Michael Kamen

Oscar-nominated composer, conductor, and arranger Michael Kamen was born in New York City in 1948, going on to study oboe at the Juilliard School of Music while concurrently playing in a jug band. He then formed the New York Rock & Roll Ensemble, whose fusion of classical and pop so impressed legendary conductor Leonard Bernstein that he invited the group to appear at one of his Young People's Concerts with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Between 1968 and 1972, the New York Rock & Roll Ensemble also recorded five albums before dissolving; in 1973, the Harkness Ballet comm...