Scott Dunn
Conductor
Noted for his advocacy of American and contemporary music, Dunn has a special interest in cross-over and film composers, from George Gershwin to Rachel Portman. Since his momentous 1999 Carnegie Hall début playing his own orchestration of Vernon Duke’s ‘lost’ Piano Concerto in C, Dunn has brought light to neglected works of composers ranging from Franco Alfano, Vernon Duke, and Duke Ellington to his mentors Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, Lukas Foss, Leonard Rosenman and others.
As conductor Dunn has appeared with the Atlanta Symphony, BBC Concert Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, LA Philharmonic, Russian Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sydney Symphony, Vienna Radio Orchestra (RSO) and countless other distinguished ensembles and headliners. Dunn has been the Associate Conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra since 2012.
Created in 2024 in partnership with The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Dunn’s new ensemble, the Scott Dunn Orchestra, comprised of the world’s greatest studio musicians, celebrates Hollywood’s music legacy and presents concerts dedicated exclusively to film music as first-rate concert fare. The newly formed orchestra is borne from Dunn’s passion for film music, its creators, and the rich heritage of music from Hollywood and Broadway. This interest stems from Dunn’s close friendship with composer Leonard Rosenman, whose brilliant score for Rebel Without a Cause (1955) Dunn adapted, arranged and premiered with the LA Philharmonic.
His collaborations with contemporary film composers include Rachel Portman, for whom he conducted the BBC Philharmonic in Mimi and the Mountain Dragon (Decca, 2019) for worldwide annual Christmas BBC broadcasts; Lior Rosner for whom he recorded Sugar Plum on The Run with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Jeremy Irons (Sony, 2019); Danny Elfman, for Danny Elfman’s Music from the Films of Tim Burton and his 2008 ballet Rabbit and Rogue for Twyla Tharp and the American Ballet Theatre.
As an orchestrator and arranger of the highest calibre, Dunn was mentored by Richard Rodney Bennett. Through his friend Bennett, Dunn also discovered composer Vernon Duke and resurrected the Duke Piano Concerto, which had been written for Arthur Rubinstein but never completed. Dunn orchestrated the work and premiered it at Carnegie Hall as part of the official Gershwin Centennial concerts. He recorded the Concerto in Moscow with the Russian Philharmonic in 2007 (Naxos,2007). Subsequently he reconstructed Duke’s The End of St Petersburg oratorio for performance in St. Petersburg, and subsequently created a ‘new’ Duke musical, Misia (PS Classics, 2015), which he arranged, adapted and recorded with a brilliant cast headed by Marin Mazzie with orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick.
For the concert platform Dunn adapted and performed his own arrangements of Julius Eastman’s Gay Guerilla (2018) for four pianos and Duke Ellington’s New World A-comin’ for solo piano and chamber jazz ensemble (2019). In 2023 Dunn’s highly personal tribute recording, I Watch You Sleep; Scott Dunn Celebrates Richard Rodney Bennett with Claire Martin and the Royal Philharmonic (Stunt 23012), earned Dunn the UK Arts Desk Album of the Year award, with universal praise for Claire Martin’s singing and Dunn’s arrangements, conducting and playing.
As a pianist and collaborator, Dunn has appeared with some of the world’s finest artists. He is an acclaimed interpreter of contemporary and American music and has premiered and recorded works by such composers as John Adams, Richard Rodney Bennett, Julius Eastman, Lukas Foss, Peter Lieberson and Ned Rorem. Early in his career he served as touring pianist for the Martha Graham Dance Company and for the USIA, he toured Eastern Europe as an Artistic Ambassador, playing twentieth century American works such as Ives’ Concord Sonata.
Dunn has recently released two recordings on the Platoon label: Hollywood Film Music Volume 1 of mid-century modernist film music arranged by Dunn for orchestra and recorded in London with the Britten Sinfonia, and another set of film music arrangements featuring Dunn himself on solo piano. He is currently working on repertoire for Hollywood Film Music Volume 2 which he will record in London in November, again with Britten Sinfonia.
Dunn is a Steinway Artist