Lee Elwood Holdridge (born March 3, 1944) is an American composer, conductor, and orchestrator. An 18-time Emmy Award nominee, he has won two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Daytime Emmy Awards, two News and Documentary Emmy Awards, and one Sports Emmy Award. He has also been nominated for two Grammy Awards.
Life and career Holdridge was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, of a Puerto Rican mother and an American father, Leslie Holdridge, a botanist and climatologist.
While living in Costa Rica, at age ten, he studied the violin with Hugo Mariani, who was at the time the conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica. He then moved to Boston, where he finished high school and studied composition with Henry Lasker. Later in New York he had numerous study consultations with composer Nicolas Flagello as well as composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim.
The move to New York City enabled Holdridge to continue his music studies and begin his career as a professional composer. There, he composed chamber works, rock pieces, songs, theater music and background scores for short films, and eventually came to Neil Diamond's notice. Diamond then brought Holdridge with him to Los Angeles to write arrangements for his forthcoming albums. After several gold and platinum hits, the two collaborated on the Grammy Award winning score for producer/director Hall Bartlett's film adaptation of Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Neil Diamond sued Bartlett for cutting much of his music from the film. Diamond was also against sharing musical credit with Holdridge; however, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences ruled in Holdridge's favor.Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Bartlett was ordered to reinstate the five minutes of Diamond's music score and three of his songs, "Anthem", "Prologue", and "Dear Father", and that the onscreen credits were to state "Music and songs by Neil Diamond", "Background score composed and adapted by Neil Diamond and Lee Holdridge", and "Music supervision by Tom Catalano".
Holdridge has composed and orchestrated for many films, including: Jeremy (1973)Discogs.com Forever Young, Forever Free (1975) Mustang Country (1976) The Pack (1977) The Other Side of the Mountain Part 2 (1978) Like Mom, Like Me (1978) Moment by Moment (1978) Tilt (1979) French Postcards (1979) American Pop (1981) The Day the Loving Stopped (1981) The Beastmaster (1982) Mr. Mom (1983) Splash (1984) Micki & Maude (1984) Transylvania 6-5000 (1985) The Men's Club (1986) A Tiger's Tale (1987) Big Business (1988) Old Gringo (1989) The Adventures of Pinocchio (1996) Into Thin Air: Death on Everest (1997) The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue (1998) Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport (2000) Puerto Vallarta Squeeze (2004) Brothers at War (2009).Profile , KRNV official website; accessed June 16, 2016. It Is No Dream (2012) Brothers After War (2023)
He composed for several television series, including: Sara East of Eden Eight is Enough I'll Take Manhattan Atomic Train The Mists of Avalon American Family The Brooke Ellison Story Moonlighting Beauty and the Beast 10.5 When Calls the Heart
Concert works Holdridge has composed numerous concert works including:
Concerto No. 3 for Violin and Orchestra Fantasy Chorale for Orchestra and Chorus Concertino for Guitar and Orchestra Scenes of Summer Two Lyric Pieces for Solo Violin, Strings and Harp Ode to Orion The Golden Land Jefferson Tribute, for narrator and orchestra. Lazarus and His Beloved, opera and orchestral suite. Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 2 Concerto for Viola and Chamber Orchestra Concertino for Violoncello and Strings Serenade for Oboe and Strings Ballet Fantasy for Strings and Harp Elegy for Harp and Strings Hymns Triumphant 1 and 2, suites for chorus and orchestra. Sonnet for soprano and chamber orchestra. Dulce Rosa an opera based on an Isabel Allende short story, premiered in 2013. Trinity for the Joffrey Ballet co-authored with Alan Raph. Journey to Cordoba, Concierto Para Mendez and Tanis in America, one act operas.
Personal life Holdridge is married to ex-ballet dancer Elisa Justice. She is western region audition co-director of the Metropolitan Opera National Council. She also has hosted her own classical music radio show called "Eclectic Classics" and has co-produced a new album and documentary with Milt Okun called Great Voices Sing John Denver. She won a "Best Producer" award for a documentary at the Madrid International Film Festival.
Awards and nominations ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards Year Category Nominated work Result Ref. 1988 Top TV Series Moonlighting 2015 Top Television Series When Calls the Heart
CableACE Awards Year Category Nominated work Results Ref. 1988 Original Score 16 Days of Glory 1989 A Friendship in Vienna 1994 Heidi
Emmy Awards Year Category Nominated work Results Ref. Primetime Emmy Awards 1985 Outstanding Achievement in Music and Lyrics "Moonlighting" 1988 Outstanding Achievement in Main Title Theme Music Beauty and the Beast Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore) Beauty and the Beast 1989 Outstanding Achievement in Music and Lyrics "The First Time I Loved Forever" 1990 Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries or a Special (Dramatic Underscore) Do You Know the Muffin Man? 1991 Outstanding Achievement in Main Title Theme Music ABC World of Discovery 1993 Outstanding Individual Achievement in Main Title Theme Music Bob Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music Composition for a Miniseries or a Special (Dramatic Underscore) Call of the Wild 1995 Buffalo Girls 1996 Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries or a Special The Tuskegee Airmen 1999 Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries or a Movie (Dramatic Underscore) Mutiny 2002 Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Dramatic Underscore) The Mists of Avalon Daytime Emmy Awards 1984 Special Classification of Outstanding Individual Achievement – Music Woman to Woman 2000 Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series One Life to Live 2002 2004 2005 Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series 2006 Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series 2007 2008 2010 2012 Sports Emmy Awards 1998 Outstanding Achievement in a Craft: Music Composition/Direction/Lyrics Atlanta's Olympic Glory News and Documentary Emmy Awards 1988 Outstanding Achievement in a Craft in News and Documentary Programming – Music The Explorers: A Century of Discovery 1991 Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Music Composition ABC World of Discovery
Grammy Awards Year Category Nominated work Results Ref. 1973 Best Instrumental Arrangement "Prologue/Crunchy Granola Suite" 1987 Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television "Moonlighting"
International Film Music Critics Association Awards Year Category Nominated work Result Ref. 2009 Best Original Score for a Documentary Feature Brothers at War
Online Film & Television Association Awards Year Category Nominated work Result Ref. 2002 Best Music in a Motion Picture or Miniseries The Mists of Avalon
Further reading New York Theatre Critics' Reviews: Index, 1940-1960. Original from the University of Michigan. Of Love & Hope - Selections Form Beauty and the Beast By Lee Holdridge, Don Davis, Milton Okun, Larry Kenton, Edwin McLean. Published 1990, Cherry Lane Music.
References
External links
PBS biography as composer for American Valor