Jonathan Tunick

Jonathan Tunick is an American orchestrator, musical director, and composer. 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.

Jonathan Tunick
Tunick receiving Tony Award for Best Orchestrations 2024
Born	New York City, New York, United States
Education	Bard College, Juilliard School
Occupations	Orchestrator musical director composer
Spouse	Leigh Beery
Awards	EGOT

Early life and education

Jonathan Tunick graduated from Hunter College Elementary School, and the LaGuardia Performing Arts High School, and holds degrees from Bard College and the Juilliard School.^[1]

Career

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 "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's band, "Broadway Moonlighters", played in 2008 with Barbara Cook as special guest,^[5] and played at Birdland jazz club in March 2012. ^[2] He has also 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]

Recognition and awards

In his review of the Bernadette Peters recording Bernadette Peters Loves Rodgers and Hammerstein (2002), John Kenrick wrote: "Jonathan Tunick provides the brilliant arrangements."^[7]

He has won all four major American show business awards: the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony, making him an EGOT.^[8][9] In 1978, Tunick won an Oscar for A Little Night Music (Best Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Adaptation Score).^[9] In 1982, he won an Emmy for his work on the variety television special Night of 100 Stars (Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction),^[9] and in 1988, he won a Grammy for his work on the song "No One Is Alone" (Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s)),^[9] and in 1997, he won the first Tony Award for Best Orchestrations for the musical Titanic.^[10]

He has also won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations four times and won a Drama Desk Special Award in 1982.^[11] Tunick was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in January 2009.^[12]

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.^[13]

Work

Stage

Sources - AllMusic;^[14] Internet Broadway Database^[15]

Take Five (composer: "Gristedes," "The Pro Musica Antiqua")(Julius Monk Revue) - 1957[16] From A to Z - 1960 All in Love - 1961[17] Promises, Promises - 1968 Here's Where I Belong - 1968 Dames at Sea - 1969 Company - 1970 The Grass Harp - 1971 Follies - 1971 MASS - 1971 The Selling of the President - 1972 Sondheim: A Musical Tribute - Concert - 1973[18] A Little Night Music - 1973 Smith - 1973[19] A Chorus Line - 1975 ("Opening," "Nothing," "At The Ballet," "...And," "What I Did For Love") Goodtime Charley - 1975 The Frogs - 1975 Pacific Overtures - 1976 Ballroom - 1978 Sweeney Todd - 1979 Merrily We Roll Along - 1981 Nine - (musical supervisor and orchestrations) 1982 Alice in Wonderland - (musical supervisor) 1982 Baby - 1983 Dance a Little Closer - 1983 Wind in the Willows - (musical supervisor) 1985 Into the Woods - 1987 Nick & Nora - 1991 Phantom - 1992[20] A Grand Night for Singing - 1993 Company (re-orchestrated) - 1993 Sweeney Todd (re-orchestrated) - 1993 Passion - 1994 The Petrified Prince - Public Theater 1994[21] Patti LuPone on Broadway - Walter Kerr Theatre Concert 1995[22] Company - 1995

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (re-orchestrated; originals by Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal) - 1996 Martin Guerre - 1996 Into the Woods - 1997 Titanic - 1997 Saturday Night - 1999 Minnelli on Minnelli - (orchestrations) Palace Theatre Concerts 1999[23] Marie Christine - 1999 Putting It Together - 1999 Napoleon - 2000 Follies (re-orchestrated) - 2001 Into the Woods (re-orchestrated) - 2002 Elaine Stritch At Liberty - 2001 Nine - (re-orchestrated) 2003 110 in the Shade (re-orchestrated from Hershy Kay's originals) - 2003 The Frogs (re-orchestrated & expanded) - 2004 Pacific Overtures - (re-orchestrated) 2004 The Color Purple - 2005 A Chorus Line - (re-orchestrated) 2006 The Apple Tree - (re-orchestrated from Eddie Sauter's originals) 2006 110 in the Shade - (re-orchestrated from Hershy Kay's originals) 2007 Lovemusik - 2007 A Catered Affair - 2008 Road Show - 2008[24] and 2003[25] The Story of My Life - 2009 Oklahoma! - (re-orchestrated from Robert Russell Bennett's originals) 2009 Bye Bye Birdie - (re-orchestrated from Robert Ginzler's originals) 2009 Paradise Found - 2010 Some Lovers - Old Globe Theatre 2011[26] Sweeney Todd (re-orchestrated) - 2012 Passion (re-orchestrated) - 2013 A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder - 2013 Waterfall - Pasadena Playhouse 2015 Dames at Sea (re-orchestrated) - 2015 Cabin in the Sky - Encores! 2016 Carousel - (re-orchestrated from Don Walker's originals) 2018 Here We Are - 2023

Filmography

Sources - AllMusic;^[14] Internet Movie Database^[27]

• 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^[28]
• Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories - 1985 - (television) - series composer, conductor
• The B.R.A.T. Patrol - 1986 - (television) - composer, conductor^[29]
• 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^[30]
• 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	[31]

Drama Desk Awards

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
1982	Drama Desk Special Award		Honoree	[32]
1984	Outstanding Orchestrations	Baby	Nominated	[33]
1988		Into the Woods	Nominated	[34]
1994		Passion	Won	[35]
1997		Titanic	Won	[36]
1999		Captains Courageous	Nominated	[37]
2000		Saturday Night	Nominated	[38]
2001		Follies	Nominated	[39]
2002		Elaine Stritch: At Liberty	Nominated	[40]
2007		The Apple Tree	Nominated	[41]
		LoveMusik	Won
2008		A Catered Affair	Nominated	[42]
2014		A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder	Nominated	[43]
2018		Carousel	Won	[44]
		Pacific Overtures	Nominated
2020		West Side Story	Nominated	[45]

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	[46]
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	[47]
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	[48]
2000		Marie Christine	Nominated	[49]
2001		Follies	Nominated	[50]
2003		Nine	Nominated	[51]
2005		Pacific Overtures	Nominated	[52]
2007		110 in the Shade	Nominated	[53]
		LoveMusik	Nominated
2008		A Catered Affair	Nominated	[54]
2010		Promises, Promises	Nominated	[55]
2014		A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder	Nominated	[56]
2018		Carousel	Nominated	[57]
2024		Merrily We Roll Along	Won	[58]

See also

• List of music arrangers