; Bob Seger; Rod Stewart; Toto; Glenn Frey; Diana Ross; Carly Simon; Olivia Newton-John; Randy Newman; Rickie Lee Jones; Cher; and Chaka Khan.

When he was offered his first film, Head Office, in 1985, he knew he had found his calling. His upcoming projects include Francis Lawrence’s final installment of The Hunger Games – Mockingjay, Part 2 and Peter Landesman’s Concussion.

Virginia "Ginny" Mancini has made a $500,000 pledge to the Frost School's Henry Mancini Institute.

The University of Miami’s Phillip and Patricia Frost School of Music has received a $500,000 pledge from Los Angeles-based music philanthropist Virginia “Ginny” Mancini. The gift, part of Momentum2: The Breakthrough Campaign for the University of Miami, will support the artistic director position of the Henry Mancini Institute at the Frost School, which is currently held by multi-Grammy Award-winning film composer and jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard.

Now in its fourth season at the Frost School of Music, the Henry Mancini Institute (HMI) brings engaging cross-genre orchestra and chamber music performances to the South Florida community through its HMI Outbound community engagement program. Each year more than 65 Mancini Fellows, who are primarily graduate students, are supported in part by a $500,000 three-year grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and a $500,000 matching gift by University of Miami national trustee and business leader Adrienne Arsht. Individual patrons in the “Moon River Society” also support the HMI mission with additional scholarship funding for Mancini Fellows. Read the full story