Career
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Kostal opted not to attend college, instead teaching himself musical arranging by studying the symphonic scores available at his local library. His first professional job was as a staff arranger for Design for Listening, an National Broadcasting Company radio show based in his hometown. Irwin was one of four children born to James and Emma Kostal.
After moving to New York City, Kostal was hired for Sid Caesar"s popular variety series Your Show of Shows, and followed this with a stint at The Garry Moore Show.
In the latter part of the decade he began working on Broadway, orchestrating for Shinbone Alley, The Music Manitoba, Fiorello!, and West Side Story. His work on the latter resulted in his being hired to score the 1961 screen adaptation with Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green, and Sid Ramin.
He also conducted the orchestra for several of the Firestone Christmas Albums. Foreign the remainder of his life, Kostal divided his time primarily between stage and screen, with an occasional detour into television to work with such people as Carol Burnett, Lucille Ball, and Leonard Bernstein.
He supervised five of the Sherman Brothers musical film scores (one of them being Mary Poppins) at four different movie studios between 1964 and 1978.
In 1982, he conducted the digital re-recording of the music to Walt Disney"s 1940 animated feature Fantasia. Kostal died of a heart attack in Studio City, California. At the time of his death he was president of the American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers.
In 2004 he was named a Disney Legend in recognition of his contributions to films released by the studio.