Maury Yeston

Maury Yeston (born October 23, 1945) is an American composer, lyricist, educator and musicologist.
He is known as the initiator of new Broadway musicals and writing their music and lyrics, as well as a classical orchestral composer, Yale University professor, and prominent Music Theorist authoring landmark works in that field. Among his musicals are Nine in 1982, and Titanic in 1997, both of which won him Tony Awards for best musical and best score and each brought him nominations for a Grammy in addition to his third Grammy nomination for Nine's revival in 2004. He also won two Drama Desk Awards for Nine, and was nominated for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for two of his new songs in the film version of Nine. Yeston also wrote a significant amount of the music and most of the lyrics to Broadway's Grand Hotel in 1989, which was Tony-nominated for best show, best score and another two Drama Desk Awards for music and lyrics and ran more than a thousand performances. His musical version of the novel The Phantom of the Opera entitled Phantom has appeared in over 1,000 productions worldwide, across America, Japan, Korea, the UK, Germany, Poland, Australia, and other countries. He has also written a number of other Off-Broadway musicals, including Death Takes a Holiday, nominated for eleven Drama Desk Awards; December Songs, a classical crossover song cycle commissioned by Carnegie Hall for its centennial celebration; An American Cantata (a three-movement choral symphony commissioned by the Kennedy Center for the Millennium celebration);[1] Tom Sawyer: A Ballet in Three Acts – a full length story-ballet commissioned by the Kansas City Ballet for the opening of the new Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City; a Cello Concerto, premiered by Yo-Yo Ma with Sir Gilbert Levine conducting [2] and other pieces. Yeston serves on the board of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He is a lifetime member of the Dramatists Guild Council, an honorary ambassador of the Society of Composers & Lyricists, past president of the Kleban Foundation, a founding member of the Society for Music Theory, serves on the editorial boards of Musical Quarterly and the Kurt Weill Foundation Publication Project and on the advisory board of the Yale University Press Broadway Series.[3] He was an associate professor of music and Director of Undergraduate Studies in Music at Yale for eight years, authoring two music theory scholarly books published by Yale Press, and subsequently ran the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop in New York City for more than two decades beginning in 1982.
==Work==
;Broadway
*Nine (1982; revived 2003)
*Grand Hotel (1989)
*Titanic (1997)
*The Royal Family (2009)
;Off-Broadway
*Cloud Nine, (1981, incidental music. Theatre de Lys in NY and production in Chicago)
*In the Beginning (1987; workshopped as 1-2-3-4-5 at Manhattan Theatre Club)
*Death Takes a Holiday (2011)
*Anything Can Happen In The Theatre (2020) Revue at the York Theatre Company
;Film
*Nine (2009)
;Ballet
*Tom Sawyer: A Ballet in Three Acts (2011)
;Other works
*Goya: A Life In Song (1989; one of Barbra Streisand's pop hits, "Til I Loved You" is from the show)
*Phantom, with Arthur Kopit (1991; numerous subsequent productions)
*History Loves Company (1991, Marriott Theatre)
*December Songs, a song cycle (1991)
*An American Cantata (2000), for orchestra and 2000 voices, commissioned by The Kennedy Center, a choral symphony in three movements, which premiered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial by the National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leonard Slatkin
*Hans Christian Andersen, a musical theatre adaptation of the score of the 1952 film with Frank Loesser's music (2003, Maine State Music Theatre and 2004, London; musical arrangements and book by Yeston)
*The Peony Pavilion, a musical adaption of The Peony Pavilion, 2012, commissioned by the People's Republic of China, only workshopped 
== Discography ==
* Christmas in the Stars: Star Wars Christmas Album (1980)
* Nine (original Broadway cast (1982; Grammy Award nomination), Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, 2003 Broadway revival cast, London concert and others)
* Goya: A Life in Song (original studio cast, 1989)
* December Songs (1992)
* Grand Hotel (original Broadway cast, 1992)
* Phantom (original cast recording, 1993)
* Titanic (original Broadway cast (1997; Grammy Award nomination), original Dutch cast, original Hamburg cast)
* The Maury Yeston Songbook (2003; a compilation of 20 songs recorded by Betty Buckley, Christine Ebersole, Laura Benanti, Sutton Foster, Alice Ripley, Johnny Rodgers and others)
* Death Takes a Holiday (original off-Broadway cast recording, 2011)
* Tom Sawyer: A Ballet in Three Acts (San Francisco Ballet Orchestra 2011)
* Laura Osnes – If I Tell You: The Songs of Maury Yeston (2013, Laura Osnes, singer)
* Anything Can Happen In The Theatre-The Musical World of Maury Yeston (original off-Broadway cast recording, 2020)
* Maury Sings Yeston - The Demos (a compendium of 40 of Yeston's classic Demos, sung and accompanied on piano by Yeston, recorded over a period of 40 years)2020
Category:Living people
Category:Broadway composers and lyricists
Category:1945 births
Category:Musicians from Jersey City, New Jersey
Category:American people of English descent
Category:American musical theatre composers
Category:Jewish American composers
Category:Jewish American songwriters