David Newman

David Newman is one of today’s most accomplished creators of music for film. In his 30-year career, he has scored more than 110 films, from War of the Roses, Matilda, Bowfinger, and Heathers to the more recent Girls Trip, Night School, and Serenity. His music has brought to life the critically acclaimed dramas Brokedown Palace and Hoffa; comedies such as Galaxy Quest and Throw Momma from the Train; and award-winning animated films Ice Age, The Brave Little Toaster, and Anastasia. He holds an Academy Award nomination for Anastasia. In 2021, after a decade of conducting numerous live music-to-film concerts for the classic West Side Story film, Newman arranged the score for Steven Spielberg’s bold new reimagining of the legendary Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim musical, earning him a Grammy nomination in 2022. As a highly sought-after conductor, Newman appears with leading orchestras throughout the world including the New York and Los Angeles philharmonics, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, and Cleveland Orchestra. In fall 2017, Newman conducted the world premiere of the New York Philharmonic's concert series featuring John Williams’s epic film music for Star Wars Episodes IV, V, VI, and VII. In summer 2020, he conducted the world premiere of his score Galaxy Quest live with the San Diego Symphony during Comic-Con, and in fall 2021 the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures invited him to Los Angeles to conduct their inaugural concerts of The Wizard of Oz live to picture with the American Youth Symphony. The son of nine-time Oscar-winning composer Alfred Newman, Newman's lifelong zeal has been the creation and conducting of music. An active composer for the concert hall, he has composed works that have been performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and Long Beach Symphony, as well as at the Ravinia Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, and Chicago’s Grant Park Music Festival. He also composed a violin-orchestra suite for prodigious Korean American violinist Sarah Chang based on the songs from West Side Story. Passionate about nurturing the next generation of musicians, Newman has served on the faculty of the Aspen Music Festival in the film scoring program. Newman and his wife Krystyna have two girls, Diana and stepdaughter Brianne.