CONNECT WITH THE SYMPHONY!

JUST ANNOUNCED: BILL CONTI, SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY'S NEW PRINCIPAL POPS CONDUCTOR!

SAN DIEGO MEDIA MEET BILL CONTI!

CLICK HERE for the Symphony's official press release of this announcement!

CLICK HERE for U-T San Diego's story about Bill Conti's appointment as Principal Pops Conductor!

Oscar® and five-time Emmy® Award-winner Bill Conti is one of Hollywood's most respected composers and conductors for both film and television. His compositions have sold in excess of eight million albums and he is in great demand as a conductor of symphony orchestras throughout the United States.

On November 10, 1989, his rich contributions to the entertainment industry were recognized when a star bearing his name was placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1995 the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) awarded Conti the Golden Soundtrack Award for lifetime achievement in film and television.

For the silver screen, Bill Conti has composed the musical scores for many box office giants including Broadcast News, Baby Boom, F/X, The Karate Kid, Goldie Hawn's military romp Private Benjamin and Spy Hard. He won an Oscar® for Best Original Score for The Right Stuff in 1983 and received two Oscar® nominations for Best Original Song – one for the Sheena Easton hit record "For Your Eyes Only" from the James Bond picture of the same title and one for "Gonna Fly Now", the powerful anthem from the 1976 Academy Award-winning Best Picture, Rocky.

The soundtrack for the Sylvester Stallone blockbuster Rocky also garnered a host of other honors including a Golden Globe nomination, a Billboard Award nomination, an RIAA Certified Platinum Album, a Rock Award nomination and a Grammy® nomination for Best Original Score. "Gonna Fly Now" not only occupied the number one position on the Billboard magazine charts for the week of July 2, 1977, but also received an RIAA Certified Gold Record and two Grammy® nominations for Best Instrumental Composition and performance.

Conti's work for the small screen has been equally as critically acclaimed, receiving a total of ten Emmy® nominations throughout his career. He won two Emmy® Awards in 1989 for developing the creative concept and composing the score for the running of the New York City Marathon, which was telecast by ABC. Conti conducted the Julliard Symphony Orchestra during the course of the marathon live from Lincoln Center – a first in television sports coverage. He won his third Emmy® in 1992 for his Musical Direction during the telecast of the Academy Award Ceremonies, marking the first time an Emmy® was awarded for a participant in the Oscar® ceremonies. In 1998 and 2003 he won again for outstanding Music Direction of the Academy Awards.

Conti's relationship with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (the organization that awards the Oscars® spans two decades as he has been the musical director for nineteen of the internationally televised annual Academy Award ceremonies, most recently in 2003. For six consecutive years (1990-1995) he was nominated for an Emmy® Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music Direction for his work on the Academy Award shows.

Although the public may not be aware of it, Bill Conti has composed some of the most recognizable themes for television broadcasts, including those for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, 1988 Calgary Olympics, ABC's Good Morning America, Turning Point, World News Tonight, Prime Time Live, Nightline, ABC Sports, Inside Edition and American Gladiators. He has also composed music for numerous television commercials advertising products for Honda, Pizza Hut, Sprite and Coca Cola. "For Your Eyes Only" was featured in a commercial for the financial managers of Merrill Lynch.

During the 1983-84 television season, Bill Conti set an all-time industry record for having composed the themes for five television series playing concurrently in prime time. However, he broke his own record in 1986-87 when that number increased to nine: Dynasty, Falcon Crest, Cagney & Lacey, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, O'Hara, The Colbys, Our World, Business Week and Mariah.

In addition to his composing, Conti spends considerable time traveling around the world as a guest conductor for many prestigious orchestras including the Boston Pops, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra at the Blossom Music Festival, the National Symphony at Wolf Trap, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony, the Florida Pops Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony, the Calgary Philharmonic, the RAI Orchestra of Rome and the Graunke Orchestra of Munich. He has also been the principal pops conductor for the Nashville Symphony.

For several years, The Walt Disney Company has invited Conti to conduct the All-American Youth Symphony at the Epcot Center in Orlando, Florida, and in June of 1996 he was asked to be the musical director and conductor for the live performance at the Gala opening of the Disney animated film The Hunchback of Notre Dame at the Superdome in New Orleans. This high profile event was nationally televised on the Disney Channel.

Born in Providence, Rhode Island on April 13, 1947, Bill Conti began studying piano at age seven under the tutelage of his father, an accomplished pianist, sculptor and painter. At the age of 15, he organized a band and began to play for high school dances in Miami, Florida. He was a member of his high school band and symphony orchestra and won the "Silver Knight Award" from the Miami Herald for high achievement in the field of music.

Conti received a bassoon scholarship from Louisiana State University where he majored in composition and played jazz piano at many of the local night spots to help defray the costs of his education. While attending LSU, he held a variety of musical posts including first chair bassoon in the school symphony orchestra, the staff arranger for the University's marching band and accompanist for the LSU Ballet Corps. It was in this capacity that he met his wife, Shelby, who was a member of the Ballet Corps and a soloist with the Modern Dance Group.

After Conti received his Bachelor of Music degree from LSU, he auditioned and was accepted at the Juilliard School of Music in New York where he studied with such musical greets as Hugo Weisgall, Vincent Persichetti, Roger Sessions, Luciano Berio and Jorge Mester. In 1965, Conti won the Marion Feschl Prize for having composed the best song of the year. He received a Bachelor of Music degree from Juilliard followed by a Master's.

In 1967, Conti's professor of opera composition at Juilliard, Hugo Weisgall, was elected Composer in Residence at the American Academy in Rome, Italy. Encouraged by his teacher, Conti and his wife followed Dr. Weisgall across the Atlantic.

In 1969, Conti began teaching music theory and harmony to a son of best-selling author Morris West, and a close friendship with the West family ensued. With their encouragement, Conti began orchestrating for prominent Italian film composers and songwriters, conducting scoring sessions, recording sessions and appearing at European music festivals. He wrote the music for Morris West's play The Heretic and composed his first musical score for a feature film called Candidate for Killing. The score for the 1971 Oscar®-winning Best Foreign Language Film, The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, featured Bill Conti at the piano.

Attending the Venice Song Festival in 1971, Conti was asked to be musical supervisor of an American film, Blume in Love, by director Paul Mazursky, who encouraged him to return to the United States. With all of his personal belongings and furniture put in storage in Italy, Conti arrived in California in January of 1974 and began to seek work as a film composer in Hollywood. Lionel Newman, then musical director at 20th Century-Fox, was instrumental in introducing Conti to D'Angelo Productions who hired him to compose the score of a poignant television special called Papa and Me.

Almost one year to the day after Conti's arrival in Los Angeles, Paul Mazursky asked him to score Harry and Tonto, a film about a man and his cat. Art Carney's Osca® win for Best Actor brought national attention to the film and to Conti's score. Soon after, he was asked to compose the score for the film that would launch his career to new heights, Rocky.

On August 8, 1985, Conti was awarded a signal honor from his alma mater, Louisiana State University. He was given an Honorary Doctorate of Music to accompany his Bachelor's Degree from LSU and his Master's degree from the Juilliard School.

The Contis now live in an home built in 1924 in the Hancock Park section of Los Angeles. Bill is an expert navigator and has 20 years sailing on his 41' Ketch. He enjoys being at the helm of a new 50' powerboat with his family – especially with his 5 grandchildren. He's also keen on riding his Harley-Davidson Softail Heritage Classic. At his summer house in Florida, he is out every day on his wave runner or Cigar boat!