Don Davis (composer)





































Don Davis
Born
Donald Romain Davis


(1957-02-04) February 4, 1957 (age 62)

Anaheim, California, U.S.

Occupation
Film score composer, Opera composer, Conductor, Musician
Spouse(s)
Megan MacDonald (m. 1986)
Children 2
Parent(s) Don Davis
Anne Davis
Musical career
Genres
Film score, Electronic, Avant garde, Neo-classical, Trip hop, Dark wave
Instruments Synthesizers

Donald Romain Davis (born February 4, 1957) is an American composer, conductor, and orchestrator. Best known for his work on The Matrix franchise, he has worked on numerous television and film scores, collaborating with directors including The Wachowskis, Ronny Yu, and Joe Johnston in film genres ranging from horror, to action, to comedy. He is the recipient of two Primetime Emmy Awards and four BMI Film Music Awards.


Davis was born in Anaheim, California. After graduating from high school, Davis enrolled at UCLA. He continued his study of musical composition with tutor Henri Lazarof. Additionally, he learned orchestration from Albert Harris. During their orchestration lessons, Harris introduced Davis to the TV composer Joe Harnell, who supported Davis during his search for work—his first job was working for composer Mark Snow's TV show Hart to Hart. He has worked as an orchestrator and conductor for Michael Kamen, Alan Silvestri, James Horner, and Randy Newman.




Contents






  • 1 Film and television scoring


  • 2 Opera


  • 3 Filmography


    • 3.1 Film


    • 3.2 Television


      • 3.2.1 Television film


      • 3.2.2 Television series




    • 3.3 Video games




  • 4 Orchestration work


  • 5 External links





Film and television scoring


Davis won Emmys in 1990 for Beauty and the Beast and 1995 for SeaQuest DSV. He wrote scores mostly for television series up until 1995, in which he wrote a few of the cues for the animated Disney motion picture A Goofy Movie. He continued to score television series until the two then young directors, the Wachowskis, hired him to score their neo-noir film Bound. It was reasonably successful at the box office. Bound was the film which led Davis into becoming the composer for the entire Matrix trilogy. Subsequently, Davis has composed scores for films such as Jurassic Park III (recommended to the filmmakers by John Williams, the composer of the scores for the first two films in the series), House on Haunted Hill, Behind Enemy Lines, and The Unsaid. In 2004, he produced the music score for the BBC science fiction documentary series Space Odyssey: Voyage to the Planets, released as Voyage to the Planets and Beyond in the United States.


Davis' magnum opus is the Matrix franchise: The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, and The Animatrix. It was set apart from other film scores of its time for its atonality and avant garde style of composition, with influences from polytonal minimalist works like John Adams' Short Ride in a Fast Machine and cluster-like as well as aleatoric techniques prominent in the works of composer Witold Lutosławski.



Opera


Don Davis' political opera, Río de Sangre, received its premiere at the Florentine Opera Company on October 22, 2010. Previously, excerpts from the opera were performed in Los Angeles with the Los Angeles Master Chorale on November 6, 2005, and the New York City Opera on May 13, 2007.



