Jonathan Hartman is a musical polymath, an accomplished composer drawing upon the traditions of film music, jazz, synthesis and 20^th century minimalism to create compelling scores for film and television.   He’s gained a reputation for his absolute commitment to communicating the heart of character and story to musically express the beautiful, the arcane and the profound.

Jonathan began his musical journey in the Jazz world.  His grandfather was the Master Engraver at King Musical Instruments whose artists included Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. A young saxophone prodigy, Jonathan began performing professionally at age 15. His mentors included jazz greats Joe Lovano, Clark Terry, and James Moody. Jonathan was heavily influenced as a young composer by the string writing & postmodern sensibilities of Igor Stravinsky and minimalist Steve Reich.

Jonathan actively performed across the Midwest, and moved to New York City during the 1990s Jazz resurgence, where he performed at every major jazz venue over the next decade.  In his early NYC career, he spent time in the orbit of Wynton Marsalis’s Jazz @ Lincoln Center, as well as performing in Harlem with Hammond B3 Organ soul jazz and neo-Bebop groups.

Jonathan’s passion & interest in film music led him to the New York University Master’s program, where he studied composition and film scoring with his dear friend Ira Newborn (Ferris Buehller, Naked Gun)   After graduating Magna Cum Laude, Jonathan moved to Los Angeles and immediately began working assisting film composer John Ottman (Xmen, Superman Returns).

Jonathan’s first feature film, THE EMPLOYER starred Malcolm McDowell, Paige Howard, and David Dastmalchian.   Other films include THIS LAST LONELY PLACE, a neonoir thriller produced by the Humphrey Bogart Estate, and FATAL HONEYMOON starring Harvey Keitel.   Jonathan composed all of the authentic 1920s style period music for THE CHAPERONE (PBS Masterpiece) starring/produced by Elizabeth McGovern and Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey)

Jonathan broke into television contributing music on the 1st^t season of the hit series OUTLANDER (Starz) with Bear McCreary.  Jonathan next scored SUPERSTITION (SYFY), a supernatural series starring Mario Van Peebles.

Jonathan was nominated for an Emmy for his original score for DARK/WEB (Amazon Prime). The dark cyber thriller featured his deep exploration into cutting edge analog synthesis and was nominated for the 2020 Daytime Emmy awards for “Outstanding Music Direction & Composition for a Drama or Digital Drama Series”.

In 2019 Jonathan began a creative relationship with Games Workshop’s massively successful Warhammer science fiction/fantasy brand.  He composed and recorded their global Media Logo Ident featuring a 90-piece orchestra & choir at the legendary AIR Studios in London.

He recently scored ANGELS OF DEATH, Games Workshop’s first animated series.  His original Soundtrack for the project charted in June 2020 on the top One Hundred on Itunes Albums:  #3 in the UK, #11 in Canada, #13 in Brazil, #15 in Australia, #27 in Spain, #34 in the US, and #39 in Germany.  The album also charted #3 in All Soundtracks worldwide.

Jonathan is currently scoring two new television projects with Games Workshop:  HAMMER & BOLTER, an animated anthology series, and INTERROGATOR, a gritty noir story set in the dark corners of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

Jonathan Hartman is a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, The Society of Composers & Lyricists, and is a Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI) composer author and music publisher.