THE FLORIDA ORCHESTRA | 2019-2020 39
Peter Bernstein has
been centerstage in
the music world for
his entire life. As an
arranger, record producer,
orchestrator,
composer, conductor,
lecturer, rock and
roll bass player and
author, he has had a
multi-faceted career
as an insider in the
Hollywood music industry.
As a composer he has scored feature films,
television movies, mini-series, and episodes, which
together amount to over 500 projects.
Bernstein’s musical experience began with his father,
Elmer Bernstein, an Academy Award winning
composer whose credits include The Magnificent
Seven, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Ghostbusters. He
was going to recording sessions before he was going
to school and learned to conduct symphonies
from memory by watching his father practice. His
early musical education consisted of nothing more
exotic than piano lessons until he decided he wanted
to be a bass player and learned on his own. Eventually
he took lessons from legendary bass player
and member of the famed “wrecking crew” session
musicians, Carol Kaye. At fourteen he started his
professional career as a rock n’ roll bass player and
was in the rock n’ roll and record business until his
composing career took over. As a student at CalArts,
he studied with pioneering electronic composer
Morton Subotnick.
Bernstein then turned to composing for film. Eventually
he became his father’s lead orchestrator while
simultaneously pursuing careers as a composer, record
producer, and bass player. His first major orchestral
assignment as a composer was The Ewok
Movie for LucasFilm followed by the huge hit television
series, 21 Jump Street. He has composed music
in almost every imaginable style and combination
of instruments, voices, and synths.
PETER BERNSTEIN
Guest Conductor