Zigman was born in San Diego, California. His mother, a pianist and harpist, was his first music teacher, and he developed an early interest in jazz and concert music, studying with Rocky Slight, Gene Hartwell (a San Diego jazz player), and Florence Stephenson. A graduate of Point Loma High School, he studied at the University of California, Los Angeles.[3]
His first film score was for the 2002 film John Q.,[3] which won a BMI Film Music Award. This led to his first major television score, for the 2004 Showtime production Crown Heights, and to his first film score for a major motion picture The Notebook,[7] for which he won multiple BMI Awards.
Zigman has composed both chamber and full orchestral works on commission, including a viola sonata; a 1994 tone poem Rabin: An Orchestral Work in Five Movements (premiered at Los Angeles' Westside Pavilion on December 25, 1997, repeated in Spring 1999 by the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony under the direction of Noreen Green in memory of Yitzhak Rabin, and recorded live on the Bernard Milken Jewish Community Campus in March 1999); Martyrology: A Tribute to Those Who Have Died in the Face of Persecution; Impressions, a 2004 suite for wind ensemble (premiered by Richard Todd and the USC Symphony Orchestra); Vis Vitae (mixed octet, featured at the historic Beverly Hills Presbyterian Church on Rodeo Drive as part of the "Voices of Hollywood" concert at the Third Annual Beverly Hills International Music Festival in 2006 and in Zigman's score for Flash of Genius; No Strings Attached, a 2007 horn sextet for Brian O' Connor (1951-2016) at UCLA; and a Rhapsody for Cello and Piano (premiered/recorded in 2015 by Andrew Shulman and Robert Thies).
His vocal music includes a setting of Shir L'Shalom (also recorded live on the Bernard Milken Jewish Community Campus in March 1999); two Ave Maria vocalises (one written with bassist Abraham Laboriel Sr., composed as the main title song for the film Virgin of Juarez and one written for the main title song of the film John Q, featuring Joshua Bell on violin); an Emmy Award-winning setting of the Hebrew prayer for peaceSim Shalom (from the Showtime TV film Crown Heights, with Alex Brown); and an Italian aria with chorus (La Donna in Viola, setting a translation of Ntozake Shange's poem "Pyramid", for 3 soprano soloists and SSAAT choir, also featuring Joshua Bell) featured in the film For Colored Girls (2009-2010).
For the soundtrack for the 2016 dramatic film Wakefield, French classical pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet contributed piano work to Zigman's film score. This was the first time another pianist performed his film work.[10] Zigman had first visited Beijing while working on the film score for Chinese movie Hidden Man, directed by Wen Jiang.[11][12]Hidden Man was China's entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards.[13]
The Tango Manos concerto project was suggested to Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Aaron Zigman by Yu Long, renowned conductor and Chairman of the Beijing Music Festival.[14] Zigman created a three-movement concerto for piano and orchestra, dedicating it to Thibaudet, who premiered the work under Huang Yi's direction with the China Philharmonic at the Beijing Music Festival, October 14, 2019.[15][16]
Zigman attended the October 13, 2019 press conference for the 22nd Beijing Music Festival in Beijing, China.[16]Tango Manos was one of three works written for the Beijing Music Festival, co-commissioned by the China Philharmonic, Radio France and the San Francisco Symphony.[15] The event was of cultural significance, taking place in Jingshan Park, in front of Shouhuang Hall.[citation needed]
Jean-Yves Thibaudet played the US premiere of Tango Manos with the San Francisco Symphony in a multi-concert series under the direction of Fabien Gabel, beginning on February 14, 2020. The work was a National Finalist for the American Prize in Composition (Professional Division, Orchestral Works).[14] Zigman's Rhapsody for Cello and Piano will be premiered in the Baker-Baum Concert Hall at the La Jolla Music Society by Alisa Weilerstein and Inon Barnatan on August 15, 2021.
Zigman at an event for Alpha Dog in 2006