Mark Watters Luncheon – August 21, 2011

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, The Pebble And The Penguin, And All Dogs Go To 2 Heaven 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.