Jon Mortimer: I saw the piano player in the middle of the band and I knew that's what I wanted to do
Jon Mortimer graduated from the Birmingham Conservatoire having studied composition, conducting and piano with the renowned concert pianist Frank Wibaut. He was always drawn to the diversity of music found in theatre, TV and film and directly after graduating in 1980, Jon served as Musical Director and Composer for the Birmingham Repertory Company. Productions included the play ‘The Triumph of Death’ in collaboration with the Royal Shakespeare Company for which he composed his first soundtrack. Throughout that decade he composed for modern ballet, theatre and television productions in the UK. As a pianist and keyboard player he played countless gigs, orchestral concerts and tours throughout Great Britain and abroad, and as a studio musician for radio, T.V. and commercial recordings.
In 1991 Jon moved to Hamburg and has since then conducted or played keyboards for many of the major Musicals in Germany including Cats, Phantom of the Opera, Fosse, Mamma Mia, Lion King and Sister Act.
Jon has arranged and orchestrated music for many concerts, events and Musical productions. Alone in 2023 he arranged the complete music for the Abbamania European tour, Sixties Girls which is running at the Capitol Theatre in Düsseldorf and orchestral arrangements for the Robert Schumann Orchestra and the Thüringen Philharmonie Gotha - Eisenach Christmas Concert. Other credits over the years include music for the The Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra under Ingo Metzmacher, the Water Circus ‘Crescendo’ for Paris Euro Disney and the Musical ‘Teddy’, which was a commission from the Steiff Company.
Amongst his compositions is a Piano Concerto, 'Through A Passage Of Time' and the Musical ‘The Garden Behind the Moon’ which was staged with great success in Canada in 2004. 'Celtic Journey', for solo violin and orchestra was premiered in 2016 at the British Flair open air Proms Concert in Hamburg and repeated in 2019. He has also composed many production music tracks for media published and sold world wide by Music Revolution, Roba and Tree Of Arts Music Publishers.
https://www.jonmortimermusic.com/about.html