American conductor, arranger, and pianist Scott  Dunn studied piano with the legendary Byron Janis and is a former assistant to Lukas Foss – whose complete solo piano works Dunn recorded for Naxos. Noted for his advocacy of American and contemporary music, Dunn has a special interest in cross-over and film composers – from George Gershwin to Rachel Portman. Since his momentous Carnegie Hall début playing his own orchestration of Vernon Duke’s ‘lost’ Piano Concerto in C, Dunn has brought light to neglected works of composers ranging from Franco Alfano, Vernon Duke, and Duke Ellington to his mentors Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, Lukas Foss, Leonard Rosenman and others. 

As conductor Dunn has appeared with the Atlanta Symphony, BBC Concert Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, LA Philharmonic, Russian Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sydney Symphony, Vienna Radio Orchestra (RSO), The Britten Sinfonia and countless other distinguished ensembles. Dunn has collaborated with numerous headliners, including Trey Anastasio, Beck, Chris Botti, Bill Charlap, Billy Childs, Elvis Costello, Il Divo, Danny Elfman, David Foster, Sutton Foster, The Indigo Girls, Sean Lennon, Claire Martin, Steve Martin, Leslie Odom Jr. and Rufus Wainwright among others. Dunn is the Associate Conductor for the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and previously held positions at Pittsburgh, Glimmerglass and New York City Operas. He also serves as principal conductor for the Parnassus Society at Soka Performing Arts Center. 

His newly formed Scott Dunn Orchestra (SDO) is borne from Dunn’s passion for film music, which can be traced back to his friends, and mentors, Leonard Rosenman and Sir Richard Rodney Bennett as well as his work over the years at the Hollywood Bowl. In partnership with The Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, the SDO, comprised of the worlds greatest studio musicians, celebrates Hollywood’s great music legacy and presents concerts dedicated exclusively to film music as first-rate concert fare. They start their inaugural season at The Wallis this January with a concert of Dunn’s arrangements of iconic scores of the fifties and sixties from such films as TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, EAST OF EDEN, STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE. Previously Dunn premiered REBEL for live performance with film with the LA Philharmonic at Disney Hall. 

Dunn’s work with contemporary film composers, includes Rachel Portman’s annual Christmas favorite, Mimi and the Mountain Dragon (Decca) with the BBC Philharmonic;  Lior Rosner’s Sugar Plum on The Run with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Jeremy Irons (Sony) and work on Danny Elfman’s Music from the films of Tim Burton and other Elfman concert works. 

As an orchestrator and arranger of the highest calibre, Dunn was mentored by Richard Rodney Bennett who also introduced Dunn to composer Vernon Duke and Duke’s lost piano concerto. The concerto had been written for Arthur Rubinstein but never completed. Dunn orchestrated the work and premiered it at Carnegie Hall in 1999 as part of the official Gershwin Centennial concerts. Subsequently, he recorded the concerto with the Russian Philharmonic (Naxos); reconstructed Duke’s The End of St Petersburg oratorio for performance in St. Petersburg, Russia and collaborated on a ‘new’ Duke musical, Misia (PS Classics), which he arranged, adapted and recorded with a brilliant cast headed by Marin Mazzie and orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick. For the concert platform Dunn adapted and performed his own arrangements of Julius Eastman’s Gay Guerilla (2018) for four pianos and Duke Ellington’s New World A-comin’ for solo piano and chamber jazz ensemble (2019).  

As a pianist and collaborator, Dunn studied with Bryon Janis and has appeared with some of the world’s finest artists. He is an acclaimed interpreter of contemporary and American music who has premiered and recorded works by such composers as John Adams, Richard Rodney Bennett, Julius Eastman, Lukas Foss, Peter Lieberson and Ned Rorem. Early in his career he served as touring pianist for the Martha Graham Dance Company and for the USIA, he toured Eastern Europe as an “Artistic Ambassador’ playing twentieth century American masterworks such as Ives’ Concord Sonata.

His 2023 release, I WATCH YOU SLEEP – Scott Dunn Celebrates Richard Rodney Bennett with Claire Martin and the Royal Philharmonic, earned universal praise for his arrangements, conducting and playing and was awarded the UK Arts Desk Album of the Year award. His newest recording in Dolby Atmos, Scott Dunn Celebrates the Hollywood Modernists with the Britten Sinfonia , features Dunn’s arrangements from such films as TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, EAST OF EDEN, STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE and others and is due to be released early in 2025. Dunn also looks forward to the premiere, in the near future of a newly commissioned rhapsody for piano and orchestra from composer Joby Talbot.

Dunn is a Steinway Artist Scott Dunn – Steinway & Sons

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