Filmography



Film








































































































































































































Year
Title
Director(s)
Studio(s)
Notes
1984

Hyperspace
Todd Durham
N/A
N/A
1988

Blackout
Doug Adams
N/A
N/A
1991

Session Man
Seth Winston
N/A
Short film
1992

Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation
Various

Warner Home Video
Direct-to-video
1994

A Little Tailor's Christmas Story

Allan Rich
N/A
Short film
1995

A Goofy Movie

Kevin Lima

Walt Disney Pictures
Additional music
Score composed by Carter Burwell
1996

Bound

The Wachowskis

Gramercy Pictures
N/A
1997

Warriors of Virtue

Ronny Yu

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
N/A
1998

The Lesser Evil
David Mackay
N/A
1999

The Matrix
The Wachowskis

Warner Bros. Pictures
N/A

Universal Soldier: The Return
Mic Rodgers

TriStar Pictures
N/A

Turbulence 2: Fear of Flying
David Mackay

Trimark Pictures
Direct-to-video

House on Haunted Hill

William Malone
Warner Bros. Pictures
N/A
2001

Antitrust

Peter Howitt
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
N/A

Valentine

Jamie Blanks
Warner Bros. Pictures
N/A

Jurassic Park III

Joe Johnston

Universal Pictures
N/A

The Unsaid

Tom McLoughlin
Global Cinema Group
N/A

Behind Enemy Lines

John Moore

20th Century Fox
N/A
2002

Long Time Dead

Marcus Adams

Working Title Films
N/A

Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever

Kaos
Warner Bros. Pictures
N/A
2003

The Matrix Reloaded
The Wachowskis
N/A

The Animatrix
Various
Warner Home Video
with Machine Head and Photek

The Matrix Revolutions
The Wachowskis
Warner Bros. Pictures
N/A
2004

Mighty Times: The Children's March

Robert Houston

HBO Family
Documentary short
2006

The Marine
John Bonito
20th Century Fox
N/A
2007

The Good Life

Steve Berra

Image Entertainment
N/A

Ten Inch Hero
David Mackay

Phase 4 Films
N/A
2017

Tokyo Ghoul
Kentarō Hagiwara

Shochiku
N/A
2018

Beyond the Sky
Fulvio Sestito

RLJE Films
N/A


Television



Television film















































































































































































































Year
Title
Director
Notes
1988

Bluegrass

Simon Wincer
N/A
1988

A Stoning in Fulham County
Larry Elikann
N/A
1988

Quiet Victory: The Charlie Wedemeyer Story

Roy Campanella II
N/A
1989

Home Fires Burning

Glenn Jordan
N/A
1990

Running Against Time

Bruce Seth Green
N/A
1991

Lies Before Kisses

Lou Antonio
N/A
1991

A Little Piece of Heaven

Mimi Leder
N/A
1992

Notorious

Colin Bucksey
N/A
1992

Woman with a Past
Mimi Leder
N/A
1993

Country Estates

Donald Petrie
N/A
1993

Murder of Innocence

Tom McLoughlin
N/A
1994

Bitter Blood

Jeff Bleckner
N/A
1994

Leave of Absence
Tom McLoughlin
N/A
1995

Sleep, Baby, Sleep

Armand Mastroianni
N/A
1996

For Love Alone: The Ivana Trump Story

Michael Lindsay-Hogg
N/A
1996

In the Lake of the Woods

Carl Schenkel
N/A
1996

The Beast

Jeff Bleckner
N/A
1996

The Perfect Daughter
Harry Longstreet
N/A
1997

Alibi

Andy Wolk
N/A
1997

Not in This Town

Donald Wrye
N/A
1997

A Match Made in Heaven

Paul Wendkos
N/A
1997

Weapons of Mass Distraction

Stephen Surjik
N/A
1997

The Third Twin
Tom McLoughlin
N/A
1997

House of Frankenstein

Peter Werner
N/A
1998

The Lake

David Jackson
N/A
1998

Life of the Party: The Pamela Harriman Story

Waris Hussein
N/A
1998

Route 9
David Mackay
N/A
1999

In the Company of Spies

Tim Matheson
N/A
2000

Hell Swarm
Tim Matheson
N/A
2000

Race Against Time

Geoff Murphy
N/A
2000

Personally Yours

Jeffrey Reiner
N/A
2002

Murder in Greenwich
Tom McLoughlin
N/A
2006

Augusta, Gone
Tim Matheson
N/A


Television series














































































Year
Title
Notes
1983–1984

Hart to Hart
N/A
1987

Sledge Hammer!
N/A
1987–1990

Beauty and the Beast
N/A
1990

Matlock
N/A
1991

My Life and Times
N/A
1990–1991

Tiny Toon Adventures
N/A
1992

The Plucky Duck Show
Episode: "A Ditch in Time" (Season 1, Episode 7)
1993

Star Trek: The Next Generation
Episode: "Face of the Enemy"
1992–1995

Capitol Critters
N/A
1993–1994

Taz-Mania
N/A
1994–1995

seaQuest DSV
N/A
1995

CBS Schoolbreak Special
Episode: "Between Mother and Daughter" (Season 12, Episode 5)
1996

Doomsday Virus
N/A
2004

Space Odyssey
N/A


Video games





















Year
Title
Studio(s)
Notes
2003

Enter the Matrix

Shiny Entertainment
N/A
2005

The Matrix Online

Monolith Productions
N/A


Orchestration work


In addition to orchestrate and conducting his own scores, Don Davis has done orchestration work for many other composers.
He was also conductor for the movie Flowers in the Attic, whose score was composed by Christopher Young, and for the TV documentary Eagles: Hell Freezes Over, and did arrangements for The 86th Academy Awards.
























































































































































































































Year
Film
Composer
Notes
1983-1985

V (TV)

Joe Harnell
1 episode.
1985-1989

Moonlighting (TV)


1986

Police Academy 3: Back in Training

Robert Folk
Credited as additional orchestrator.

1987

Police Academy 4: Citizens On Patrol

1988

The In Crowd

Mark Snow


1990

Die Hard 2

Michael Kamen


1991

If Looks Could Kill

David Foster


Hudson Hawk
Michael Kamen


Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves


Ricochet

Alan Silvestri


1992

Death Becomes Her


The Muppet Christmas Carol

Miles Goodman
Paul Williams
Uncredited.

1993

Cop and a Half

Alan Silvestri


Last Action Hero
Michael Kamen
Uncredited.

Hocus Pocus

John Debney


We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story

James Horner


The Pelican Brief


1994

When A Man Loves A Woman

Zbigniew Preisner
Credited as additional orchestrator. Also composed additional music.

Clean Slate
Alan Silvestri
Uncredited.

Maverick

Randy Newman


Thumbelina

Barry Manilow
William Ross
Uncredited.

I Love Trouble

David Newman


Clear And Present Danger
James Horner


The Pagemaster


Legends Of The Fall
Uncredited.

1995

A Goofy Movie

Carter Burwell
It was never confirmed if he worked on Burwell's score. However, he orchestrated and conducted his own cues.

Casper
James Horner


Apollo 13
Uncredited.

Toy Story
Randy Newman


Balto
James Horner


1996

James And The Giant Peach
Randy Newman
Also did song arrangements.

The Phantom
David Newman
Uncredited.

Courage Under Fire
James Horner

Ransom


Michael
Randy Newman


1997

Titanic
James Horner
Credited as additional orchestrator.

1998

Pleasantville
Randy Newman


A Bug's Life


2000

Meet The Parents


2010

Toy Story 3


2017

Cars 3



External links



  • Official Website


  • Río de Sangre Official website


  • Don Davis on IMDb








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