Jonathan Beard is an American orchestrator and composer for media and the concert stage. His credits include Us, The Handmaid's Tale, Despicable Me 3, Star Wars: Battlefront II, and Wicked. Beard also works as an educator, and currently teaches at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.[1]
Jonathan Beard | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1981 (age 42–43) |
| Genres | Film score, classical, electroacoustic |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, orchestrator, educator |
| Instrument(s) | Cello, piano |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Labels | Lakeshore Records |
| Website | jonathanbeard |
Background
editBeard finished Summerfield Waldorf School in Santa Rosa in 1999. He majored in musical composition at Stanford University, and received a master's degree from UCLA.[2]
Career
editAs a composer, Beard has worked on a variety of projects for chamber music, stage performances, and visual media. His composed the music for the documentary 3 Seconds in October - The Killing of Andy Lopez, which won the Emmy Award for Societal Concerns from the San Francisco/Northern California Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.[3][4] Other recent projects include his electroacoustic suite Ritual,[5] his opera Cesare, Child of Night (OPERA UCLA premiere Fall 2021),[6] the film scores to What Still Remains, Heavenquest, and Frank vs. God; and De tu puño y letra, an electronic video-sound collaboration with artist Suzanne Lacy. He has served on the composing teams for video games such as Star Wars: Battlefront I[2] and II, and guest-composed for ABC's Once Upon a Time. For the stage, Beard co-composed the oratorio The Passion of Anne Frank for the Los Angeles Master Chorale as part of their Voices Within residency, and his original theatre-score for Driving Miss Daisy received an NAACP Theatre Award nomination.
As an orchestrator, Beard has collaborated with other composers on more than 100 film, TV, and video game titles, including Minions: The Rise of Gru, The Handmaid's Tale, King Richard, The Mandalorian, and God of War. He has worked extensively with composers such as Junkie XL (Alita: Battle Angel; Deadpool), Bear McCreary (Godzilla: King of the Monsters; 10 Cloverfield Lane), Pinar Toprak (Stargirl), Kris Bowers (Green Book), Michael Abels (Us, Nope), Heitor Pereira (Despicable Me 3),[7] among others. He is the co-founder of Tutti Music Partners,[8] a boutique orchestration firm that specializes in providing support to other composers throughout the industry.
Beard has often talked about his passion for musical color extending into synthesis and sound design.[9] He has many hybrid and fully electronic projects to his name, including Cesare, Child Of Night; A Killer of Men; and his electroacoustic commission for the Pacific Symphony, Chaos in the Garden: A Rewrite of Spring.
In 2011 he joined the faculty at his alma mater, UCLA, where he teaches electronic music composition and music technology in the Herb Alpert School of Music. Beard has also worked extensively throughout the Los Angeles Area,[10] working as co-conductor of the LA’s Best-ETM LA After-School Youth Orchestra, as a lecturer for the Cal State Northridge music department, and with the Pacific Symphony to help educate casual symphonic listeners about orchestration.[11]
Works
edit| Year | Title | Genre | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 12 | Feature film | Lawrence Bridges | |
| 2005 | California and the American Dream | TV mini-series, documentary | Jed Riffe | 1 episode |
| 2007 | The Heckler | Short | Jim Kohn | |
| The Depressed Rapper | Short | Jim Kohn | ||
| Eddie Pepitone's Ransom | Short | Jim Kohn | ||
| Dark and Bloody Ground | Documentary | Alex Farnsley, Kevin Gordon King | ||
| 2008 | Rest Stop: Don't Look Back | Feature film | Shawn Papazian | Special features |
| Ski Patrol | TV series | Jeff Jenkins | 2 episodes, additional music | |
| 2009 | Stories from Baghdad USA | Documentary | Alex Farnsley, Kevin Gordon King | |
| Twirl | Short | Mira Lew | ||
| Deep Sea Salvage | TV series | Bryan Stratte | 4 episodes, additional music | |
| 2010 | Bike Love | Short | Martine Charnow | |
| Is She Really Going Out with Him? | TV series | Mark S. Jacobs | 1 episode, additional music | |
| Pit Boss | TV series | T.G. Matthews, Terrence Hayes | 3 episodes, additional music | |
| New Kids Turbo | Feature film | Steffen Haars, Flip Van der Kuil | ||
| The Millionaire Matchmaker | TV series | Greg Matthews, Keith Koslov | 16 episodes, additional music | |
| 2011 | Library of Dust | Documentary short | Ondi Timoner, Robert James | |
| So You Think You Can Dance | TV series | Don Weiner, Nigel Lythgoe | 1 episode, additional music | |
| The Heineken Kidnapping | Feature film | Maarten Treurniet | Additional music | |
| 2012 | Three Days (of Hamlet) | Documentary | Alex Hyde-White | |
| The Luckiest Man Alive | Short | Matthew C. Temple | ||
| 2014 | Frank vs. God | Feature film | Stewart Schill | Additional music |
| Manny in Real Life | TV series | Salvador Paniagua | 10 episodes (2014-2015) | |
| Justice League: War | Feature film, animation | Jay Oliva | Additional music | |
| 2015 | A Killer of Men | Short | Gregg Meller | |
| Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire | Video game | Ben Irving, Jesse Skye | ||
| Frieda's Turn | Short | Jay J. Levy | ||
| Once Upon a Time | TV series | Geofrey Hildrew, Eagle Egilsson | 2 episodes, additional music | |
| Star Wars: Battlefront | Video game | Hez Chorba | Additional music | |
| 2017 | Star Wars: Battlefront II | Video game | Hez Chorba, Bernd Diemer | Additional music |
| 2018 | What Still Remains | Feature film | Josh Mendoza | |
| 2020 | Heavenquest: A Pilgrim's Progress | Feature film | Matt Bilen | |
| 2021 | 3 Seconds in October | Documentary | Ron Rogers | |
| TBA | Persephone Speaks: The Forgotten Women of Bosnia | Documentary | Ivana Kelley | Theme music, in post-production |
References
edit- ^ "Jonathan Beard". The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. Retrieved 2022-08-23.
- ^ a b "Santa Rosa native makes music for movies like 'Deadpool,' 'Green Book'". Santa Rosa Press Democrat. 2020-03-13. Retrieved 2022-08-23.
- ^ "Jonathan Beard Receives Emmy® Award for Documentary Score". The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. 2022-08-04. Retrieved 2022-08-23.
- ^ "Sonoma County documentary about Andy Lopez shooting wins regional Emmy Award". Santa Rosa Press Democrat. 2022-06-13. Retrieved 2022-08-23.
- ^ "RITUAL". Jonathan Beard. Retrieved 2021-10-03.
- ^ Rabinowitz, Chloe. "OPERA UCLA to Present Virtual Livestream World Premiere of CESARE, CHILD OF NIGHT". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
- ^ "UCLA music lecturer thrives on collaborative process of film scoring". Daily Bruin. Retrieved 2022-08-23.
- ^ "Tutti Music Partners". Tutti Music Partners. Retrieved 2021-10-03.
- ^ "Ritual Review - Huntley Dent of Fanfare". Jonathan Beard. Retrieved 2022-01-12.
- ^ "Jonathan Beard". LA Phil. Retrieved 2022-08-23.
- ^ "Classically Trained: Appeal for the casual listener as well". Daily Pilot. 2010-10-18. Retrieved 2022-08-23.
- ^ "KONG: SKULL ISLAND". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2022-08-23.