Dimitri Tiomkin’s music has long been performed at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. Few can match Tiomkin’s enviable record at the Bowl, including his diverse roles as composer, conductor, and pianist over the past eight decades.
The Hollywood Bowl. Courtesy of Los Angeles Philharmonic Association.
The earliest performances, in the 1930s, featured Tiomkin’s music for ballet choreographed by his wife, Albertina Rasch. In 1939, Tiomkin was at the piano as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Albert Coates in a performance of Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concerto No. 2.” Music from at least a dozen different films scored by Tiomkin has serenaded the hills surrounding the amphitheater. In addition to serving up his well-known works, such as High Noon and The High and the Mighty, the Bowl has seen performances of music from Spawn of the North, The Adventures of Hajji Baba, and Take the High Ground. Conductor John Mauceri and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra championed Tiomkin’s music in a number of concerts since 1996. David Newman has taken up the baton and conducted the most recent performance of Tiomkin’s music for The Big Picture: AFI’s Great American Movie Quiz.
Following is a list in reverse chronological order.
The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra performs Dial M for Murder. Photograph © 2011 Marilee Bradford. Used by permission.
September 4, 2011
“Dial M for Murder Suite” (music from the film score)
High Noon (theme)
Composer: Dimitri Tiomkin
Conductor: David Newman
Performers: Hollywood Bowl Orchestra
Concert title: The Big Picture: AFI’s Great American Movie Quiz
September 23, 2005
High Noon (theme)
Composer: Dimitri Tiomkin
Conductor: John Mauceri
Performers: Hollywood Bowl Orchestra
Concert title: The Big Picture—AFI’s 100 Years of Film Scores
Note: performed as part of a medley.
September 16-18, 2005
“Dial M for Murder Suite” (music from the film score)
“Rawhide” (theme from the television show of the same name)
Composer: Dimitri Tiomkin
Conductor: John Mauceri
Performers: Hollywood Bowl Orchestra
Note: “Rawhide” was performed as an encore.
July 14-15, 2000
The Fall of the Roman Empire
Composer: Dimitri Tiomkin
Conductor: John Mauceri
Performers: Hollywood Bowl Orchestra
July 20, 21, 1999
The Old Man and the Sea (suite of music from the film)
Composer: Dimitri Tiomkin
Conductor: John Mauceri
Performers: Hollywood Bowl Orchestra
July 2, 3, 4, 1996
“Lone Star” suite
Composer: Dimitri Tiomkin
Conductor: John Mauceri
Performers: Hollywood Bowl Orchestra
August 2 and 3, 1991
“Prelude” from Giant
“The Green Leaves of Summer” from The Alamo
“High Noon” from High Noon
Composer: Dimitri Tiomkin
Conductor: Erich Kunzel
May 8, 1964
Concert title or series: UCLA Spring sing
Note: Tiomkin agreed to serve as a judge, according to an item in the Los Angeles Times, April 20, 1964.
September 25, 1963
“High Noon” from High Noon (arranged by Morton Gould)
“The Green Leaves of Summer” from The Alamo (Mahalia Jackson, vocalist; arranged by Stanley Wilson)
Composer: Dimitri Tiomkin
Conductor: Dimitri Tiomkin
Performers: The Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra (freelance orchestra assembled by Bobby Helfer)
Concert title or series: Music from Hollywood
Note: This was the first annual Composers and Lyricists Guild-sponsored concert. It was issued on a Columbia LP in December 1963, and on compact disc in 1995.
August 27, 1955
The High and the Mighty
Composer: Dimitri Tiomkin
Conductor: John Green
Performers: Los Angeles Philharmonic
August 13, 1955
“Hajji Baba” from The Adventures of Hajji Baba (music from the film score)
Composer: Dimitri Tiomkin
Conductor: Nelson Riddle
Performers: Los Angeles Philharmonic
May 24, 1953
“Take the High Ground” (main title song from the film of the same name)
Composer: Dimitri Tiomkin
Conductor: John Green, guest conductor
Performers: U.S. Army Field Band
Note: Sponsored by the Los Angeles Council of the American Legion.
Summer 1942
Lost Horizon (music from the film score, to be conducted by Tiomkin)
Note: This was announced in the Los Angeles Times, July 21, 1942; but there is no evidence that the concert took place.
August 22, 1939
“Fiesta” (ballet)
Composer: Dimitri Tiomkin
Choreographer: Albertina Rasch
Conductor: Henry Svedrofsky
Performers: Los Angeles Philharmonic
July 28, 1939
“Piano Concerto No. 2”
Composer: Sergei Rachmaninoff
Conductor: Albert Coates
Performers: Los Angeles Philharmonic; Dimitri Tiomkin, piano soloist
August 16, 1938
“Suite of The Lost Horizon” (a 12-episode tableau from the film score, conducted by Tiomkin)
“Excerpts from The Great Waltz” (music from the film score, adapted by Tiomkin from Johann Strauss, conducted by Arthur Guttman)
Composer: Dimitri Tiomkin
Choreographer: Albertina Rasch (for The Great Waltz)
Conductors: Dimitri Tiomkin; Arthur Guttman
Performers: Los Angeles Philharmonic; Hall Johnson Choir
Note: Presented by the Southern California Symphony Association
August 2, 1938
Spawn of the North (music from the film score)
Four movements: “Indian Call,” “Love Scene,” “The Harpoon Flight,” and “Epilogue”
Composer: Dimitri Tiomkin
Conductor: Boris Morros
Performers: Los Angeles Philharmonic
Concert title or series: Music of the Cinema
August 12, 1933
“Spanish Suite” (ballet)
“Cake Walk” (ballet)
“Negro Chant” (ballet)
“Ambition” (ballet)
“Today” (ballet)
Composer: Dimitri Tiomkin
Choreographer: Albertina Rasch
Conductor: Nathaniel Finston
Performers: Los Angeles Philharmonic
Concert title or series: Symphonies Under the Stars
Notes: Pietro Cimini conducted the first half of the concert. Nathaniel Finston conducted the Tiomkin works.
Dimitri Tiomkin with Arthur Lange, Hollywood Bowl, 1930
August 1, 1930
“Suite Choreographic” (ballet)
Composer: Dimitri Tiomkin
Choreographer: Albertina Rasch
Conductor: Arthur Lange
Performers: Los Angeles Philharmonic
Notes: World premiere, written especially for the Hollywood Bowl, in four parts, including “Blues.”
Compiled by Warren M. Sherk in September 2005 (first posted September 2008, last updated September 2011) from information in the Dimitri Tiomkin Collection at USC, the Los Angeles Times (accessed through ProQuest), and from information supplied by Steve LaCoste, archivist, Los Angeles Philharmonic.