Jonathan Tunick

SpouseLeigh BeeryAwardsEGOT

Jonathan Tunick (born April 19, 1938, New York City) is an American orchestrator, musical director, and composer, and one of nineteen of the "EGOT" – people to have won all four major American show business awards: the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony.^[1] He is best known for orchestrating the works of Stephen Sondheim, their collaboration starting in 1970 with Company and continuing until Sondheim's death in 2021.

Biography

Tunick graduated from Hunter College Elementary School, the LaGuardia Performing Arts High School, and holds degrees from Bard College and the Juilliard School.^[1] Tunick's principal instrument is the clarinet.^[2]

Much of his work has arisen from his involvement in theatre, and he is associated especially with the musicals of Stephen Sondheim.^[3] Sondheim said of Tunick's work: "'I think he's tops'..." and further noted that "Tunick is a standout in his field not only because of his musicianship and imagination, but primarily because of 'his great sensitivity to theatrical atmosphere'".^[4]

Tunick also has a band, the "Broadway Moonlighters", which played at Birdland in March 2012^[2] and in 2008 with Barbara Cook as his special guest.^[5] He has worked as an arranger and/or conductor on recordings with Judy Collins, Kiri Te Kanawa, Brian Asawa, Sir Neville Mariner, Itzhak Perlman, Plácido Domingo, Johnny Mathis, Barbra Streisand, Paul McCartney, and Bernadette Peters.^[6] In his review of the Bernadette Peters recording Bernadette Peters Loves Rodgers and Hammerstein (Angel Records, 2002), John Kenrick wrote: "Jonathan Tunick provides the brilliant arrangements."^[7] Tunick won the Grammy Award as "Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s)/Best Background Arrangement" for his work on the song "No One Is Alone" from the Cleo Laine album Cleo Laine Sings Sondheim (RCA Victor, 1987).^[8]

Tunick won the first Tony Award for Best Orchestrations that was awarded, in 1997, for Titanic.^[3][9]

In addition to the other awards, he has won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations three times and won a Drama Desk Special Award in 1982.

Tunick was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in January 2009.^[10]

Personal life

Tunick is married to actress Leigh Beery^[1] (also known as "Lee Beery"), who appeared in the television soap opera Dark Shadows in 1971.^[11]

Work

Stage

Sources - AllMusic;^[12] Internet Broadway Database^[13]

Filmography

Sources - AllMusic;^[12] Internet Movie Database^[25]

• The Twelve Chairs - 1970 - musical director, orchestrator
• Blazing Saddles - 1974 - orchestrator
• Young Frankenstein - 1974 - orchestrator
• The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother - 1975 - orchestrator
• A Little Night Music - 1977 - composer orchestrator, conductor (winner, Academy Award)
• Columbo: Murder Under Glass - 1978 - (television) - composer, conductor
• Flying High - 1978 - (television) - composer, conductor
• 3 by Cheever: "O Youth and Beauty", "The Sorrows of Gin" and 3 by Cheever: The 5:48 - 1979 - (television) - composer, conductor
• Rendezvous Hotel - 1979 - (television) - composer, conductor
• Swan Song - 1980 - (television) - composer, conductor
• Blinded by the Light - 1980 - (television) - composer, conductor
• The Jilting of Granny Weatherall - 1980 - (television) - composer, conductor
• Fort Apache the Bronx - 1981 - composer, conductor
• Endless Love - 1981 - composer, conductor
• Reds - 1981 - orchestrator
• The Shady Hill Kidnapping - 1982 - (television) - composer, conductor
• Night of 100 Stars - 1982 - (television) - music arranger
• Sweeney Todd - 1982 - (television) - orchestrator
• Alice in Wonderland - 1983 - (television) - composer, conductor
• I Am the Cheese - 1983 - composer, conductor
• Murder, She Wrote - 1984 - (television) - series composer, conductor
• Concealed Enemies - 1984 - (television) - composer, conductor
• Brotherly Love - 1985 - (television) - composer, conductor^[26]
• Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories - 1985 - (television) - series composer, conductor
• The B.R.A.T. Patrol - 1986 - (television) - composer, conductor^[27]
• American Masters - 1986 - (television) - composer (theme only)
• You Ruined My Life - 1987 - (television) - composer, conductor
• Into the Woods - 1991 - (television) - orchestrator
• Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall - 1993 (televised) (concert in 1992) - (television) - orchestrator^[28]
• The Last Good Time - 1994 - composer, conductor
• The Birdcage - 1996 - music arranger and adapter, composer, conductor
• Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh - 1998 - (television) - orchestrator
• The Fantasticks - 2000 - music adaptor and arranger, conductor
• Find Me Guilty - 2006 - composer, conductor
• Sweeney Todd (Tim Burton film) - 2007 - music adaptor and orchestrator
• Into the Woods - 2014 - orchestrator
• Beauty and the Beast - 2017 - orchestrator

Awards and nominations

Academy Awards

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
1977	Best Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Adaptation Score	A Little Night Music	Won	[29]

Drama Desk Awards

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
1982	Drama Desk Special Award		Honoree	[30]
1984	Outstanding Orchestrations	Baby	Nominated	[31]
1988		Into the Woods	Nominated	[32]
1994		Passion	Won	[33]
1997		Titanic	Won	[34]
1999		Captains Courageous	Nominated	[35]
2000		Saturday Night	Nominated	[36]
2001		Follies	Nominated	[37]
2002		Elaine Stritch: At Liberty	Nominated	[38]
2007		The Apple Tree	Nominated	[39]
		LoveMusik	Won
2008		A Catered Affair	Nominated	[40]
2014		A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder	Nominated	[41]
2018		Carousel	Won	[42]
		Pacific Overtures	Nominated
2020		West Side Story	Nominated	[43]

Grammy Awards

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
1981	Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special	Endless Love: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack	Nominated	[44]
1988	Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s)	"No One is Alone"	Won

Primetime Emmy Awards

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
1982	Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction	Night of 100 Stars	Won	[45]
1984		Live from Lincoln Center (Episode: "Marilyn Horne's Great American Songbook")	Nominated
	Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Limited Series or a Special (Dramatic Underscore)	American Playhouse (Episode: "Concealed Enemies")	Nominated
1989	Outstanding Achievement in Main Title Theme Music	Tattingers	Nominated
1993	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Main Title Theme Music	Love & War	Nominated

Tony Awards

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
1997	Best Orchestrations	Titanic	Won	[46]
2000		Marie Christine	Nominated	[47]
2001		Follies	Nominated	[48]
2003		Nine	Nominated	[49]
2005		Pacific Overtures	Nominated	[50]
2007		110 in the Shade	Nominated	[51]
		LoveMusik	Nominated
2008		A Catered Affair	Nominated	[52]
2010		Promises, Promises	Nominated	[53]
2014		A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder	Nominated	[54]
2018		Carousel	Nominated	[55]

See also

• List of music arrangers

References

External links

• Jonathan Tunick at the Internet Broadway Database
• Jonathan Tunick at IMDb
• Jonathan Tunick Interview NAMM Oral History Library (2021)