Spokane resident Don Caron has been active in the Northwest arts scene for over 30 years as a pianist, teacher, composer, conductor, keyboardist, choreographer, and scriptwriter. His real job is as a sound designer/ sound engineer.
Most recently he co-wrote the screenplay Different Drummers, with Lyle Hatcher, which won Best Screenplay at the San Fernando International Film Festival in 2007 and Best Family Screenplay and the Grand Remington Award for Best Screenplay in all Categories at World-Fest Houston also in 2007. The movie is scheduled for principal photography in 2008, produced by Don Caron, Lyle Hatcher and Derek Kavanagh (Dances With Wolves) and directed by Don Caron and Lyle Hatcher. More information is available at Different Drummers.net.
During the 1970's he founded and directed Composers’ Conspiracy, a concert organization devoted to the presentation of music by Northwest composers. He also co-founded and co-directed Art Growers Association, a Washington non-profit corporation devoted to promoting original applications of music and dance in concert and educational settings. The Association distributed jazz and ballet instructional videos with music by Caron, and choreography by Jeffrey Amsden and Elizabeth Carlssohn.
In the 1980’s Caron collaborated with Elizabeth Carlssohn on the composition and choreography of two full-length ballets for The Spokane Ballet Company ( Centerpiece, and Five Gifts for Third Child), which premiered in the Spokane Opera House in 1987. He also co-composed the lengthy electronic score for Lady MacBeth, a Christopher Aponte ballet, and has composed several ballets for Theatre Ballet of Spokane.
Caron has has composed and recorded four albums of Music for Ballet Class which are published and distributed by CD Baby.com.
Caron’s commissions include works for The Spokane Symphony, The Whitworth Community Orchestra, Zephyr, Washington State Artist’s Trust, Washington State Cultural Enrichment Program, Spokane Ballet, Theatre Ballet, The Spokane Interfaith Council, and the Spokane Symphony Wind Ensemble.
In 1995 he was commissioned by the Spokane Symphony to write a work commemorating its 50th anniversary; Paradigm Shifts (commissioned with funds from the Bruce Ferden Fund for 21st Century Music and a gift from the Olga Forrai Foundation of New York City) premiered on January 26, 1996 at The Spokane Opera House, conducted by Fabio Mechetti.
In June of 1995, Caron began employment at North by Northwest as resident Composer and Sound Designer. Caron designed and installed the Audio Production Suites currently in use at North by Northwest Productions and North by Northwest Entertainment.
In 1998 Caron left North by Northwest and returned to freelance work to devote his time to the screenplay and the soundtrack for the feature film The Basket, which was released in 1999 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
He returned to North by Northwest in May of 2005 as Sound and Music Supervisor and has since finished sound design and mixing for the feature film The Cutter (Chuck Norris), as well as Frank, the foreign version mix for Lenny the Wonder Dog, and the final mix and foreign version for Max Rules. In January of 2007 he left his position at North by Northwest to devote his time to the production of Different Drummers.
Additional credits and commissions include:
Composer/Orchestrator for VICTOR, a sung-through musical based on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein with lyrics by Kimberly Hinton – completed in 2003
2002 Composer of the Year - Washington State Music Teachers Association
Concerto for Piano & Orchestra – commissioned by the Washington State Music Teachers Association
The Endless Echo of Anomaly and Disposable Dances (Chamber works for Zephyr) and Four Ambiguous Options (a ballet for Theatre Ballet of Spokane)