Composer Alf Clausen departs The Simpsons after 27 years
The show is reportedly looking for "a different kind of music" going forward
Alf Clausen, the two-time Emmy award-winning composer for The Simpsons, has been fired after 27 years of scoring the long-running animation.
Variety reports that Clausen received a call from Simpsons producer Richard Sakai who told him that the company was seeking a "different kind of music", and that his services were no longer required.
Clausen has scored more than 560 episodes of the yellow family's antics, after joining the team in the 1990-91 season, accumulating 21 Emmy nominations, and five Annie awards (the Oscars of animation) along the way.
The composer confirmed the news on Twitter.
Variety speculates that the decision may be related to recent cost-cutting measures at the show. For the duration of his time on The Simpsons, Clausen used a full 35-piece orchestra to record the music for each episode which, encompassing musicians costs, studio time and orchestration, runs into the millions of dollars each year.
Danny Elfman's iconic theme song is expected to be retained.
