NW Montana composer, musicians to play Kennedy Center
Emmy Award-winning composer and producer Lance Bendiksen will perform with violinists Wai Mizutani and Lauren Welch and singer/songwriter Halladay Quist Sept. 22 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
Bendiksen moved to Kalispell two years. “I was working a lot in L.A., Denver and Nashville and both Nashville and Denver were becoming more and more like Los Angeles — overcrowded, intense cities,” Bendiksen said in a press release.
After a brief stint with the Glacier Symphony, Bendiksen has teamed up with violin virtuoso and Flathead Valley Community College instructor Mizutani and his 13-year-old protege Welch to collaborate on several projects. This past July, Bendiksen had finished the music score for the film “A Towering Task” featuring Annette Bening when he began composing music for “Sounds of the Big Sky,” a commission to score a symphony and material for Mizutani and Welch. Days later, he received an invitation from the director of the film to perform the medley of the score at the film’s premier at the Kennedy Center.
“Music has always been about family for me,” Bendiksen said. “I asked Lauren and Wai if they would like to join me on stage at the Kennedy Center. The theater is sold out and it should be a lot of fun.”
“A Towering Task” is a riveting documentary about John F. Kennedy’s fabled program The Peace Corps. Mizutani plays violin on a segment about a Ukrainian village. Toby Scott, who lives in Whitefish and was Bruce Springsteen’s longtime engineer, worked on the score, along with accomplished engineer Don Caverly. Montana favorite Quist sang for one of the film’s theme songs as well.
Look for “Sounds of the Big Sky” to hit the valley as early as spring.
“I love working in Northwest Montana,” Bendiksen said. “Wai Mizutani is a wonderful violinist, a true virtuoso. At 14 years old, he was the youngest first violinist in the Hong Kong Symphony’s long history. His protege Lauren Welch is an amazing young performer and violinist. Halladay Quist has one of the best female voices that I’ve heard since working with Sarah McLachlan. My production team and I are recording an EP with Halladay.”
Bendiksen plans to record “Sounds of the Big Sky” at Skywalker ranch, a production creation of George Lucas’ in northern California and is now owned by Disney.
“Montana is home now and it’s interesting how musical influences and regions mix with people to create a certain sound,” Bendiksen said. “I anticipate Montana and its own special sauce and brand will be increasingly a part of our music wherever we travel.”
Bendiksen has won dozens of broadcast awards and used his talents on numerous high profile recordings including with the 2007 Grammy-nominated band The Fray on their DVD, “How to Save a Life.”
In 2005 Bendiksen released his soundtrack for the documentary film “The Greatest Good” to critical acclaim. In 2018 Bendiksen, well-known Native American actor Wes Studi and flutist Gareth Laffely teamed up on the recording and concert, “Voices of the Guardians.” The album climbed the Billboard charts to number two status.
Bendiksen started his career working on recordings with RCA and Arista records and KBCO studios for Sarah McLachlan and the Cowboy Junkies. He became the studio manager and staff producer of Avalanche recording, a Denver-based studio that would record a string of top artists including, The Pretenders, Kenny Loggins, Leon Russell and INXS, to name a few. He would later go on to work with Sony, Capital and Universal Records.
Bendiksen has scored dozens of feature films, documentary films and television soundtracks. He won an Emmy for his music on the PBS series “Lifeline.
To learn more, go to www.bendiksenproductions.com