Aaron Fruchtman is an American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, conductor, and musicologist.

Biography and works

Fruchtman was born in Los Angeles, California and began piano lessons at the age of three. After graduating from Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences in Santa Monica, California, he moved to Boston, Massachusetts where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

and was awarded the Symphony Hall Composer Award. He received an Advanced Studies Certificate in Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television from the USC Thornton School of Music, where he studied with renowned composers David Raksin,

Christopher Young Christopher Young (born April 28, 1957) is an American composer and orchestrator of film and television scores. Many of his compositions are for horror and thriller films, including ''Hellraiser'', ''Species'', ''Urban Legend'', ''The Grudge'', ...

, Joe Harnell,

Jack Smalley Jack Smalley was an American composer, orchestrator, and teacher of film and television scoring. After working for years as a jazz bassist, Smalley began to get jobs writing music for television, notably Charlie's Angels and Murder, She Wrote. I ...

and David Spear. Fruchtman earned a Master of Music degree in composition from University of California, Riverside. Fruchtman earned his Ph.D. studying musicology at the University of California, Riverside with Byron Adams and Walter Clark. His musicological research examines underscores of Jewish-themed films and their composers’ social and cultural world in the Golden Age of Hollywood. He has presented his research at numerous conferences including NYU’s Music and the Moving Image, Youngstown State University’s Jewish Music and Identity, UCLA’s Thinking Beyond the Canon, and at national meetings of the American Musicological Society and the Society for American Music. Fruchtman’s essay titled, “Sounding the Shofar in Hollywood Film Scores” was included in the book ''Qol Tamid: The Shofar in Ritual, History, and Culture'' published by Claremont School of Theology Press in 2017. Fruchtman holds music history appointments at

California State University, Long Beach California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...

and California Lutheran University. Fruchtman composed scores for the first two feature films directed by Amber Benson, (best known from her role as Tara Maclay on ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer''). ''Chance'' was the winner of the Audience Choice Award at the Sidewalk Film Festival and was followed by ''

Lovers, Liars & Lunatics ''Lovers, Liars & Lunatics'' is an independent American motion picture written, produced and directed by Amber Benson. It was scheduled to be released on DVD via Benson Entertainment in September 2006, but due to technical difficulties the releas ...

''. Following their film collaborations, Fruchtman produced and arranged Benson’s vocal debut on the album ''You Are Light''. Fruchtman was commissioned to write ''The Journey'', a four-movement piece for narrator, chorus, and orchestra. This epic piece, written expressly for the

New York City Master Chorale The New York City Master Chorale (NYCMC) is a 60-person non-profit chorus, led by Artistic Director David Recca. NYCMC was founded in 2005 by Dr. Thea Kano, and directed by her until 2019. From 2019 to 2021, the Chorale's Artistic Director and c ...

, tells the historic tale of settlers migrating across the Oregon Trail to the Pacific Ocean. Under the direction of Artistic Director Thea Kano, the New York City Master Chorale premiered ''The Journey'' on May 31, 2009, at Alice Tully Hall at

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

. Academy Award-nominated actor

Bruce Dern Bruce MacLeish Dern (born June 4, 1936) is an American actor. He has often played supporting villainous characters of unstable natures. He has received several accolades, including the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and the Silver B ...

performed the narrator role.

External links

Official Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fruchtman, Aaron Living people American male composers 21st-century American composers Berklee College of Music alumni USC Thornton School of Music alumni University of California, Riverside alumni 21st-century American male musicians Year of birth missing (living people)