After a number of job auditions failed, Arnold returned to his hometown of Luton. While at a local art center where Arnold rehearsed and played with bands, he met with a young film student who asked him to score a number of short films he had been producing. One of these films was entered into the BBC's young filmmaker's competition, and it took top honors. Arnold's first big break came when the same student, Danny Canon, asked him to write the score for his first feature film, The Young Americans, starring Harvey Keitel in 1993. This gave Arnold the opportunity to work with a budget and Icelandic sensation Bjork and produce a score that would merit international attention. The film went unseen by most, except for Alan Parker, a top commercial and feature director who enjoyed the film so much that he invited Canon and Arnold to visit him in his Hollywood mansion in Bel Air.

Upon graduating from London's Royal College of Music on a foundation scholarship, Arnold took a principal position with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and was also appointed music professor at the city's Guildhall School Of Music. His big break in the music industry came in the mid-1990's, when his popular film scores for Stargate, Independence Day, and Tomorrow Never Dies, as well as the four subsequent James Bond films, placed him in high demand. His collaborations with directors Roland Emmerich and John Singleton defined his career in the 1990's and 2000's, though as a composer, Arnold's output for feature films had diminished greatly by the 2010's.

He has conducted concerts in many countries, including Japan, Sweden, Turkey, Russia, Italy, Greece and the Czech Republic. His orchestral recordings include Symphonic Rock, Pop Goes The Beatles, Christmas Classics, Showcase: The Musicals, Addicted To Movies and three volumes of the RPO's Here Come The Classics series. He is associate conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra and was music director for the Cathcart Proms at the Royal Albert Hall for many years. He has been Musical Director for the BBC's Children In Need telethon since 1994. Having written and arranged for radio and television for many years, Arnold has built up a huge music library of arrangements, from classic greats and opera to musical and film scores. His television show music in Britain is matched by his presence on radio, where he produced station themes for BBC World Service, LBC, as well as Classic FM and countless other stations.

As a conductor, Arnold has worked with a diverse range of artists in both classical and pop music, from Rod Stewart, Annie Lennox, Tina Turner, Randy Newman and Donny Osmond to Evelyn Glennie, Julian Lloyd Webber and Lesley Garrett. He has conducted leading orchestras around the world, including the Royal Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, RTE National Symphony, BBC Concert and London Concert orchestras, as well as the Czech Symphony Orchestra and Opera North. He received the 'Red F' award from Classic FM in 2002 for his outstanding contribution to classical music. Arnold was chosen to be the producer of music for Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London with much fanfare. He now concentrates on conducting, composing, arranging and producing, as well as acting as a music consultant for concerts and recording.

Arnold performing Bond in concert, 1999

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