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Timothy Roy
When venerated Dallas institution
and arbiter of style Neiman-Marcus
wanted someone to compose original
music for the 100th anniversary
celebration at their flagship
downtown store, they turned not to
some Hollywood songwriter but to a
local talent source: the Meadows
School of the Arts.
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Downtown Dallas Neiman
Marcus
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“I approached Meadows Dean Jose
Bowen regarding a student scoring
the music, as the spirit of the
celebration was the next 100
years---forward looking,” said Steve
Kornajcik, Senior Vice President for
Marketing & Creative Services at
Neiman Marcus. “We believed
commissioning new student talent
would manifest that vision.”
The exceptional opportunity was
given to junior Timothy Roy, a
President’s Scholar at SMU majoring
in music composition. He and his
faculty adviser, music professor and
associate dean Martin Sweidel, met
with several NM executives,
including their head store designer,
to get a feel for what was wanted.
Neiman’s, they discovered, has never
had any kind of musical signature or
theme – the company’s focus has
always been on the visual. Roy
wrote three different pieces – one
for the main floor and outside
window area, one for the Wish Tree
(incorporating nature sounds), and
one for the elevators (more
jazz-like, incorporating sounds of
people talking). “I was inspired by
the company’s beautiful and
futuristic visual concept, which
includes sparkling crystal prisms,
glass chandeliers, countless mirrors
and radiant lighting,” said Roy.
“These elements can all be heard in
the ambient track composed for the
store’s main floor --- glassy tones
ebb and flow as musical flashes of
light and color dart across the
room, speaker to speaker. I wanted
to make the music sparkly,
reflective, uplifting – no heavy
backbeats or the kind of loud
pounding music you hear at
designers’ runway shows.”
Neiman’s loved Roy’s work, and is
now presenting it in their Main
Street location through November 3.
"Our experience in working with the
Meadows School of the Arts and Tim
Roy surpassed all expectations, and
his music proved a perfect
complement to the exhibits and
presentations in the downtown
store," said Kornajcik.
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