Interview
with Oscar and Emmy
Award-winning Composer-conductor Bill Conti
on September 15, 2000
Interviewed and reported by
the entertainment team of the LA Center,
CA, U.S.A. (Originally in English)
Mr. Bill Conti is one of Hollywood's most famed composers and conductors, having won an Oscar for Best Original Score for the Right Stuff, as well as four Emmy awards. His compositions are well-known throughout the world and his records have sold over eight million copies. Bill Conti has acted as orchestral director for the Academy Awards show for fourteen years. He has composed and arranged music for the Olympics and for more than 50 television shows, including ABC's Good Morning America, Dynasty, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, Inside Edition and many others. He has arranged and conducted music for more than 40 orchestras, both national and international. Bill Conti has scored music for over 100 films, including the Oscar-winning film Rocky, The Karate Kid movies, James Bond: For Your Eyes Only, Private Benjamin, The Adventures of Huck Finn, and most recently, The Thomas Crown Affair. Bill Conti has been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions and achievements in music. Mr. Conti graduated with bachelor's and master's degrees from the nation's top music school, the Juilliard School of Music, in New York. He was also presented with a doctoral degree in music by his alma mater.
Interviewer: We'd like to know more about your experience of the 'One World ... of peace through music' concert.
B. Conti: Well, it was a wonderful experience, of course. It was a memorable night. It really was. I've met people, since then, who were in the audience who have stopped me and said "I was there that night. And we had a good time. We had a wonderful time." So more than one person has mentioned that to me, which is always good to hear.
I: How do you feel about The Supreme Master Ching Hai's music and poetry?
BC: Well, I love Her poetry, and the very little that I know of Her music, I enjoy because I did work with one piece in preparing for the concert. It would be nice to do the music and poetry in one place at one time like on a CD or in a concert. I think it's worthy of that. I think the chemistry and the harmonies have to be right for something like that to come together, but it would be very exciting to do.
I: At the end of the event, you dedicated a song to The Supreme Master and performed it. How was that - performing a piece with the person in the audience there with you?
BC: Well, it was special. It made it special because it was thought about with that person in mind, and when you dedicate a piece, when the person is there, you can actually do your very best to do the best performance of that dedication, and it was exciting!
I: So, that evening that you performed the piece, did it come out like you expected it to?
BC: I could feel the audience during the song, and that means it was successful, as close to the ideal as it possibly could be. With that audience, there had to be six thousand people. I know that the Shrine Auditorium can only seat six thousands people and it was more than full. When the audience and the performers become one, it is almost nearly divine, where this oneness can actually meet in some, not physical place, but in some spiritual place, in the middle, not the performers performing, not the audience receiving, but all of a sudden that contact is made and it becomes wonderful. It is out there to be received. All you have to do is open up a little bit and then you'll be experiencing a part of that person's soul. It's just there -- in the presence of a beautiful painting, a creation, something created by someone else. This is insight into not who they are physically, but who they are on this other plane, so, what makes it magic, always, is to hear music performed live.
I: What are you up to these days?
BC: Well, I've been busy. Last week, I was in Kansas City, with the Kansas City Symphony. I've been with the Houston Symphony for five concerts, and Atlanta; I do many concerts. Last year I did The Thomas Crown Affair, which was a movie, and I'm working on another movie for television now.
I: What were your feelings after performing at 'One World ... of peace through music'?
BC: I remember everyone being onstage and all the flowers and all the wonderful people, who were there experiencing the end of a concert that went well and was received well. It seemed like one of those concerts that was so special because everything just went the way it was supposed to, and there was just so much love and affection from everyone around, from the audience to everyone working backstage, that it was memorable. It makes those memorable. I think it went very well. Every once in a while, there is one that stands out. And of course, that one stood out, above many others.
I: Would you want to share with us once again how you came up with that poetic sound for 'I Will Forever Love You'?
BC: It's all in the study of music, to be able to know how to do that. I hope that I adequately put that longing into the music, so that everyone in the audience could feel that same thing, what I felt. It's all sparked from the words and the music, and you retain that and try to do your best to pass that message on to other people. I can express it in music and then you hopefully will feel the same thing, the same way with the song that was written. All those things that She felt, when She wrote that, come out to everyone.
BC: If I could meet or have the pleasure to be with The Supreme Master Ching Hai, I would tell Her how the experience that I had was so wonderful. And what She is giving to other people is so wonderful, that I would have to ask Her to take care of Herself, to wish Her health and happiness. I know that She has them, but to take care, so that She can continue doing the good work that She's been doing and to expose Herself to as many people who need Her exposure, and in Her travels, to just fly safely and be very careful and healthful.
