Lalo Schifrin, an Argentine-American pianist, composer, arranger, and conductor, died at the age of 93. He is best known for his work in film and television scoring, yet composed also big symphonic works. He was the principal arranger for The Three Tenors concerts.
Born on June 21, 1932, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Schifrin is especially renowned for blending jazz with orchestral music, and his distinctive, sophisticated style has made many of his themes iconic, including the Theme from Mission: Impossible, Bullitt and Enter the Dragon and for his collaborations with Clint Eastwood from the late 1960s to the 1980s, particularly the Dirty Harry films.
Schifrin trained in both jazz and classical music. He began to play piano at the age of six, studying with Enrique Barenboim, the father of Daniel Barenboim. In 1932 Schifrin enrolled at the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied with Olivier Messiaen and Charles Koechlin. In the 1950s he met the American jazz trumpeter and bandleader Dizzie Gillespie and went on to compose a number of works for Gillespie’s quintet.
In 1986, he performed his Salute to the Statue of Liberty with the Glendale Symphony Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl with great success. He composed the overture to the Pan American Games in 1987 and the finale in 1995. His Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra was premiered by the London Symphony Orchestra with Angel Romero as soloist.
From 1987 to 1992 he was musical director of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Paris.
From 1989 to 1995, Schifrin was musical director of the Glendale Symphony Orchestra.
His Lili’Uokalani Symphony was composed in 1993 in honor of the last monarch of Hawaii; it was recorded in the same year, also with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. His Symphonic Sketches of Oman, commissioned by the Sultan of Oman, was recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra in 2001.
