WHO WE ARE
Johan de Meij, Composer and Conductor
De Meij’s award-winning oeuvre of original compositions, symphonic transcriptions, and film score arrangements have garnered him international acclaim and revered homes in music repertoires worldwide.
His “Symphony No. 1 The Lord of the Rings “remains a worldwide favorite logging in thousands of performances since it debuted in 1988, the first original composition by the then unknown Dutch trombone player. He has gone on to write four more full length symphonies including “Symphony No. 3 Planet Earth” that he dedicated to his future wife Dyan Machan. Twelve years after that symphony premiered, she produced the “Cine-Symphony Planet Earth” film to be shown on screens behind live performances of her husband’s Planet Earth. Later, the couple released a version of the original film that could be shown with recorded music, thus qualifying for a theatrical release. The film garnered three laurels and the Cine-Symphony brand was born. Between writing his symphonies, the prolific and gifted composer has written hundreds of other compositions and is in high demand as a guest conductor. His cello concerto, called “Casanova”, also one of his wife’s favorites, became the score in the pair’s newest film offering, “Casanova and The Three Graces”. De Meij currently maintains posts with both the New York Wind Symphony and the Kyushu Wind Orchestra in Fukuoka, Japan as its principal guest conductor. When the Flying Dutchman is not traveling, he’s composing culinary creations for friends and family at their home in Hudson Valley, N.Y.
Jed Parker, Director and Editor
Parker has been working at the intersection of art, film, and music for decades. He grew up in the gritty underground art and music scene. As a painter and punk rock musician, he segued into directing and editing music videos. He studied film and painting, graduating from New York’s Pratt Institute. He went on to edit numerous award-winning PBS documentaries about artists like Grammy-winning “Lou Reed: Rock and Roll Heart,” and “Annie Leibovitz: Life Through a Lens.” He also edited full length docs like, “Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict”, and “Who Gets to Call It Art?” that Film Threat magazine called “one of the greatest art documentaries ever made.” Parker was asked to direct and edit “Cine-Symphony Planet Earth” that called on Parker’s storytelling, directorial, editing and classical music skills. This modest assignment was to “explain 55 billion years of earth’s history in 55 minutes,” he says, “So obviously, I left some things out. “ While Parker was born in Utica, New York, but lives in Bellegra, Italy, a small village near Rome that he likens to “living inside a painting.”
Dyan Machan, Producer
Dyan Machan is an award-winning writer / columnist and newly-minted filmmaker with a long career mainly in business and travel journalism. Her latest piece on Madagascar was featured on the cover of Smithsonian magazine. Her adventurous travel stories regularly appeared in the Wall Street Journal until she was bitten by the filmmaking bug. Her production company, Dynamic Maestro, produced Cine-Symphony Planet Earth, a film that honors and visualizes Johan de Meij’s epic “Symphony No. 3 Planet Earth” for orchestra and choir. Her second film, “Casanova and The Three Graces,” was made for de Meij’s “Casanova,” a cello concerto. It also provided a great excuse to visit Italy.
Machan held senior editorial positions at Barron’s, Smart Money, Forbes, and Financial World. In 2012, she won a National Headliner Award from The Press Club and a Best-in-Business award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. Others, too. Weird, because she can’t spell. Her crowning achievement, however, is her twin sons, who turned out to be thoroughly wonderful men despite having a high-strung, preoccupied mom in their formative years.
Robert Webbe, Tech Wizard
Webbe is a self-taught videographer for local government access programming and has worked on TV projects for ESPN, MSNBC, and MTV. He has a wide variety of creative and technical skills, including a seemingly magical ability to fix computer problems and come up with outside-the-box solutions for challenging digital roadblocks. He loves designing WEBBEsites, along with dabbling in programming languages and inventing things. One of his side projects is building and selling home crafted super soakers, capable of shooting fire hose volumes of water the length of a basketball court. He graduated from Connecticut College with a degree in Political Science.
Webbe’s greatest challenge with Cine-Symphony Planet Earth was bringing Machan’s spectacular creative vision to life. Swirling galaxies aren’t common in the park, dinosaurs haven’t been around in a hot minute, and the bustling New York City metro area isn’t exactly known for the towering mountains, lush jungles, or tropical creatures needed for the film. Thousands of such clips needed to be sourced, judged, and assembled, a very ambitious project.