Alan Silvestri

Silvestri in 2009
Alan Silvestri
Background information
Born	March 26, 1950 (age 74)
Birthname	Alan Anthony Silvestri
Birthplace	New York City, U.S.
Died
Deathplace
Also known as
Occupation(s)	Composer, conductor
Origin
Genres	Film score, contemporary classical, jazz, ambient
Member of
Formerly of
Members
Past members
Years active	1972–present
Spouse(s)	Sandra Silvestri (m. 1978)
Partner(s)
Background
Labels
Instruments
Associated acts
Notable Instruments
	[Source]

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Alan Anthony Silvestri (born March 26, 1950) is an American composer and conductor of film and television scores. He has been associated with director Robert Zemeckis since 1984, composing music for all of his feature films including the Back to the Future film series, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Forrest Gump, Cast Away and The Polar Express. Silvestri also composed many other popular movies, including Predator, The Abyss, Father of the Bride, The Bodyguard, The Parent Trap, Stuart Little, The Mummy Returns, Lilo & Stitch, Night at the Museum, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Ready Player One and several Marvel Cinematic Universe films, including the Avengers films.

He is a two-time Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominee, and a three-time Saturn Award and two-time Primetime Emmy Award recipient.

Early life and education[]

Silvestri's grandparents emigrated in 1909 from the Italian town of Castell'Alfero, and settled in Teaneck, New Jersey.^[1] He grew up in Teaneck,^[2] and graduated in 1968 from Teaneck High School.^[3] He attended Berklee College of Music for two years. He was a drummer for a short time in 1966 with Teaneck-based rock band The Wildcats.

Career[]

Silvestri moved to Los Angeles in 1970. "I came to Hollywood in 1970 broke...I didn't even have any goals or plans. I didn't even go to movies. And I knew nothing about composers or composing," he said.^[4] In 1972, while he was working intermittently as a session guitarist, the producer of the low-budget action film The Doberman Gang asked him to score the picture. Silvestri agreed, despite a lack of experience: "I went out and bought a how-to-compose book by Earl Hagen... At one point I was using beer cans for percussion."^[4]

From 1978 to 1983, Silvestri was the main composer for the television series CHiPs, writing music for 95 of the show's 139 episodes.

Silvestri met film director Robert Zemeckis when they worked together on Zemeckis's film Romancing the Stone (1984). Since then, he has composed the music for all of Zemeckis's movies, including the Back to the Future trilogy (1985–1990), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Death Becomes Her (1992), Forrest Gump (1994), Contact (1997), Cast Away (2000), The Polar Express (2004), Beowulf (2007), A Christmas Carol (2009), Flight (2012) and The Walk (2015).

In 1989, Silvestri composed the score for the James Cameron-directed film The Abyss. Since 2001, he has also collaborated regularly with director Stephen Sommers, scoring the films The Mummy Returns (2001), Van Helsing (2004) and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009).

Silvestri has composed the scores for four Marvel Cinematic Universe films: Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), The Avengers (2012), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019). His themes and motifs from those films have been referenced and reprised by other composers in multiple other MCU films.

Silvestri has also composed music for television series, including T. J. Hooker (one episode), Starsky & Hutch (three episodes), Tales from the Crypt (seven episodes). In 2014, he composed the award-winning music for the science documentary series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. He wrote new songs with Glen Ballard for the live-action film adaptation of Disney's Pinocchio.^{[Citation needed]}

Personal life[]

Silvestri and his wife Sandra own a vineyard, Silvestri Vineyards, in Carmel Valley, California.^[5] He also has a wine tasting room for his vineyards on the ground floor of the Enchanted Oaks Building.^[6] He has a daughter and two sons. A licensed pilot, he flies his own jet aircraft.^[7]

Awards[]

Silvestri has received two Academy Award nominations: Best Original Score for Forrest Gump (1994); and Best Original Song for "Believe" on The Polar Express soundtrack. He also received two Golden Globe nominations: Best Score for Forrest Gump and Best Song for The Polar Express.

