Life Member. Composer
7/1/1952 – 4/25/2024

by Adriana Zoppo

Friend and colleague Edgardo Simone has died at the age of 71 from complications of a brain hemorrhage. Though he played the bass, his gift and talent was in orchestration. A high school dropout, he earned two Masters Degrees within nine months from the University of Oregon, which named him a Distinguished Alumnus in 2007. Both Eastman School of Music and Harvard University offered him scholarships to pursue a Doctorate, but he decided to try Hollywood instead.

His career started ghostwriting for Ernest Gold and other well known film and television composers in the 1980s. Then in 1995, Edgardo met composers Steve Bartek and Danny Elfman, which led to an orchestration collaboration lasting 30 years. The films “Big Fish,” “Spider-Man,” “Men in Black,” “Alice in Wonderland,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Mission Impossible,” “Milk,” “To Die For,” “Corpse Bride,” “American Hustle,” and “Dolores Claiborne” are among the films for which Edgardo contributed orchestrations. He was awarded the American Music Center National Endowment for the Arts Grant, the Young Composers Award from the National Association of Composers, and a BMI Composition Award.

Despite his success, Edgardo was an unpretentious person with a laid back personality who was modest about his accomplishments. The enthusiasm with which he pursued music and other subjects and the vast amount of information he knew about them made him interesting and fun to be around, yet he was never bombastic and had a wry and often sardonic sense of humor. Music was a big part of his life but he was also an animal lover, especially of exotic species, and he knew enough about architecture, electrical work, plumbing and woodwork to restore himself the historic house he and wife Jean lived in. He was also very interested in visual art, not surprising as he was from an artistic family. His father owned an art gallery and his grandfather and namesake was a well-known sculptor during the first half of the twentieth century who was married to the American composer Radie Britain. Edgardo enjoyed food with the same enthusiasm he brought to everything that interested him, and he usually had a current favorite restaurant or food item he wanted to share.

Always engaging his mind and never able to just sit and do nothing, despite his failing health he played the bass and worked on music projects until the end. The world will be a little less bright without his extraordinary presence. He is survived by his wife Jean; siblings Steven Simone, Nan Simonsen and Marina Simone; stepsons Timothy (Katy) and Jonathan Rath; grandsons Holden, Atticus and Milan Rath; and nephew Miles Simone.