Danny Elfman

Danny Elfman is an internationally acclaimed film and classical composer who first gained recognition as the singer-songwriter of the rock band Oingo Boingo. Over the past four decades, he has composed more than 100 feature film scores, along with works for television, stage, and the concert hall.

Elfman is best known for his long-standing creative partnership with director Tim Burton, scoring 18 of his films including Batman, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Alice in Wonderland, Big Fish, and 2024’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, as well as his Emmy-winning Main Title theme to Tim Burton’s Hit TV series Wednesday. He also wrote the music & lyrics and provided the singing voice of Jack Skellington in The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Beyond Burton, Elfman has frequently collaborated with director Sam Raimi on films such as Spider-Man, Darkman, A Simple Plan, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, as well as with Gus Van Sant on To Die For, Good Will Hunting, Milk, and 2025’s Dead Man’s Wire. His music can also be heard in all three Men in Black films, and he wrote the iconic television themes for The Simpsons, Desperate Housewives, Tales from the Crypt, and most recently, Wednesday.

Elfman’s achievements include four Academy Award nominations, a GRAMMY, two Emmy Awards, multiple Saturn Awards, and lifetime achievement honors from The Society of Composers & Lyricists, the Max Steiner Film Music Award, and the Fantasia Festival’s Cheval Noir. His versatility extends to the concert hall, where his nine symphonic works—including three full-length concertos—are performed regularly in the U.S. and Europe. He has also collaborated with artists such as The Weeknd and A$AP Rocky.

In recent years, Elfman returned to his rock roots with the album “Big Mess,” a fusion of rock and orchestra. Elfman will be releasing his follow-up album and performing at numerous music festivals in 2026.

Elfman has written nine symphonic concert works which are frequently performed throughout Europe and North America.

Elfman’s orchestral concert works include: Serenada Schizophrana, a symphony commissioned by the American Composer’s Orchestra, which premiered at Carnegie Hall in 2005, Rabbit and Rogue, for the American Ballet Theater choreographed by Twyla Tharp, performed at The Metropolitan Opera house in 2008. In 2017 Elfman premiered his violin concerto “Eleven Eleven” written for, and performed by violinist Sandy Cameron, which had its world premiere in Prague and was released on Sony Classical records in 2019.  The album also features a recording of his first Piano Quartet, commissioned and performed by the Philharmonic Piano Quartet Berlin.

Elfman’s Percussion Quartet commissioned for Third Coast Percussion was recorded in October 2020.  In March 2022, two of Elfman’s classical works had European world premieres: Percussion Concerto, written for, and performed by percussionist Colin Currie with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and Cello Concerto, written for, and performed by cellist Gautier Capuçon with the Vienna Symphony.  Elfman’s Percussion Concerto and Wunderkammer, a concerto for orchestra written for the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain (Aug 2022), recordings were released by Sony Classical in May 2024.

Elfman’s recent projects include composing the music for Universal Orlando’s Dark Universe world, scoring Luc Besson’s Dracula (2025), Gus Van Sant’s Deadman’s Wire (premiered at TIFF 2025), and Sam Raimi’s Send Help(2026). He has also made a significant contribution to A$AP Rocky’s album “Don’t Be Dumb” (released January 16, 2026), contributing multiple string arrangements and appearing in the video for the single “Punk Rocky,” alongside Winona Ryder and Thundercat, as well as performing with Rocky on SNL.

Tim Burton

Tim Burton, widely regarded as one of the cinema’s most imaginative filmmakers, has enjoyed great success in both the live-action and animation arenas. Most recently Burton directed “Big Eyes” and the critically acclaimed “Frankenweenie” which was a 2012 Academy Award® nominee for Best Animated Picture.

Earlier in 2012 Burton directed Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter and Eva Green in the gothic thriller “Dark Shadows,” based on the cult favorite television show. He also produced the fantasy horror “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” which was directed by Timur Behmambetov.

In 2010, he directed “Alice in Wonderland,” an epic fantasy based on the classic story by Lewis Carroll, and starring Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, and Mia Wasikowska in the title role. The film earned more than a billion dollars at the worldwide box office, making it the second-highest-grossing release of 2010. “Alice in Wonderland” also received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Picture – Musical or Comedy, and won two Academy Awards®, for Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design.

Burton was previously honored with an Academy Award® nomination for Best Animated Feature for the 2005 stop-motion film “Corpse Bride,” which he directed and produced. He earlier received BAFTA Award and Critics’ Choice Award nominations for Best Director for the acclaimed fantasy drama “Big Fish.” More recently, Burton won a National Board of Review Award and garnered Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice Award nominations for his directing work on “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” which also won the Golden Globe for Best Film – Musical or Comedy. Depp earned an Oscar® nomination for his performance in the title role of Burton’s 2007 film adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical thriller, also starring Bonham Carter and Alan Rickman.

Burton began his film career in animation, and, in 1982, directed the stop-motion animated short “Vincent,” narrated by Vincent Price, which was an award winner on the film festival circuit. He made his feature film directorial debut in 1985 with the hit comedy “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure.”

In 1988, Burton helmed the inventive comedy hit “Beetlejuice,” starring Michael Keaton as the title character. He then reteamed with Keaton on the action blockbusters “Batman,” which became the top-grossing film of 1989 and also starred Jack Nicholson as the Joker, and “Batman Returns,” also starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Danny DeVito.