Silvestri received an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music in 1995.^[8]

He has also received nine Grammy Award nominations, winning two awards: Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media for "Believe" from The Polar Express in 2004; and Best Instrumental Composition for "Cast Away End Credits" from Cast Away in 2002. His other nominations were for Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special and Best Instrumental Composition, for Back to the Future in 1985, Best Album of Original Instrumental Background Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television, for Who Framed Roger Rabbit in 1988, Best Instrumental Composition, for "Who Framed Roger Rabbit Suite" in 1989, Best Pop Instrumental Performance, for "I'm Forrest...Forrest Gump (The Feather Theme)" in 1994, Best Instrumental Composition, for Avengers: Infinity War in 2018 and Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media, for Avengers: Endgame in 2019.^[9] During the 2005 Grammy Awards, Josh Groban performed "Believe".

He has won two Emmys, both for Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey – Outstanding Main Title Theme Music and Outstanding Music Composition for a Series for the episode "Standing Up in the Milky Way".

He has won the Saturn Award for Best Music three times, for his scores for Predator (1987), Back to the Future Part III (1989/90) and Van Helsing (2004).

On September 23, 2011, he received the Max Steiner Film Music Achievement Award from the City of Vienna the yearly film-music gala concert Hollywood in Vienna.

Filmography[]

Film - 1970s and 1980s[]

Year	Title	Notes
1972	The Doberman Gang	With Bradford Craig
1975	Las Vegas Lady
1976	The Amazing Dobermans
1978	The Fifth Floor
1983	Tiger Man	Credited as Alan Sylvestri
1984	Romancing the Stone
1984	Par où t'es rentré ? On t'a pas vu sortir
1985	Fandango
	Cat's Eye
	Back to the Future	Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Music Nominated — Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media
	Summer Rental
1986	The Clan of the Cave Bear
	The Delta Force
	American Anthem
	Flight of the Navigator
	No Mercy
1987	Critical Condition
	Outrageous Fortune	Won - BMI Film Music Award
	Predator	Won - Saturn Award for Best Music Won - BMI Film Music Award
	Overboard
1988	Mac and Me
	Who Framed Roger Rabbit	Also conductor Won - BMI Film Music Award Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Music Nominated — Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media
	My Stepmother Is an Alien
1989	She's Out of Control
	The Abyss	Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Music
	Back to the Future Part II	Won - BMI Film Music Award

Film - 1990s[]

Year	Title	Notes
1990	Downtown
	Back to the Future Part III	Won - Saturn Award for Best Music Won - BMI Film Music Award
	Young Guns II	Themes by Anthony Marinelli and Brian Banks
	Predator 2	Also conductor.
1991	Shattered	Also orchestrator Replaced Angelo Badalamenti
	Back to the Future: The Ride	Film in simulator ride
	Soapdish	Also orchestrator
	Dutch	Also pianist
	Ricochet	Also conductor
	Father of the Bride	Won - BMI Film Music Award
1992	Two-Fisted Tales	Segment: Yellow Segment was extracted to become an individual episode of Tales from the Crypt
	Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot
	FernGully: The Last Rainforest	Silvestri's first score for an animated film
	Death Becomes Her	Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Music
	Diner	Short film
	The Bodyguard	Won - BMI Film Music Award
	Sidekicks
1993	In Search of the Obelisk	IMAX film
	Cop and a Half
	Super Mario Bros.	Replaced Jerry Goldsmith
	Judgment Night	Also conductor
	Grumpy Old Men	Won - BMI Film Music Award
1994	Clean Slate
	Forrest Gump	Nominated — Academy Award for Best Original Score Won - BMI Film Music Award Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Music Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score
	Blown Away	Also conductor
	Richie Rich
1995	The Quick and the Dead
	The Perez Family
	Judge Dredd	Also conductor Replaced David Arnold and Jerry Goldsmith
	Father of the Bride Part II	Won - BMI Film Music Award
	Grumpier Old Men	Won - BMI Film Music Award
1996	Sgt. Bilko	Also conductor
	Eraser	Won - BMI Film Music Award Also conductor
	The Long Kiss Goodnight	Also conductor
1997	Fools Rush In
	Volcano	Also conductor
	Contact	Won - ASCAP Award for Top Box Office Films Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Music
	Mouse Hunt
1998	The Odd Couple II	Also conductor
	The Parent Trap
	Holy Man
	Practical Magic	Also conductor Replaced Michael Nyman
1999	Siegfried & Roy: The Magic Box
1999	Stuart Little	Also conductor Won - ASCAP Award for Top Box Office Films

