William Goldstein
Composer
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At the age of nine his prodigious talents brought him to Columbia University; in 1975 he was discovered by Berry Gordy, who brought Mr. Goldstein to LA under contract to MOTOWN , as a recording artist / composer and producer. At the same time, interestingly enough, Mr. Goldstein was finishing a commission for a Bicentennial work, CELEBRATION OVERTURE 1776-1976, which was performed by the National Symphony Orchestra in May of 1976.
After scoring all the episodes of NBC's FAME series, Mr. Goldstein added the world of computer electronic music to his pop, and orchestral experience.
He quickly achieved prominence as an innovator of New Technology , creating the very first completely computer sequenced direct to digital score for Guber/Peters' oceanQuest in 1985. CBS Masterworks released the CD under the title OCEANSCAPE. He later created the score for Sierra-on-line's KING'S QUEST FOUR, the first interactive computer game with a full blown musical score; the result was a revolution in the computer game industry that has thus far sold over 1,000,000 games!
In addition to scoring assignments with such film makers as John Avildsen, John Badham, Rob Cohen, Peter Guber, Wes Craven, and Frank Perry; William Goldstein's career has simultaneously included such multifarious activities as a recording artist / composer / producer for such diverse labels as the previously mentioned MOTOWN and CBS MASTERWORKS. His Concert Scores have been performed from Carnegie Hall to Symphony Hall, Boston.
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He has gained a reputation as a unique keyboard improviser, spontaneously improvising complete scores, in real time, to films that he is seeing for the first time in concert. He has also astonished audiences by improvising short ballets, interacting with dancers of international renown. His Master Class on Improvisation and the creative process has been motivating young musicians, dancers, film makers and writers for over ten years. ( Read the Los Angeles Times review of Goldstein Improvising a Ballet )
View a Master Class Piano Improvisation
A video interview with Dancer Qi Zhang from the DVD Of The Moment
...... see an Improvised Ballet with Qi Zhang from the DVD Of The Moment
...... see a 2nd Improvised Ballet with Qi Zhang and her beautiful red fan from the DVD Of The Moment
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In addition to his professional activities in music and film, Mr. Goldstein has become a founder of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, a director of the California State Summer School for the Arts, and is a member of both the music branch executive committee of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as well as its foreign language committee. He has also been a "visiting artist" for the Academy, lecturing from the Far East to the Middle East on contemporary aesthetics as well as music in film.
Making Art Passionately
A stimulating essay on contemporary aesthetics, published in the Los Angeles Times, that challenges artists, critics and patrons.
The Sunday New York Times publishes Goldstein's reflections on the need to revitalize the economic basis of the Broadway Theater.
RECENT PROJECTS
Heading for Broadway
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