Jonathan Goldstein

Jonathan Goldstein was a classically trained composer with credits in film, TV and advertising. His father was Jewish. He began his career in theatre, at the Royal Shakespeare Company and Royal National Theatre, working with acclaimed directors including Trevor Nunn and Sir Peter Hall. Later, he began his screen career assisting on numerous important film score orchestrations including Cape Fear, directed by Martin Scorsese, and landmark re-orchestrations of classic film scores including Taxi Driver, performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Goldstein’s debut classical album, Cyclorama, was released worldwide to critical acclaim on the Brilliant Classics label and performed by The Balanescu Quartet and ensemble. In 2013, Goldstein’s Christmas hit, Magical Moments, reached No.1 in the Official UK Classical Charts where it stayed for three weeks over Christmas, ahead of J. S. Bach.

The album, which consists of a mix of contemporary classical idioms which gradually present an unfolding story, like a cyclorama (the panoramic backdrop used in film and theatre), was recorded at the Church of Saint Jude-on-the-Hill, Hampstead Garden Suburb, London, noted for its haunting acoustics. The church has been the chosen venue for many important recordings of film and concert music including the Chandos Records re-recordings of William Walton’s scores for Laurence Olivier's Shakespeare films, performed by The Orchestra and Chorus of The Academy of St Martin in the Fields and conducted by Neville Marriner, on which Goldstein worked as an assistant orchestrator.

Goldstein, his wife Hannah Marcinowicz and their 7-month-old child Saskia were flying in Goldstein's Piper plane from Switzerland to Italy on 25 August 2019 when it crashed in the Alps. There were no survivors upon the discovery of the debris by local Swiss search and rescue units. They were presumed to have died immediately upon impact.

In his early career, Goldstein assisted the film music orchestrator Christopher Palmer, on the soundtrack orchestrations for Cape Fear, directed by Martin Scorsese, and re-recordings of classic film scores including Bernard Herrmann's music for Scorsese's Taxi Driver performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Elmer Bernstein. He subsequently scored several shorts including the BAFTA-nominated Candy Bar Kid which was screened at more than 100 festivals worldwide, and the BAFTA-nominated Sunny Spells, winner of an International Silver Heron award. The documentary short Manuel De Los Santos, directed by Peter Montgomery, which featured a score by Goldstein, won the Grand Prize at the International Arnold Sports Film Festival in 2012.

In 2012, Goldstein's debut classical album, Cyclorama, was released worldwide by Brilliant Classics. The music was performed by the Balanescu Quartet, founded by the violinist Alexander Bălănescu, and an ensemble of soloists including James Pearson, [2] a soloist with the Hallé, Philharmonia and BBC Concert Orchestras, and Artistic Director of jazz club, Ronnie Scott’s, London, whose collaborations include Paul McCartney and Wynton Marsalis. The recording also featured the soprano, Grace Davidson, who has performed with the Early Music groups The Sixteen, and Tenebrae, as well as on soundtracks such as Hans Zimmer's Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

In television, Goldstein composed music for several BBC productions including Nunn's adaptation of Othello, David Thacker's production of Ibsen's A Doll's House with Guy Woolfenden, the prize-winning documentary series Eutopia: The United States of Europe filmed in 22 countries, and Playing The Wife, starring Derek Jacobi, for BBC Radio. In 2010, he created music for the Little Crackers comedy series starring Meera Syal, broadcast in 3D on Sky and Sky1.

Goldstein composed, produced and conducted scores for major events including work for Microsoft, British Telecom, Frankfurt Motor Show, Madame Tussaud's, a suite for the Bentley Experience at the Volkswagen Theme Park, Autostadt, Germany, and the United Arab Emirates installation at the Shanghai World Expo 2010, featuring the classical vocalist Jeremy Avis reedist Belinda Sykes and percussionist Paul Clarvis. His classical work Circles was shortlisted for performance by the Society for the Promotion of New Music, and premiered at St John’s Smith Square, London, performed by Music Projects London, conducted by Richard Bernas, featuring the oboe soloist, Christopher Redgate. [1] The concert also featured works by composers Judith Weir and Sadie Harrison.

Goldstein won a D&AD for Outstanding Use of Music, an IVCA Award for Best Music and two British Television Advertising Awards (BTA) Craft Awards for Best Original Music, as well as receiving nominations for two further BTA Craft awards. He was also nominated for an Ivor Novello Award in 2007, for his score to the BBC/HBO film of Primo, directed by Richard Wilson featuring the contemporary celloist, Nicholas Holland, who has recorded with Peter Gabriel and David Byrne. Goldstein was Chairman of PCAM, the Society for Producers and Composers of Applied Music from 2005-2012.

Jonathan Goldstein (27 September 1968 – 25 August 2019) was an English composer of music for film, television, advertising, theatre and live events, whose work encompassed a range of contemporary classical styles with orchestral, jazz, electro-acoustic and world influences.