The Hastings College Department of Music will host Emmy award-winning film composer Mark Watters at 3 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 21 in Perkins Auditorium. The accomplished composer, conductor and arranger will discuss his life as a film composer.
This event is free and open to the public.
Mark Watters is a five-time Emmy Award winner whose composition credits include “Doug's First Movie,” “The Return Of Jafar” and “Aladdin and the King of Thieves” for Disney, “The Pebble And The Penguin” and “All Dogs Go To Heaven 2” for MGM as well as over 300 episodes of various television series, including “The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin,” “Tiny Toon Adventures,” “The New Pink Panther,” “All Dogs Go To Heaven,” “101 Dalmatians” and “A Very Muppet Christmas.”
In 1996, Mark served as Music Director for the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta for which he received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Musical Direction and an Emmy nomination for the song "Faster, Higher, Stronger," performed by opera legend Jessye Norman and co-written with lyricist Lorraine Feather. He returned to the Olympic podium again as Music Director for the 2002 Salt Lake Olympic Winter Games where he had the honor of working with the acclaimed Utah Symphony and the Grammy Award winning Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Other recent credits include the award-winning score to "Disney's True Life Adventures," featuring four one-hour television documentaries. This critically acclaimed series captured the beauty and magnificence as well as the acute harshness of nature around the world.
As conductor and arranger for country music star, Trisha Yearwood, Mr. Watters has guest conducted such orchestras as The Los Angeles Philharmonic, The London Symphony, The Detroit Symphony, and The Atlanta Symphony. His arrangements are featured on her platinum selling CD, Thinking About You from MCA. Born and raised in Irving, Texas, he attended the University of Southern California where he majored in saxophone. His numerous performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic were with conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Zubin Mehta, Pierre Boulez, Erich Leinsdorf, and Michael Tilson Thomas. Other credits include The Joffrey Ballet Orchestra, The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, and The Ojai Festival Orchestra as well as numerous film and television scores. Mark has served on the Board of Governors of the Television Academy as well as being a past president of the Society of Composers and Lyricists.
Hastings College, founded in 1882, is a private, four-year liberal arts institution affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). A total of 64 majors in 32 areas of study and 12 pre-professional programs are offered to more than 1,150 students. Hastings College was named among “America’s Best National Liberal Arts Colleges” by U.S. News & World Report, a “Best in the Midwest” by The Princeton Review, and a “Best Buy in College Education” by Barron’s. Visit www.hastings.edu for more information.

For more information, Dr. Byron Jensen at (402) 461-7361 or bjensen@hastings.edu.