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Lee Holdridge

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Lee Holdridge
Born
Lee Elwood Holdridge

(1944-03-03) March 3, 1944 (age 80)
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Occupations
SpouseElisa Justice
FatherLeslie Holdridge
Websitewww.leeholdridge.com

Lee Elwood Holdridge (born March 3, 1944) is a Haitian-born American composer, conductor, and orchestrator.[1] An 18-time Emmy Award nominee, he has won two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Daytime Emmy Awards, two News and Documentary Emmy Awards, and one Sports Emmy Award. He has also been nominated for two Grammy Awards.

Life and career

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Holdridge was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, of a Puerto Rican mother and an American father, Leslie Holdridge, a botanist and climatologist.[2]

While living in Costa Rica, at age ten, he studied the violin with Hugo Mariani, who was at the time the conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica. He then moved to Boston, where he finished high school and studied composition with Henry Lasker.[2] Later in New York he had numerous study consultations with composer Nicolas Flagello as well as composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim.

The move to New York City enabled Holdridge to continue his music studies and begin his career as a professional composer.[2] There, he composed chamber works, rock pieces, songs, theater music and background scores for short films, and eventually came to Neil Diamond's notice. Diamond then brought Holdridge with him to Los Angeles to write arrangements for his forthcoming albums. After several gold and platinum hits, the two collaborated on the Grammy Award winning score for producer/director Hall Bartlett's film adaptation of Jonathan Livingston Seagull.[2] Neil Diamond sued Bartlett for cutting much of his music from the film. Diamond was also against sharing musical credit with Holdridge; however, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences ruled in Holdridge's favor.[3] Bartlett was ordered to reinstate the five minutes of Diamond's music score and three of his songs, "Anthem", "Prologue", and "Dear Father", and that the onscreen credits were to state "Music and songs by Neil Diamond", "Background score composed and adapted by Neil Diamond and Lee Holdridge", and "Music supervision by Tom Catalano".[4]

Holdridge has composed and orchestrated for many films,[2] including:

He composed for several television series,[2] including:

Concert Works

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Holdridge has composed numerous concert works including:

Fantasy Chorale for Orchestra and Chorus

Concertino for Guitar and Orchestra

Scenes of Summer

Ode to Orion

The Golden Land

Jefferson Tribute, for narrator and orchestra.

Lazarus and His Beloved, opera and orchestral suite.

Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 2

Concerto for Viola and Chamber Orchestra

Concertino for Violoncello and Strings

Serenade for Oboe and Strings

Ballet Fantasy for Strings and Harp

Elegy for Harp and Strings

Hymns Triumphant 1 and 2, suites for chorus and orchestra.

Sonnet for soprano and chamber orchestra.[2]

Dulce Rosa an opera based on an Isabel Allende short story, premiered in 2013.

Trinity for the Joffrey Ballet co-authored with Alan Raph.

Journey to Cordoba, Concierto Para Mendez and Tanis in America, one act operas.

Personal life

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Holdridge is married to ex-ballet dancer Elisa Justice. She is western region audition co-director of the Metropolitan Opera National Council. She also has hosted her own classical music radio show called "Eclectic Classics" and has co-produced a new album and documentary with Milt Okun called Great Voices Sing John Denver. She won a "Best Producer" award for a documentary at the Madrid International Film Festival.

Awards and nominations

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ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards

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Year Category Nominated work Result Ref.
1988 Top TV Series Moonlighting Won
2015 Top Television Series When Calls the Heart Won

CableACE Awards

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Year Category Nominated work Results Ref.
1988 Original Score 16 Days of Glory Nominated
1989 A Friendship in Vienna Nominated
1994 Heidi Nominated

