Jason Alexander Set to Host The Big Picture: Paramount's 100th Anniversary at the Hollywood Bowl

The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association and Paramount Pictures announce today that Jason Alexander will host The Big Picture: Paramount's 100th Anniversary celebrating the studio's rich cinematic and musical history at the Hollywood Bowl on Sunday, September 2, 2012 at 7:30 PM. Featuring the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, led by David Newman, Alexander is joined by three special guests, the legendary composers Michael Giacchino (Super 8, Star Trek), Lalo Schifrin (Mission: Impossible series), and Alan Silvestri (Forrest Gump).

From the silent era of the 1920s, including Wings, the first film to receive the Best Picture Academy Award, to the 1970s epic Godfather trilogy, and the new millennium's Mission: Impossible series, The Big Picture: Paramount's 100th Anniversary takes the audience through Paramount Pictures history of movie-making, decade by decade. The evening will feature classic movie clips projected on the Hollywood Bowl's giant screens while the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, led by David Newman, performs the iconic film scores. Every decade of Paramount's 100 years will be represented, as will the music of legendary film composers including Franz Waxman, Bernard Herrmann, Henry Mancini, and John Williams, among others.

Conducting the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra is David Newman, one of today's most accomplished creators of music for film. In his 25-year career, he has scored over 100 films, ranging from War of the Roses, Matilda, Bowfinger, and Heathers, to the more recent The Spirit, Serenity, and Alvin and The Chipmunks: The Squeakuel. Newman's music has brought to life the critically acclaimed dramas Brokedown Palace and Hoffa; top-grossing comedies Norbit, Scooby-Doo, Galaxy Quest, The Nutty Professor, The Flintstones, Throw Mama From the Train; and award-winning animated films Ice Age, The Brave Little Toaster and Anastasia. The recipient of top honors from the music and motion picture industries, he holds an Academy Award nomination for his score to the animated feature, Anastasia, and was the first composer to have his piece, 1001 Nights, performed in the Los Angeles Philharmonic's FILMHARMONIC Series, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. Passionate about nurturing the next generation of musicians, Newman serves as President of the Board of the American Youth Symphony, a forty-three year-old pre-professional orchestra based in Los Angeles, where he launched the three-year "Jerry Goldsmith Project." In 2007 he wrote the children's melodrama "Yoko and the Tooth Fairy" for Crossroads School in Santa Monica, CA, and in 2010 he served on the faculty of the Aspen Music Festival in the Film Scoring Program. When his schedule permits, he visits Los Angeles area high schools to speak about film scoring and mentor young composers. Newman is part of a film music composer dynasty that includes his late father, nine-time Oscar winning composer Alfred, his cousin Randy Newman, his uncles Emil and Lionel Newman, and his siblings Thomas and Maria Newman.

The persona of George Costanza on NBC's Seinfeld garnered Jason Alexander six Emmy and four Golden Globe nominations, an American Television Award, and two American Comedy Awards. The Screen Actors Guild knighted him Best Actor in a Comedy Series and TV Guide readers voted him among the ten greatest television characters of all time. Beyond Seinfeld, Alexander's career is one that defines diversity. His Broadway debut came in the original production of Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along. Alexander starred on Broadway five times, eventually hired to write the libretto for Jerome Robbins' Broadway, in which he also played 14 different characters and which won him the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Tony Awards. Los Angeles audiences have enjoyed his many stage performances here, most notably his acclaimed run alongside Martin Short in Mel Brooks' The Producers. This past summer, The Actors Fund honored Jason with the Julie Harris Award for Lifetime Achievement. In film, his credits include Pretty Woman, Jacob's Ladder, Dunston Checks In, Love, Valor, Compassion, The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, Shallow Hal, Hachi, and the upcoming Lucky Stiff. Notable TV projects include Bye Bye Birdie and A Christmas Carol. He directs for both film and TV, with several features and episodes of Seinfeld, Everybody Hates Chris, Criminal Minds, Franklin and Bash, and Mike and Molly to his credit. He has also directed numerous stage productions in L.A., many for the Reprise Theatre Company, for which he serves as Artistic Director. When not engaged in the above, Jason works as a noted producer, teacher, children's author, magician, poker star, activist and traveling comic - often in his persona of Donny Clay, America's 4th Leading Motivational Speaker.

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