Composer's Details
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BiographyBlake Neely is a composer, conductor, arranger, orchestrator, pianist and author. Plus, he is a husband, father, brother and son. Born in Paris, Texas, in 1969, he began playing the family piano at the age of four. While attending the University of Texas in Austin, he secured an internship at Disney Studios in their film music department which lead to a job with Hollywood Records. Two years later he moved to Disney Music Publishing to manage their Print Music division. In 1996, he began freelance work arranging music and writing for Hal Leonard Publishing. He has authored more than 25 instrumental method books, including the best-selling, "Piano for Dummies," and the award-winning series, "FastTrack Music Instruction." In 2000, composer Vangelis hired him to conduct a large-scale oratorio and the work culminated in a PBS concert from the Temple of Zeus in Athens, Greece. He was later introduced to composer Hans Zimmer, with whom he has enjoyed many collaborations and a great friendship. In 2002, Greg Berlanti took a chance and hired him to score his television series "Everwood," for the WB. He was nominated for an Emmy the first year for his main title theme. Over the years he has been fortunate to work with some of the best in the business: Michael Kamen, James Newton Howard, George Michael, Metallica, Jessye Norman, Kathleen Battle, the Kirov Orchestra, the Kodo drummers, the London Metropolitan Orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. He has written for the Queen of England, opening games of the Winter Olympics, and even for a shuttle to Mars. He has traveled the world and scored pirates, knights, presidents, astronauts, a giant ape, Samurai warriors, doctors, lawyers, nuns, superheroes, a mentalist and a mortician. He?s even gotten Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson and Forest Whitaker to conduct with him. Mr. Neely is a current Production/Technology Lecturer in the Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television. |