An internationally touted master of orchestration and author of Contemporary Orchestration: A Practical Guide to Instruments, Ensembles, and Musicians (Routledge Publishing/Taylor & Francis Group, 2014), RJ Miller has enjoyed a richly diverse musical career. He has composed, orchestrated, conducted, and produced contemporary classical recordings with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the St. Petersburg (Russia) Philharmonic Orchestra; produced critically acclaimed CDs by Placido Domingo, José Carreras, Russian violin virtuoso Grigori Sedukh, the Moscow String Quartet, and the St. Petersburg (Russia) Hutchins Violin Octet; served as executive producer and mastering producer on the Grammy® Nominated CD How Great Thou Art by country music superstar, Willie Nelson; composed/orchestrated the score to the Emmy® Nominated Sports Program Flight of the Dream Team, and composed/orchestrated/produced the score to the Annie Award® Winning Winsor McCay: Animation Legend (ASIFA); arranged, orchestrated, produced & performed on dozens of jazz, classical, and new age CDs that have reached the Billboard Magazine Top 20; orchestrated/conducted multiple (Grammy nominated) CDs and TV scores for multi-Grammy Award-winning pianist, Peter Kater; composed, orchestrated and produced film scores for the digital re-releases of the original The Last of the Mohicans (National Film Preservation Board® Award/VSDA® Gold Award Nominee), The Birth of a Nation (VSDA® Gold Award Winner/National Film Preservation Board® Award), The Birth of a Race (VSDA® Gold Award Winner/National Film Preservation Board® Award), The Lost World (National Film Preservation Board® Award/ASIFA Annie Award® Nominee), Felix the Cat (VSDA® Gold Award Nominee/ASIFA Annie Award® Nominee); orchestrated and conducted documentary, movie and sports soundtracks for television which have aired on the History Channel, the Smithsonian Channel, the Discovery Channel, the Learning Channel, TCM, NBC, ABC, AMC, National Geographic Explorer, ESPN, the Warren Miller Network; served as the orchestrator/conductor on the international broadcasts of the 1999 World Cup Ski Championships and the 2002 Winter Olympics (both with the Utah Symphony); orchestrated five Broadway plays, including the Tony nominated Burn This (directed by and starring John Malkovich). A portion of his score to the digital reissue of the original The Lost World appears in the documentary The Making of Jurassic Park (hosted by James Earl Jones and distributed worldwide by MCA/Universal. Pictures).
In addition to his orchestration text, RJ is the author of Clock Master: A Comprehensive Manual for Synchronizing Musical Compositions to Film and Video, and The Notation Translation Manual (a technical reference manual for recording engineers), Basic Music Technology (an online course manual for The Metropolitan State University of Denver – covering music software technologies, MIDI, samples, DAW, digital audio/video editing, microphones and signal flow, graphics, and music-oriented website design), Arranging and Orchestration (supplemental materials for the Arranging and Orchestration class, including an extensive Percussion Rudiments DVD for composition students at The Metropolitan State University of Denver), and has an additional book (Arranging for Music Educators) in the editing phase of pre-production.
RJ is an active voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (the Grammys®), a member of ASCAP, a member of Pi Kappa Lambda (National Music Honor Society), a member of the College Music Society, a member of ATMI (Association for Technology in Music Instruction), and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Colorado Wind Ensemble. The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences has selected him to serve on multiple judging committees for the Grammy Awards® (a confidentiality agreement with NARAS precludes the disclosure of the specific categories). At The Metropolitan State University of Denver, Professor Miller’s instructional responsibilities include Arranging and Orchestration, Scoring for Film and Television, and he serves as the Coordinator of Music Technology. Additionally, he has guest-lectured on creating music for games in the Survey of Computer Games class (TechComm department). In selected outreach seminars, he lectures on scoring for film, television and digital media, the studio recording and mastering process, album production, copyrights/licensing, and ethical music entrepreneurship.
RJ’s former positions include founder, president & CEO of Fahrenheit Records and Celsius Records, executive vice president of Finer Arts Records and F2 Entertainment, general manager and executive producer of Forté Records, music director/composer on the television series The Master’s Peace Theater (KWHD-TV), interim president of the New Violin Family Association. As a graduate student in composition at North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas), RJ served an apprenticeship and became a master copyist for the jazz publishing company, Outrageous Mother, Inc.
With over 50 years of professional experience, his credits (as composer, orchestrator, arranger, conductor, performer, musicologist, producer and/or executive producer) appear on well over 400 CDs/albums, laserdiscs, DVDs, CDVs, videos, film and television productions. In addition to his technical reference manuals, course manuals, and text books, his published works include nine volumes of works for piano, four symphonic suites, a symphonic poem and 30+ single movement works for symphony orchestra, over 100 selections for instruments of the New Violin Family, and well over 300 works for string quartets, wind ensemble/symphonic band, flute orchestra, pops orchestra, brass ensembles, woodwind ensembles, jazz ensembles, percussion ensembles, musique concrète, synthesizer ensembles, and other small ensembles of various genres and instrumentation.
RJ’s private film scoring, arranging and orchestration students have also enjoyed a multitude of industry successes, accounting for many national and international awards and nominations. For example:
(1) Grammy Award
(6) Grammy Award Nominations
(1) Academy Award Nomination
(1) Emmy Award Nomination
(1) Tony Nomination
(5) British Academy Awards
(8) Hollywood Music in Media Awards
(4) Annual Game Music Awards
(2) International Film Critics’ Awards
(6) ASCAP Composers Choice Awards
plus many, many more.
Arranger/orchestrator/conductor, RJ Miller, 2-time Grammy Award-winning pianist, Peter Kater, 7-time Grammy Award-winning recording engineer, Leslie Ann Jones & recording engineer, Dann Thompson during recording sessions at Skywalker Sound Studios at Skywalker Ranch. This foursome represents a combined 26 Grammy Award nominations.
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RJ conducting his works with the St. Petersburg (Russia) Philharmonic Orchestra at the Grand Hall of the St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonia named after D.D. Shostakovich.
RJ conducting his works with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at CTS Studios, London, England.
A sampling of some of RJ’s works:
Brief sampling of RJ’s accolades:
(3) Grammy nominations (National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences)
(2) Emmy nominations (National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences)
(1) Annie Award (International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood)
(2) Annie Award nominations
(3) National Film Preservation Board Awards (NFPB – Library of Congress)
(1) Viva Gold Award (Video Software Distributors Association)
(3) Viva Gold nominations
Elected member of Pi Kappa Lambda (National Music Honor Society)
Published internationally by Routledge Publishing/Taylor & Francis Group
Absolutely useless trivia:
Prior to devoting himself to a career in music and by exploiting his extensive background acoustical physics, RJ spent 2.5 years as a Materials Review Board physicist on the Space Shuttle and C4 anti-ballistic missile systems for a NASA subcontractor.