By JEREMY LEHRER
Robert Miller, a composer who specializes in orchestral pieces, has added his signature to Amber Music, New York, with an office in London. At press time, Miller was wrapping some projects at New York-based Sacred Noise, his spot roost for the past four years.
Michelle Curran, Amber’s president/owner, said that Miller’s American-flavored orchestral compositions would buttress the variety offered at the company. "Robert is very much the American composer," she explained. "[His music] has a grandeur, a beauty and an American accent to it, and a feel that European composers don’t have." Curran added that Miller fit in with Amber’s philosophy of working within commercial constraints while trying to push creative boundaries.
Miller said he found Amber to be "a compelling, vital, spirited company," citing its high caliber composers and support staff. Miller noted that though his music may contain different motifs, influences, or arrangements, it is primarily orchestral, and has been influenced by his studies with mentors such as Aaron Copland and William Schuman.
For the last four years, Miller has been a composer-in-residence with the New York-based Jupiter Symphony, a chamber orchestra led by founder/conductor Jens Nygaard and housed at New York’s Lincoln Center. Miller has premiered two new orchestral pieces for that group during each year of his affiliation, and plans to continue to do so. His compositions have been performed by the symphony orchestras in Philadelphia, Minnesota, Toronto, and Knoxville, Tenn. West Side Story Variations, a collaborative piece between Miller and pianist/composer John Bayless, was performed by the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall. Miller is currently at work on a cello concerto that will be performed by cellist Fred Zlotkin. The Possible, a CD of Miller’s compositions, was released in ’96 on the label Next Horizon.
Miller has also scored TV and feature projects. For television, he scored Telegrams from the Dead and Edison’s Miracle of Light, two documentaries for PBS’ American Experience series. For the big screen, Miller has composed the soundtrack for Pants on Fire, an independent film directed by Rocky Collins; and Tightrope, a short film produced by Digital Domain, Venice, Calif., which won a prize for best overall film score at the ’99 Imagina Festival, a French festival of animation from around the world. Miller said that he expects to compose soundtracks in the future and had a couple of films "on deck." One project in the wings includes a feature to be produced by Scott Ross, Digital Domain’s president/CEO.
Miller said that being an orchestral composer has fully influenced his approach to commercial endeavors. "My concert career is important to me; it enhances everything else that I do. It’s not like I have this sound that is applicable to commercials and I’ve become another jingle composer. Whatever the job is, I do it with the same love that I do an art-for-art’s-sake piece."
Curran agreed that Miller’s concert performance pieces enhance his spot composing. "It’s very important to have another point of view on things," she said. "You get bogged down if you work only on commercials; [composing for concert performance] opens up your mind."
Miller expects to be fully up and running at Amber in January, which is the slated completion time for the additional room the company is building for him in its current location.
Spot credits for Miller include Sony’s "Egg," a highly-acclaimed spot via Young & Rubicam, New York, directed by Santa Monica-based House of Usher Films’ Kinka Usher. "Egg" won Miller a Bronze Clio for original music composition this year (the Clio jury only gave out bronze awards in that category). Other spot credits include Fidelity’s "Marty," "Judy" and "Peggy" via Hill, Holiday, Connors, Cosmopulos, Boston; Peace Garden’s "Peace Garden," a spot promoting the creation of the Peace Garden in Washington, D.C. through Ogilvy & Mather, New York; and The National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s "Washcloth" and "Shave" for J. Walter Thompson New York. All of these projects were done during Miller’s tenure at Sacred Noise.
Miller joins a New York roster that includes Mario Grigorov, Mike Pandolfo, the composing team of Tony Strong and Roger Greenawald, and sound designer Bill Chesley.
In London, Amber’s crew consists of: Nick Amour and Andy Carroll, a composing duo who are also partners in the company; composers Simon Elms, Colin Smith, Phil Sawyer, John Waddell, Will Parnell and Mike Hewer; O2, a pseudonym for two composers who specialize in techno; and sound designer Ross Gregory.
Review: Writer-Director Adam Elliot’s “Memoir of a Snail”
It's not your typical stop-motion film when characters name pets after Sylvia Plath and read "The Diary of Anne Frank" — or when the story's inspired by a quote from existentialist thinker Søren Kierkegaard. And it's certainly not your typical stop-motion film when you find yourself crying as much as the characters do — in their case, with huge droplets leaking from bulging, egg-shaped eyes so authentic-looking, you expect the screen to get wet. But those are just a few of the unique things about Adam Elliot's "Memoir of a Snail," a film that's as heart-tugging as it is technically impressive, a work of both emotional resonance and great physical detail using only clay, wire, paper and paint. One thing Elliot's film is not, though, is for kids. So please take note before heading to the multiplex with family in tow: this film earns its R rating, as you'll discover as soon as young Grace, voiced by Sarah Snook, tells us she thought masturbation was about chewing your food properly. Sex, nudity, drunk driving, a fat fetish — like we said, it's R-rated for a reason. But let's start at the beginning. In this, his seventh "clayography" (for "clay" and "biography"), the Australian writer-director explores the process of collecting unnecessary objects. Otherwise known as hoarding, it's something that weighs us down in ways we can't see, for all the clutter. Elliot also argues that it helps us build constrictive shells around ourselves — like snail shells, perhaps. Our protagonist is Grace Pudel, voiced with a quirky warmth and plenty of empathy by the wonderfully agile Snook. We first encounter Grace as a grown woman, telling her long, lonely life story to her pet garden snail, Sylvia (named after Plath), at a moment of deep sadness. Then we flash... Read More