An acclaimed British composer whose company produces and sources music for film, TV, advertising and theater was killed along with his musician wife and baby in a plane crash in the Swiss Alps, according to a report.
London-based Jonathan Goldstein, his wife, Hannah, and their child were flying to Italy on Sunday morning when their plane crashed in Simplon Pass and burst into flames, according to the UK’s Mirror.
The founder of Goldstein Music Group — who began his career as a music director and composer for the Royal Shakespeare Company and Royal National Theatre — worked on director Martin Scorsese’s “Cape Fear,” the 1991 thriller starring Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte and Jessica Lange.
In 2007, he was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award for his score to “Primo,” a drama starring Anthony Sher and broadcast by HBO and the BBC.
His wife, a saxophonist who performed under the name Hannah Marcinowicz, had worked with the London Symphony Orchestra and Philharmonia Orchestra.
She also performed with BBC Proms, classical music concerts and other events held during summers at such venues as the Royal Albert Hall and Cadogan Hall.
The couple took off Saturday morning in their Piper PA-28 Arrow from London and landed in Troyes, France, before making another stop in Lausanne, Switzerland, where they apparently stayed overnight, according to Le Matin.
Authorities said they then headed to Perugia, Italy, about 9 a.m. Sunday but crashed en route, according to the Mirror.
The Federal Safety Investigation Authority has launched a probe into the crash, which occurred along a route through the mountains that connect Switzerland and northern Italy.
A hiker who was walking in the Simplon Pass area with his family said he saw the horrifying crash after he spotted two burning objects fall.
Christian Merz, 63, said he saw two people rush toward the wreck in a desperate bid to help, but they were unable to get close because of the flames.
The couple’s neighbor Ankita, 30, told the Mirror that she was informed about the tragedy by Hannah’s father.
“We were friendly with each other. We’ve only lived here about three months. They have a pet rabbit and we both have little ones,” she said. “She asked if I could look after Rufus because they said they were going on vacation.”
Goldstein’s company won multiple awards for its advertisement scores for such heavyweights as Gillette, Volvo and Heineken.
“Real Children Don’t Bounce Back,” a TV commercial by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, won several creative awards.
“I think it was the hardest challenge I had ever been presented with, and probably ever will be: Scoring horrendous acts of violence being committed against a cartoon child and making it as funny as possible,” Goldstein told Little Black Book in 2017.
“All the first drafts of the score were rejected because they weren’t ‘funny enough,’” he added. “It was a surreal and painful experience but, my God, did they know what they were doing. I think it must be the bravest project I have ever worked on, with one of the most brilliant creative teams ever.”
His wife, who was awarded a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music, told the Watford Observer in 2016: “Music that strikes me is music that really moves me.
“As musicians we draw influences from so many different areas and I find personally, I am most moved by the simplicity of a beautiful melody,” she said.