Marc Hoffman

Marc Hoffman, a native of North Carolina, received a degree in composition from the North Carolina School of the Arts, and did additional study in film scoring at the University of Southern California. He also studied at The Dartington International Summer School of Music in Devon, England. His composition teachers have included John Corigliano, Sherwood Shaffer, David Ott, Sir Leo Arnaud, and Neil Hefti. He is a member of BMI, the American Composer's Forum, and the National Association for Music Education. After establishing himself as a composer of film, theatre, pop, and gospel music, Marc began pursuing his passion for jazz in the early 1990s. As a pianist and vocalist Marc performs over 100 dates a year with a repertoire of original jazz and his own arrangements of standards, ballads, and pop. He most often performs with his trio including Sean Tarleton on bass and Bill Scott on drums, but works as a soloist and with other ensembles as well at concerts, festivals, clubs, and other public and private events. Marc's recordings include the all-original jazz CD, Curioso (2010) which features Tim Gordon (Mr. Groove) on sax, Grammy nominee John Sharp on guitar, Terry Peoples on bass, and Gray Fallin (The Brubakers) and Mike Lanier on drums and percussion; Christmas Time (2006) a jazz-flavored CD with new tunes and new arrangements of traditional music; Long Way Home (2003), a collection of original piano solos, and Dream of God (2003), a collection of original and traditional Christian songs. A long-awaited vocal CD of standards and ballads including two new songs by the composer will be released in fall 2010. Recent film work includes the 2006 score for "The Mill" for producer Ralph Singleton and director Grainger Hines. Marc was also music director for the film and placed songs from 13 artists from the US and the UK. Previous film credits include Music Historian for the 1985 film, "Revolution". Marc's first book and companion DVD, Essential Worship Keyboard was released by Emerald Books in 2007. A children's book, "Sleep, Little Child" and accompanying CD were released in August 2010. A noted lecturer, Marc's "Music Is..." is a fast-paced, one hour talk/presentation comparing classical music form to the form of a three minute "pop" song. His presentation "On Film Music" is a brief history of film music and the mechanics of the art form. Marc is a featured performer and speaker at seminars and conventions throughout the US.