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 def ...

, conductor, and musicologist.

Biography and works

Fruchtman was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and began piano lessons at the age of three. After graduating from Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences in

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

, California, he moved to

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

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 The USC Thornton School of Music is a private music school in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1884 only four years after the University of Southern California, the Thornton School is the oldest continually operating arts institution in Los An ...

, where he studied with renowned composers

David Raksin David Raksin (August 4, 1912 – August 9, 2004) was an American composer who was noted for his work in film and television. Raksin had more than 100 film scores and 300 television scores to his credit. Some sources called him the "Grandfather of ...

Christopher Young Christopher Young (born April 28, 1958) is an American composer of Film score, film and television scores. Many of his compositions are for horror and thriller films, including ''Hellraiser'', ''Species (film), Species'', ''Urban Legend (film) ...

Joe Harnell Joseph Harnell (born Joseph Hittelman; August 2, 1924 – July 14, 2005) was an American composer, musician, and music arranger. Early life His father was a vaudeville performer who also played in jazz and klezmer ensembles. Harnell began playing ...

, Jack Smalley and David Spear. Fruchtman earned a Master of Music degree in composition from

University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Riverside, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of Cali ...

. Fruchtman earned his Ph.D. studying musicology at the

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 The American Musicological Society (AMS) is a musicological organization which researches, promotes and produces publications on music. Founded in 1934, the AMS was begun by leading American musicologists of the time, and was crucial in legiti ...

and the

Society for American Music The Society for American Music (SAM) was founded in 1975 and was first named the Sonneck Society in honor of Oscar George Theodore Sonneck, early Chief of the Music Division in the Library of Congress and pioneer scholar of American music. The S ...

. 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), also known in athletics as Long Beach State University (LBSU), is a public teaching-focused institution in Long Beach, California, United States. The 322-acre campus is the second largest in the ...

and

California Lutheran University California Lutheran University (CLU, Cal Lutheran, or Cal Lu) is a private university in Thousand Oaks, California, United States. It was founded in 1959 and is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, but is nonsectarian. It o ...

. Fruchtman composed scores for the first two feature films directed by

Amber Benson Amber Benson (born January 8, 1977) is an American actress, writer, director, and producer. She is best known for her role as Tara Maclay on the TV series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' (1999–2002), and has directed, produced and starred in her o ...

, (best known from her role as

Tara Maclay Tara Maclay is a fictional character created for the action-horror/fantasy television series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' (1997–2003). She was developed by Joss Whedon and portrayed by Amber Benson. Tara is a shy young woman with magical talents ...

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''. 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 Thea Kano, Dr. Thea Kano, and directed by her until 2019. From 2019 to 2021, the Chorale's Artistic Dir ...

, tells the historic tale of settlers migrating across the

Oregon Trail The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and Westward Expansion Trails, emigrant trail in North America that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon Territory. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail crossed what ...

to the Pacific Ocean. Under the direction of Artistic Director

Thea Kano Thea Kano (born August 1, 1965) is an American conductor. She is the Founder of the New York City Master Chorale, and was its Artistic Director until the end of the 2018–2019 season. She served as the Associate Music Director of the Gay Men's ...

, the New York City Master Chorale premiered ''The Journey'' on May 31, 2009, at

Alice Tully Hall Alice Tully Hall is a concert hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. The hall is named for Alice Tully, a New York performer and Philanthropy, philanthropist whose donations assis ...

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 ...

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

-nominated actor

Bruce Dern Bruce MacLeish Dern (born June 4, 1936) is an American actor. He has received several accolades, including the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and the Silver Bear for Best Actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Suppo ...

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)