Film - 2000s[]

Year	Title	Notes
2000	Reindeer Games	Also conductor
	Cast Away	Also conductor Won - ASCAP Award for Top Box Office Films
	What Lies Beneath	Also conductor and orchestrator Won - ASCAP Award for Top Box Office Films
	What Women Want	Also conductor and orchestrator
2001	The Mexican	Also conductor and orchestrator
	The Mummy Returns	Replaced Jerry Goldsmith Won - ASCAP Award for Top Box Office Films
	Serendipity	Also conductor
2002	Showtime	Also conductor and orchestrator
	Lilo & Stitch	Also choir arranger and conductor Won - ASCAP Award for Top Box Office Films Nominated — Annie Award for Music in a Feature Production
	Stuart Little 2	Also conductor
	Maid in Manhattan
2003	Identity	Also conductor Replaced Angelo Badalamenti
	Stitch! The Movie	Themes only. Score composed by Michael Tavera
	Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life	Also conductor Replaced Craig Armstrong and Graeme Revell
	Two Soldiers	Short film Also conductor
2004	Van Helsing	Also conductor Won - ASCAP Award for Top Box Office Films Won — Saturn Award for Best Music
2004	The Polar Express	Also conductor Won - ASCAP Award for Top Box Office Films Nominated — Academy Award for Best Original Song Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Music Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Original Song Nominated — World Soundtrack Award for Best Original Song Written Directly for a Film
2006	The Wild	Also conductor
	Leroy & Stitch	Themes only. Score composed by J. A. C. Redford
	Night at the Museum
2007	Beowulf	Also conductor and orchestrator Nominated — World Soundtrack Award for Best Original Song Written Directly for a Film
2009	Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian	Also conductor
	G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra	Also conductor and orchestrator
	G.I. Joe: The Invasion of Cobra Island
	A Christmas Carol	Also lyricist, conductor and orchestrator

Film - 2010s[]

Year	Title	Notes
2010	The A-Team	Also conductor and orchestrator Themes by Mike Post and Pete Carpenter
2011	Captain America: The First Avenger	Also conductor and orchestrator "Star Spangled Man" by Alan Menken with lyrics by David Zippel Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Music BMI Film Music Award
2012	The Avengers	Also conductor and orchestrator
2012	Flight
2013	The Croods	Also conductor and orchestrator
2013	RED 2	Themes by Christophe Beck
2014	Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb
2015	Avengers: Age of Ultron	Themes only. Score composed by Brian Tyler and Danny Elfman
	The Walk
	Doc Brown Saves the World	Back To the Future series
2016	Allied
2018	Ready Player One	Replaced John Williams
	Avengers: Infinity War	Score composer only. Score orchestrated and conducted by Mark Graham "Black Panther Theme" by Ludwig Göransson
	Welcome to Marwen	Also conductor
2019	Avengers: Endgame	Score conducted with Mark Graham "Ant-Man Theme" by Christophe Beck "Doctor Strange Theme" by Michael Giacchino "Captain Marvel Theme" by Pinar Toprak Nominated — Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media

Film - 2020s[]

Year	Title	Notes
2020	The Witches	Also conductor
2022	Pinocchio	Also lyricist, conductor and orchestrator

Television series[]

Year	Title	Notes
1978–1979	Starsky & Hutch	Episodes: "Deckwatch" "Starsky's Brother" "Sweet Revenge"
1978–1983	CHiPs	95 episodes
1983	Manimal	Episodes: "Night of the Beast" "Breath of the Dragon" "Scrimshaw" "High Stakes" "Female of the Species"
1983	T. J. Hooker	Episode: "A Child Is Missing"
1986	Amazing Stories	Episode: "Go to the Head of Class"
1989–1995	Tales from the Crypt	Episodes: "And All Through the House" "Abra Cadaver" "Yellow" "Beauty Rest" "House of Horror" "Till Death Do We Part" "You, Murderer"
2014	Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music
2020	Cosmos: Possible Worlds

