# Jonathan Tunick

Jonathan Tunick is an American orchestrator, musical director, and composer. He is best known for orchestrating the works of Stephen Sondheim, their collaboration starting in 1970 with Company and continuing until Sondheim's death in 2021.

## Early life and education

Jonathan Tunick graduated from Hunter College Elementary School, and the LaGuardia Performing Arts High School, and holds degrees from Bard College and the Juilliard School.

## Career

Tunick's principal instrument is the clarinet. Much of his work has arisen from his involvement in theatre, and he is associated especially with the musicals of Stephen Sondheim. Sondheim said "Tunick is a standout in his field not only because of his musicianship and imagination, but primarily because of his great sensitivity to theatrical atmosphere".
Tunick's band, "Broadway Moonlighters", played in 2008 with Barbara Cook as special guest, and played at Birdland jazz club in March 2012. He has also worked as an arranger and/or conductor on recordings with Judy Collins, Kiri Te Kanawa, Brian Asawa, Sir Neville Mariner, Itzhak Perlman, Plácido Domingo, Johnny Mathis, Barbra Streisand, Paul McCartney, and Bernadette Peters.

## Recognition and awards

In his review of the Bernadette Peters recording Bernadette Peters Loves Rodgers and Hammerstein (2002), John Kenrick wrote: "Jonathan Tunick provides the brilliant arrangements."
He has won all four major American show business awards: the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony, making him an EGOT. In 1978, Tunick won an Oscar for A Little Night Music (Best Music, Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Best Adaptation Score). In 1982, he won an Emmy for his work on the variety television special Night of 100 Stars (Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction), and in 1988, he won a Grammy Award for his work on No One Is Alone (Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocals), and in 1997, he won the first Tony Award for Best Orchestrations for the musical Titanic.
He has also won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations four times and won a Drama Desk Special Award in 1982. Tunick was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in January 2009.

## Personal life

Tunick is married to actress Leigh Beery (also known as "Lee Beery"), who appeared in the television soap opera Dark Shadows in 1971.

## Work
### Filmography
#### Sources - AllMusic; Internet Movie Database

* The Twelve Chairs - 1970 - musical director, orchestrator
* Blazing Saddles - 1974 - orchestrator
* Young Frankenstein - 1974 - orchestrator
* The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother - 1975 - orchestrator
* A Little Night Music - 1977 - composer orchestrator, conductor (winner, Academy Award)
* Columbo: Murder Under Glass - 1978 - (television) - composer, conductor
* Flying High - 1978 - (television) - composer, conductor
* 3 by Cheever: "O Youth and Beauty", "The Sorrows of Gin" and 3 by Cheever: The 5:48 - 1979 - (television) - composer, conductor
* Rendezvous Hotel - 1979 - (television) - composer, conductor
* Swan Song - 1980 - (television) - composer, conductor
* Blinded by the Light - 1980 - (television) - composer, conductor
* The Jilting of Granny Weatherall - 1980 - (television) - composer, conductor
* Fort Apache the Bronx - 1981 - composer, conductor
* Endless Love - 1981 - composer, conductor
* Reds - 1981 - orchestrator
* The Shady Hill Kidnapping - 1982 - (television) - composer, conductor
* Night of 100 Stars - 1982 - (television) - music arranger
* Sweeney Todd - 1982 - (television) - orchestrator
* Alice in Wonderland - 1983 - (television) - composer, conductor
* I Am the Cheese - 1983 - composer, conductor
* Murder, She Wrote - 1984 - (television) - series composer, conductor
* Concealed Enemies - 1984 - (television) - composer, conductor
* Brotherly Love - 1985 - (television) - composer, conductor
* Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories - 1985 - (television) - series composer, conductor
* The B.R.A.T. Patrol - 1986 - (television) - composer, conductor
* American Masters - 1986 - (television) - composer (theme only)
* You Ruined My Life - 1987 - (television) - composer, conductor
* Into the Woods - 1991 - (television) - orchestrator
* Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall - 1993 (televised) (concert in 1992) - (television) - orchestrator
* The Last Good Time - 1994 - composer, conductor
* The Birdcage - 1996 - music arranger and adapter, composer, conductor
* Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh - 1998 - (television) - orchestrator
* The Fantasticks - 2000 - music adaptor and arranger, conductor
* Find Me Guilty - 2006 - composer, conductor
* Sweeney Todd (Tim Burton film) - 2007 - music adaptor and orchestrator
* Into the Woods - 2014 - orchestrator
* Beauty and the Beast - 2017 - orchestrator

## Awards and nominations
### Academy Awards

| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
| 1977 | Best Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Adaptation Score | A Little Night Music | Won | |

### Drama Desk Awards

| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result |
| 1982 | Drama Desk Special Award | Drama Desk Special Award | Honoree |
| 1984 | Outstanding Orchestrations | Baby | Nominated |
| 1988 | Outstanding Orchestrations | Into the Woods | Nominated |
| 1994 | Outstanding Orchestrations | Passion | Won |
| 1997 | Outstanding Orchestrations | Titanic | Won |
| 1999 | Outstanding Orchestrations | Captains Courageous | Nominated |
| 2000 | Outstanding Orchestrations | Saturday Night | Nominated |
| 2001 | Outstanding Orchestrations | Follies | Nominated |
| 2002 | Outstanding Orchestrations | Elaine Stritch: At Liberty | Nominated |
| 2007 | Outstanding Orchestrations | The Apple Tree | Nominated |
| 2007 | Outstanding Orchestrations | LoveMusik | Won |
| 2008 | Outstanding Orchestrations | A Catered Affair | Nominated |
| 2014 | Outstanding Orchestrations | A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder | Nominated |
| 2018 | Outstanding Orchestrations | Carousel | Won |
| 2018 | Outstanding Orchestrations | Pacific Overtures | Nominated |
| 2020 | Outstanding Orchestrations | West Side Story | Nominated |

### Grammy Awards

| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
| 1981 | Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special | Endless Love: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | Nominated | |
| 1988 | Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s) | "No One is Alone" | Won | |

### Primetime Emmy Awards

| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result |
| 1982 | Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction | Night of 100 Stars | Won |
| 1984 | Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction | Live from Lincoln Center (Episode: "Marilyn Horne's Great American Songbook") | Nominated |
| 1984 | Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Limited Series or a Special (Dramatic Underscore) | American Playhouse (Episode: "Concealed Enemies") | Nominated |
| 1989 | Outstanding Achievement in Main Title Theme Music | Tattingers | Nominated |
| 1993 | Outstanding Individual Achievement in Main Title Theme Music | Love & War | Nominated |

### Tony Awards

| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result |
| 1997 | Best Orchestrations | Titanic | Won |
| 2000 | Best Orchestrations | Marie Christine | Nominated |
| 2001 | Best Orchestrations | Follies | Nominated |
| 2003 | Best Orchestrations | Nine | Nominated |
| 2005 | Best Orchestrations | Pacific Overtures | Nominated |
| 2007 | Best Orchestrations | 110 in the Shade | Nominated |
| 2007 | Best Orchestrations | LoveMusik | Nominated |
| 2008 | Best Orchestrations | A Catered Affair | Nominated |
| 2010 | Best Orchestrations | Promises, Promises | Nominated |
| 2014 | Best Orchestrations | A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder | Nominated |
| 2018 | Best Orchestrations | Carousel | Nominated |
| 2024 | Best Orchestrations | Merrily We Roll Along | Won |