Download Maria Newman Biography

Maria Newman Biography
Maria Newman, composer\conductor\violinist\violist\pianist, was born into one of the most
famous and influential musical families in Hollywood. The youngest daughter of the nine-time
Academy Award-winning composer\conductor, Alfred Newman, she grew up surrounded by
great music and fine musicians.
Newman was educated at the prestigious Eastman School of Music and Yale University, and
graduated both institutions with high honors. Maria Newman has since become known as a
serious composer in the field of concert music and continues to receive acclaim from audiences
and critics alike.
Newman has been the recipient of many honors and awards, including fifteen consecutive
ASCAP Awards, as well as Composition Grants from the California Arts Council, the Viklarbo
Chamber Ensemble and the Composer’s Guild, among many others. She was honored with the
Debut Award from the Young Musicians Foundation in 2001, and was named Variety’s 1997
Composer of the Year. She has been commissioned by numerous organizations and has
developed a large library of original works for chamber ensemble (vocal and instrumental),
orchestra, choral, ballet and opera\oratorio. This season features commissions from the New West
Symphony, Pacific Serenades, the Angeli Trio, Colburn School for the Performing Art’s
Orchestra da Camera, and the Kairos String Quartet. Composer-in-Residence at the Icicle Creek
Music Center in Washington for a decade, Newman currently holds that position with the
Orchestra da Camera of the prestigious Colburn School for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles.
Newman has also held residency positions with the Brevard Music Center, the Los Angeles
Mozart Orchestra, SongFest, Solisti New York, the Eastern Sierra Symphony Orchestra, the
Chamber Orchestra of St. Matthew’s in Los Angeles, Central Washington University, California
Institute of Technology, Azusa Pacific University, the Gold Coast Chamber Music Festival and
Viklarbo Chamber Ensemble, among others. A great lover of sacred music, Newman holds the
position of Composer-in-Residence and Director of Traditional Music at the Pacific Palisades
Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, where she regularly composes liturgical music for services
and concert series, and conducts the renowned Chancel Choir and chamber orchestra.
Newman has received numerous commissions from the Mary Pickford Foundation to compose
original music for newly restored vintage classic films of the silent era. She has also received
commissions by Turner Classic Movies (“Mr. Wu” 1929, starring Lon Chaney), and by the
Library of Moving Images (“Tom Sawyer” 1917, starring Jack Pickford). These compositions
continue to receive live concert performances (with picture), appear on video\DVD format, and
are frequently aired on television.
A world-class violinist\violist, Maria Newman is a founding member of the award-winning
Viklarbo Chamber Ensemble, with whom she has won multiple awards from the National
Endowment for the Arts and the Los Angeles City Cultural Affairs Department. With Viklarbo,
Newman was elected to the California Arts Council Touring Roster and the Utah Performing Arts
Tour. As solo violist, Newman recorded Miklos Rozsa’s Concerto for Viola and Orchestra with
the Nuremburg Orchestra for the Grammy Award-winning Symphonic Hollywood CD, and
continues to perform concerts nationwide. Newman is the mother of three beautiful children:
Martha, a violinist (age 8); Isabella, a ‘cellist (age 6); and Sonny, a violinist (age 4). She is
married to conductor \violist Scott Hosfeld. The pair is expecting their first child together in
March.