Biography
Michael Roth is a composer, music director, orchestrator, pianist, and sound designer whose work has been described as music "one could imagine Charles Ives composing had he lived long enough to encounter rock-and-roll and beat poetry." Known for collaborations with Tom Hanks, Randy Newman, Christopher Plummer and Al Pacino, his current project THE WEB OPERA, composed exclusively for the web, an official selection at 33 Film Festivals, created to raise awareness of cyber-abuse and support suicide prevention, is online at thewebopera.com. In addition to film scores, he has composed chamber music, new and experimental opera and music/theatre, dance music, and especially music and sound for theatre, having composed the scores for over 250 productions at major theatres throughout North America, including Broadway, off-Broadway, Canada's Stratford Festival, and, as a resident artist/composer, at both South Coast Repertory and La Jolla Playhouse in California.
Michael's recent projects include composing music for Tom Hanks in HENRY IV (LA, 2019); the scores for Christopher Plummer's one-man show "A Word or Two," and his performance as Prospero for the stage and film productions of "The Tempest" (Stratford Festival, Des McAnuff, director); music for a new solo project with Al Pacino; and many collaborations with composer Randy Newman including musical direction and arrangements for "The Princess & the Frog" (Disney), in addition to his work as music director, orchestrator, and pianist for "Harps & Angels," "The Education of Randy Newman," "Faust," and editing five definitive anthologies for Alfred Music Publishing.
Michael was a 2011 fellow at the Sundance Institute Composers/Documentary Lab. Other recent projects: "Pamplona," a solo project with Stacy Keach as Ernest Hemingway; "Jews & Baseball," Peter Miller's documentary (PBS/theatrical release) narrated by Dustin Hoffman, featuring Sandy Koufax; John Walcutt's "Termite" (Hollywood Reel Independent Festival winner), "Your Name Here" with Bill Pullman; collaborating with Daniel Sullivan and Donald Margulies on the world premieres of "Brooklyn Boy" (Broadway) and "Dinner with Friends" (Pulitzer Prize, off-Broadway); premiere of Lee Blessing's "Walk in the Woods" (Broadway and PBS); "Talking Heads," "Sight Unseen," (off-Broadway); collaborating with Tom Stoppard on the US premieres of "Indian Ink" and "Invention of Love;" collaborating with MacArthur Fellow Sarah Ruhl on the west coast premiere and subsequent productions of "Melancholy Play;" many collaborations with Mac Wellman including their "Allegory of Whiteness" (music/theatre-Humana Festival, 2001) and the Obie-award winning premieres of "Bad Penny" and "Terminal Hip;" as resident artist/composer at La Jolla Playhouse (over 35 productions) and South Coast Repertory (over 50 productions): "The Birds" (music/theatre with Culture Clash, also at Berkeley Rep and the Getty Villa), and the world premieres of Margaret Edson's "Wit" (Pulitzer Prize), and Noah Haidle's "Mr. Marmalade;" for the UCLA Center for International Medicine and the UN, music and sound for their DVDs on landmine safety, combat casualty care, sexual assault, and family planning; additional collaborations with, among others, Anne Bogart, Michael Greif, Joy Gregory, Douglas Hughes, Tom Hulce, Mark Lamos, James Lapine, Michael Mayer, Tim Blake Nelson, David Warren, Jerry Zaks, Peter Sellars; as a pianist, accompanying singers from Alicia Keyes to Marni Nixon, Alice Ripley, and Michael McKean.