Emmy Awards

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Year Category Nominated work Results Ref.
Primetime Emmy Awards
1985 Outstanding Achievement in Music and Lyrics "Moonlighting" (from Moonlighting) Nominated [8]
1988 Outstanding Achievement in Main Title Theme Music Beauty and the Beast Nominated
Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore) Beauty and the Beast (Episode: "Once Upon a Time in the City of New York") Won
1989 Outstanding Achievement in Music and Lyrics "The First Time I Loved Forever" (from Beauty and the Beast: A Distant Shore) Won
1990 Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries or a Special (Dramatic Underscore) Do You Know the Muffin Man? Nominated
1991 Outstanding Achievement in Main Title Theme Music ABC World of Discovery Nominated
1993 Outstanding Individual Achievement in Main Title Theme Music Bob Nominated
Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music Composition for a Miniseries or a Special (Dramatic Underscore) Call of the Wild Nominated
1995 Buffalo Girls (for "Part 1") Nominated
1996 Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries or a Special The Tuskegee Airmen Nominated
1999 Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries or a Movie (Dramatic Underscore) Mutiny Nominated
2002 Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Dramatic Underscore) The Mists of Avalon (for "Part 1") Nominated
Daytime Emmy Awards
1984 Special Classification of Outstanding Individual Achievement – Music Woman to Woman Nominated
2000 Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series One Life to Live Won
2002 Nominated
2004 Nominated
2005 Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series Won
2006 Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series Nominated
2007 Nominated [9]
2008 Nominated
2010 Nominated [10]
2012 Nominated
Sports Emmy Awards
1998 Outstanding Achievement in a Craft: Music Composition/Direction/Lyrics Atlanta's Olympic Glory Won
News and Documentary Emmy Awards
1988 Outstanding Achievement in a Craft in News and Documentary Programming – Music The Explorers: A Century of Discovery Won
1991 Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Music Composition ABC World of Discovery (for "Beautiful Killers") Won

Grammy Awards

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Year Category Nominated work Results Ref.
1973 Best Instrumental Arrangement "Prologue/Crunchy Granola Suite" Nominated [11]
1987 Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television "Moonlighting" (from Moonlighting: The Television Soundtrack Album) Nominated

International Film Music Critics Association Awards

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Year Category Nominated work Result Ref.
2009 Best Original Score for a Documentary Feature Brothers at War Nominated [12]

Online Film & Television Association Awards

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Year Category Nominated work Result Ref.
2002 Best Music in a Motion Picture or Miniseries The Mists of Avalon Nominated [13]

Further reading

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  • New York Theatre Critics' Reviews: Index, 1940-1960. Original from the University of Michigan.
  • Of Love & Hope - Selections Form Beauty and the Beast By Lee Holdridge, Don Davis, Milton Okun, Larry Kenton, Edwin McLean. Published 1990, Cherry Lane Music. ISBN 0-89524-484-5

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Lee Holdridge profile". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 14, 2012. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Lee Holdridge profile". LeeHoldridge.com. 2008. Retrieved July 15, 2008.
  3. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "In Defense of JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL (1973)". YouTube. 12 June 2017.
  4. ^ "AFI|Catalog".
  5. ^ Discogs.com
  6. ^ Canby, Vincent (February 13, 1981). "'American Pop' Grown-Up Animation". The New York Times.
  7. ^ Profile Archived 2011-09-29 at the Wayback Machine, KRNV official website; accessed June 16, 2016.
  8. ^ "Lee Holdridge". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved October 22, 2023.
  9. ^ "34th Daytime Emmy Awards: Nominations". National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. March 18, 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 30, 2007. Retrieved June 16, 2007.
  10. ^ "The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announces the 37th Annual Daytime Entertainment Emmy Award nominations" (PDF). National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. May 12, 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 4, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2017.
  11. ^ "Lee Holdridge". Grammy Awards. Retrieved October 22, 2023.
  12. ^ "2009 IFMCA Awards". International Film Music Critics Association. 25 November 2010. Retrieved October 22, 2023.
  13. ^ "6th Annual TV Awards (2001-02)". Online Film & Television Association. Retrieved October 22, 2023.
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