Unless otherwise specified, all music copyright © and (P) 2008 John Sawoski, published by Million Oaks Music (ASCAP). All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Any use, transmission, broadcast, synchronization, or reproduction without owner consent is prohibited. All web content copyright ©2006 John Sawoski, PO Box 7060, Beverly Hills, CA 90212. (310) 590-6000. All rights reserved.
Updated: April 02, 2008
| Bio and Resume | |||||||
BIO: John Sawoski began his career as a competition-winning classical pianist. He received a scholarship to study piano with the late Adolph Baller at Stanford University, where he gave many performances including a concerto with the Stanford Symphony, and also composed music for three musicals performed there. Since graduation he has worked as a freelance keyboardist, composer, music producer and conductor. He has been Assistant Musical Director of the Los Angeles production of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular starring the Rockettes, as well as keyboardist for Disney's Beauty and The Beast (Los Angeles), The Secret Garden (First National Tour), Les Miserables (National Tour), A Chorus Line (with Donna McKechnie), Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah, and Cathy Rigby's Peter Pan, Annie Get Your Gun, and Once On This Island. He has also played and conducted for Stephen Sondheim's Assassins (Los Angeles Theater Center); Both Barrels: A Salvo of John Forster Songs; Funny, You Don't Look Like A Grandmother at the Santa Monica Playhouse; and numerous artists including Yma Sumac, Mable King, and 3-time Tony winner Audra McDonald, as well as frequently playing auditions for The Mark Taper Forum and other Los Angeles theater companies. He has had the honor of accompanying tenor Dennis McNeil at President George W. Bush's 2001 Presidential Inaugural, as well as musical directing the performances and recordings of The Leading Ladies (3 sopranos who all sang the lead in Phantom of the Opera). Mr. Sawoski also regularly performs with (and orchestrates for) local orchestras including the Beverly Hills Pops Orchestra, The Capistrano Valley Symphony, The Orange County Four Seasons Orchestra, and The Riverside County Philharmonic. He played piano for Tom Poston on the Oscar Mayer Free Fat-Free Ham radio commercial, and composed, arranged, and recorded for several film and TV scores including The Woman Chaser, What's Shakin', and Day of Atonement. He has also appeared as a musician on camera on many TV shows including Frasier, Will & Grace, Veronica's Closet, JAG, and Family Matters, as well as the films LA Confidential, The Wedding Singer, Man on the Moon, and HBO’s Live From Baghdad. His other album credits include playing keyboards for Saylor Shin (Korean vocalist and #1 hit songwriter), and for The Adam Yurman Project (Crown Records, Tokyo).
Services and EquipmentServices: Keyboard & piano playing, composing, arranging, orchestrating, music direction, music production & recording, and accompanying.Equipment: Recording studio with Yamaha G2 acoustic piano, a 128 channel MIDI system, multi-track digital audio recording with networked Windows XP Pro, Windows XP Home, Windows 98, and Macintosh computers (with CD and DVD burning), running Cakewalk Sonar 3.1 Producer Edition, Sound Designer II, and Opcode Studio Vision Pro, connected to an Aardvark Q10 Audio Interface, AudioMedia II card, Tascam M-2524 Mixer (48 audio inputs), Roland MC-50 Sequencer, Panasonic SV-3700 DAT deck, Toshiba DX-900 Digital PCM Recorder, Eastwest/Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra (Gold Edition), Kurzweil MicroPiano, EMAX-II Sampler, Proteus 2, Procussion, Roland M-DC1, Roland D-50, Roland JV-1080, Sound Canvas, Yamaha W7, DX7, & TX7, Korg M1, Extensive Galaxy Patch Libraries, Finale Music Notation Software (Windows and Mac), Tannoy PBM-08 Studio Monitors, Opcode Studio4, Sound Ideas Sound Effects Library, and more.
Education
Composing for Film and Television with Michael Patterson
at Cal State LA
1981-1985 Stanford
University, Stanford, California
1970-1985 Private piano lessons with Lincoln Mayorga,
Adolph Baller, Molly Biernat, Veda Zuponzic, Yoheved Kaplinsky, & Steven
Romanio; jazz and musical workshops with top musicians, conductors, and
band leaders on both coasts of the U.S., including Stan Kenton, Maynard
Ferguson, and Dorothy Taubman.