References[]

↑ Meredith May, "Alan Silvestri pairs music with wine", SFGate (June 7, 2013).
↑ Subscribe to Ali A ASCAP Henry Mancini Award, ASCAP. Accessed October 21, 2008. Manhattan-born and Teaneck, New Jersey-bred, Silvestri attended Boston's prestigious Berklee College of Music before joining a Las Vegas band as a guitarist."
↑ Coutros, Evonne. "The Drummer Whom Gump Marches To", The Record (Bergen County), March 26, 1995. Accessed October 21, 2008. "Nearly three decades after Alan Silvestri drummed out beats for the Teaneck High School band, he's hoping to march to the podium Monday night to collect an Oscar."
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 Stanley, John (1986-11-09). "Composer Hits a High Note 'Overnight'". The San Francisco Examiner: p. Datebook 21.
↑ "Home". http://www.silvestrivineyards.com/Silvestri_Vineyards/Home.html. . Silvestrivineyards.com. Retrieved on May 2, 2012.
↑ Dramov, Alissandra (2019). Historic Buildings of Downtown Carmel-by-the-Sea. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. p. 63. ISBN 9781467103039. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Historic_Buildings_of_Downtown_Carmel_by/QX-TDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1. Retrieved 2022-06-24.
↑ "ALAN SILVESTRI COMPOSER OF MUSIC FOR THE MOVIES by D'Lynn Waldron, PhD". http://www.dlwaldron.com/ALANSILVESTRI.html.
↑ "Clint Eastwood Honored by Berklee for Contributions to Jazz - Soundtrack.Net". https://www.soundtrack.net/news/article/?id=1065.
↑ "Alan Silvestri" (in en). November 19, 2019. https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/alan-silvestri.

External links[]

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Castell'Alfero (Italy) country of Asti of which it is City Honorarium
"Complete Alan Silvestri Discography". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/discography/index.jsp?pid=104459&aid=821581. Retrieved January 2, 2017. ^{[dead link]}

v - e - dAwards for Alan Silvestri

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[1] Meredith May, "Alan Silvestri pairs music with wine", SFGate (June 7, 2013).

[2] Subscribe to Ali A ASCAP Henry Mancini Award, ASCAP. Accessed October 21, 2008. Manhattan-born and Teaneck, New Jersey-bred, Silvestri attended Boston's prestigious Berklee College of Music before joining a Las Vegas band as a guitarist."

[3] Coutros, Evonne. "The Drummer Whom Gump Marches To", The Record (Bergen County), March 26, 1995. Accessed October 21, 2008. "Nearly three decades after Alan Silvestri drummed out beats for the Teaneck High School band, he's hoping to march to the podium Monday night to collect an Oscar."

[sfc-4] 4.0 ^4.1 Stanley, John (1986-11-09). "Composer Hits a High Note 'Overnight'". The San Francisco Examiner: p. Datebook 21.

[5] "Home". http://www.silvestrivineyards.com/Silvestri_Vineyards/Home.html. . Silvestrivineyards.com. Retrieved on May 2, 2012.

[6] Dramov, Alissandra (2019). Historic Buildings of Downtown Carmel-by-the-Sea. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. p. 63. ISBN 9781467103039. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Historic_Buildings_of_Downtown_Carmel_by/QX-TDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1. Retrieved 2022-06-24.

[7] "ALAN SILVESTRI COMPOSER OF MUSIC FOR THE MOVIES by D'Lynn Waldron, PhD". http://www.dlwaldron.com/ALANSILVESTRI.html.

[8] "Clint Eastwood Honored by Berklee for Contributions to Jazz - Soundtrack.Net". https://www.soundtrack.net/news/article/?id=1065.

[9] "Alan Silvestri" (in en). November 19, 2019. https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/alan-silvestri.

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