Conductor
Peter Bernstein
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Obviously my early musical experience begins with my father, Elmer Bernstein, the Academy Award winning film composer whose credits include The Man With the Golden Arm, The Ten Commandments, The Magnificent Seven, To Kill a Mockingbird, Ghostbusters, The Age of Innocence and about 200 others. Of course I didn’t care at all when I was young, but it was fun going recording sessions before I was going to school and absorbing it all. I learned to conduct symphonies from memory by watching him practice.
My musical education began with piano lessons. Then 1964 came along and I turned 13. It was perfect timing: The Beatles and Bob Dylan (among others) entered my consciousness and the world changed overnight. I decided I wanted to be a bass player – mostly because the rock n roll band at school needed one. I taught myself how to play. Eventually I studied bass with Carol Kaye, a member of the legendary “Wrecking Crew” group of LA studio musicians. About the same time at California Institute of the Arts I was lucky enough to study with pioneering electronic music composer Morton Subotnick. I cobbled together the rest of my musical education out of a few other colleges and many years of private study and apprenticeships.
I began my professional music career as a rock n’ roll bass player at 14 and was a touring bass player, band member, session player, arranger and record producer for the next 20 years. As time passed it became clear that there was going to be more opportunity for me as a composer. I began by working for other composers as an orchestrator and arranger. I orchestrated all or part of almost all of my father’s scores from 1974-1986, while still working in the rock n roll record business. Orchestration credits from the era include Animal House, Trading Places and Ghostbusters, as well as the scored portions of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video.
My career as a composer began in 1981. The first breakthrough orchestral assignment was The Ewok Adventure for LucasFilm (1985); a major television event in its time, and its sequel (1986). Soon after came my first T.V. series, 21 Jump Street (1987-1991). It was a huge success. It was also one of the very first shows recorded in a home studio using mostly synths and samples. Those two very different projects put me on a road that has continued to this day.
I studied conducting early on since it was one of the necessary skills for film composing at the time. Little did I know that it would become one of my main occupations and allow me to return to my roots as a live performer. I have organized and/or conducted concerts of Elmer Bernstein film music throughout the world.
See Peter Bernstein conduct Ghostbusters in Concert with the RSNO on 30 and 31 October.