2000-2005 - See Press Releases. Other highlights: 2005 - Orchestrator, The Claflin Hill Symphony Orchestra 2005 - Arranger/Producer, songs and recordings for Blood Wedding, Santa Monica College
2004 - John Sawoski's arrangements for
The Leading
Ladies were featured at the
Help is on the Way X
10th Anniversary Gala, The Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA. 2001 Keyboardist on camera, The Big Time (TNT/Warner Brothers TV Movie) 2000 Musical Director/Pianist, Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah, Los Angeles 1998-2004 Pianist/Keyboardist, The Orange County Four Seasons Orchestra, with conductors Roger Hickman and Dov Scharf, moderator John Santana, and numerous guest artists. 1999 Keyboardist on camera, Will & Grace 1998 Accompanist, South Bay Opera 1998 Keyboardist, The Who’s Tommy, Carson Civic Light Opera 1998 Keyboardist on camera, JAG, Players, Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman (TV Shows)
1997 Baritone Saxophonist on camera, LA Confidential (Canal/Regency/Warner Brothers)
1998 Rehearsal Pianist, Love 40 (new musical)
1998 Dramatic Composer,
Act Without Words, by
Samuel Becket, Long Beach City College
1997-98 Audition Accompanist, The Mark Taper
Forum, Burbank Civic Light Opera, Radio City Music Hall, Quantum Productions,
When You Wish (new musical), Gold Coast Civic Light Opera
1997 Pianist/Keyboardist/Synth Programmer, Once on This Island, McCoy-Rigby Entertainment, La Mirada, CA 1997 Pianist/Keyboardist, Peter Pan starring Cathy Rigby, McCoy-Rigby Entertainment, La Mirada, CA
1997 Audition Accompanist, The Mark Taper Forum,
Los Angeles
1997 Pianist, Guys and Dolls, Burbank Civic Light Opera
1997 Accompanist,
Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, Cedar City, Utah
& Washington, DC
1997 Composer/Music Supervisor, What's Shakin'?
(children's variety TV show pilot)
1996 Pianist,
The
Baloney Song, Oscar Mayer Fat Free Ham (Radio Commercial), J.
Walter Thompson, Chicago
1994 Arranger, The Kevin McGuire Show, New York
1993 Pianist/Hand Model J.C. Penney Men's Classics
TV Commercial,
Other Piano Performance Highlights
1996 Solo Pianist, The Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel, The Disneyland Hotel 1994 Solo Pianist, The Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles Airport Hilton Hotel 1993 Solo Pianist, Los Angeles Hilton Hotel 1993 Solo Pianist, Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel (also duo with bass) Flute & Piano Duo, Sheraton Long Beach 1989 Solo Pianist, Mason's, Los Angeles, CA 1988 Solo Pianist/Keyboardist, Series of Swiss Hotels, including Badrutt's Palace Hotel, St. Moritz; Le Mirador, and Hotel Le Richemond, Geneva 1986 Pianist, The Regency Club, Los Angeles, CA 1986-96 Soloist, private parties, including parties for Academy Award nominees, Kodak, Mattell, guests Prince Rainier and the Princely Family of Monaco, Mr. Blackwell, Richard Nixon, Frank Sinatra, Liza Minnelli, David Murdock, Roger Moore, Pierre Cardin, Prince & Princess Alexander of Yugoslavia, Zsa-zsa and Eva Gabor, Henry Mancini, Kenny Rogers, Jimmy Stewart, Charleton Heston, Joanna Carson, Prince Khan of Afghanistan and David Benoit.
Affiliations
Honors and AwardsGrand Prize Winner, First Place Winner Virginia Organization of Composers and Lyricists 1993 Song Contest Third Place, Mid-Atlantic Song Contest, New York (1992) NAJE award for Best Jazz Pianist, Chaffey College Jazz Festival (1981) Music Guild Scholarship, Stanford University (1981-85) Blew-Culley-La Follette Prize in Piano at Stanford (1983) Finalist (top 6 in nation), Chopin Young Pianists Competition, Buffalo, NY (1979) First Place, MTNA Student Auditions, New Jersey (1980) New Jersey All-State Jazz Band, Band, and Orchestra (1980) First Place, Drexel Music Awards (1979)
(Other references available upon request) "... Very entertaining..."
"... FABULOUS ... JOHN SAWOSKI is a superb keyboard
artist..."
"A phenomenal find."
"Your own arrangements and treatment of those
(Japanese) songs made them more contemporary and interesting. I like what
you did..."
"great accompaniment"
"An excellent pianist and accompanist, and amazingly
versatile as well."
"Should do a solo piano album..."
"Fantastic pianist. Sensitive, subtle... perfect for the room." - Harry Nilsson "Really blew the people away... audience [is]
still talking about the [celebrity benefit] show."
"He not only looks like a dream, but he plays
like a dream, which is rare - let's face it..."
"A talented keyboard stylist... Classically trained, [he] is also great with Broadway show tunes as well as pop and rock selections." - Wally Cedar, Editor, The Regency Report
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