Stewart Copeland’s Efforts Shine at Chicago Symphony Orchestra Event

In 2013, BMI composer and legendary rock musician Stewart Copeland was commissioned to deconstruct the classic 1925 black and white silent film Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ and re-orchestrate a score he previously completed for a large-arena show of the same story. This was a project that combined all of Copeland’s many talents in composition, orchestration, film scoring, film editing and his virtuoso gifts as a percussionist and drummer. The exciting mix of story, film and orchestral performance was debuted with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on October 14, 2014, with Copeland playing drums and percussion.BMI’s VP Film/TV Relations, Doreen Ringer-Ross was in attendance to support Copeland’s efforts.

For Copeland (formerly the drummer for the Police), scoring film soundtracks has become another mark of success. He has worked on many musical projects, including films such as Francis Ford Coppola’s Rumblefish, Oliver Stone’s Wall Street and several operas; his fourth operatic effort, based on Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart, was recently premiered by the Long Beach Opera.