Martin Kiszko
- Composer
- Music Department
Born Leeds, UK, Martin Kiszko is of Polish-British origin; his family
footfalls echo around the marshy soils of Belarussian villages as well
as the streets of council estates in Leeds. He began his music studies
at seven and was accepted at the Leeds City College of Music at age
ten.
After completing a BA in Music, Fine Arts and Intermedia and a PGC in Film at Bristol University, he assisted veteran film composer Edward Williams with whom he co-founded an innovative inter-media performance group. The ensemble performed Kiszko's work Cairoglyph, written for actor Tony Robinson, and The Stratagem of Nauplius which was premiered at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.
Between 1984-1997 he composed and orchestrated over 200 scores for film and television. Amongst these were the landmark natural history series Realms of the Russian Bear (1992), in which he pioneered the recording of music samples on film locations as well as using ethnomusicological research to assist the natural history score. He subsequently introduced the palette of East European orchestras to BBC Natural History programmes such as Alien Empire (1996) and Battle of the Sexes: in the Animal World (1999)
The diversity of Kiszko's material also embraces BBC, ITV and C4 dramas Black Hearts in Battersea (1995), The Levels, The Uninvited (1996) and Zastrozzi: A Romance (1986). His many well known TV signature tunes include BBC'S Newsround, Food and Drink, Omnibus, Public Eye, Wildlife on Two, and The Natural World. In addition, he has released eight soundtrack albums with the City of Prague Philharmonic, the Munich Symphony Orchestra, the London Film Orchestra and the Emerald Ensemble. His score for the BBC'S Dreamworks promo requested by and made for Steven Spielberg and the BBC was awarded Best Music Video at Missoula Film Festival USA.
During the winter of 2001 Kiszko voyaged to Antarctica where he composed, performed, and claimed a world first for a spoof Antarctic National Anthem. The visit also provided the inspiration for his cantata Sea Star with words by Britain's foremost woman poet Anne Ridler OBE.
In 2003 he was commissioned by Elektrodome to produce and direct a multi-media work Inua using state-of-the-art technology 'Soundbeam'. The work was premiered at Worcester Cathedral on December 16th 2003 and won the 2004 British Academy of Composers and Songwriters Composer of the Year Award in the Education and Community category.
Most recently he has worked as Music Consultant on Aardman Animation's computer game of Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), and has written a cantata A Radius of Curves to celebrate the 2006 Isambard Kingdom Brunel 200th birthday celebrations.
For the early part of 2007 Kiszko composed, conducted and performed the score for the new major movie The Killing of John Lennon (2006).
In addition to his composition, he has completed a PhD on the migration of the balalaika, published an article in The Galpin Society Journal and wrote the entry for 'Balalaika' in the New Grove Dictionary of Music. He also wrote and directed the first UK video on the craft of film music composition - The Art of the Film Score.
In 2016 he was awarded an honorary doctorate (DLitt) for his work by the University of Bristol. UK.
After completing a BA in Music, Fine Arts and Intermedia and a PGC in Film at Bristol University, he assisted veteran film composer Edward Williams with whom he co-founded an innovative inter-media performance group. The ensemble performed Kiszko's work Cairoglyph, written for actor Tony Robinson, and The Stratagem of Nauplius which was premiered at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.
Between 1984-1997 he composed and orchestrated over 200 scores for film and television. Amongst these were the landmark natural history series Realms of the Russian Bear (1992), in which he pioneered the recording of music samples on film locations as well as using ethnomusicological research to assist the natural history score. He subsequently introduced the palette of East European orchestras to BBC Natural History programmes such as Alien Empire (1996) and Battle of the Sexes: in the Animal World (1999)
The diversity of Kiszko's material also embraces BBC, ITV and C4 dramas Black Hearts in Battersea (1995), The Levels, The Uninvited (1996) and Zastrozzi: A Romance (1986). His many well known TV signature tunes include BBC'S Newsround, Food and Drink, Omnibus, Public Eye, Wildlife on Two, and The Natural World. In addition, he has released eight soundtrack albums with the City of Prague Philharmonic, the Munich Symphony Orchestra, the London Film Orchestra and the Emerald Ensemble. His score for the BBC'S Dreamworks promo requested by and made for Steven Spielberg and the BBC was awarded Best Music Video at Missoula Film Festival USA.
During the winter of 2001 Kiszko voyaged to Antarctica where he composed, performed, and claimed a world first for a spoof Antarctic National Anthem. The visit also provided the inspiration for his cantata Sea Star with words by Britain's foremost woman poet Anne Ridler OBE.
In 2003 he was commissioned by Elektrodome to produce and direct a multi-media work Inua using state-of-the-art technology 'Soundbeam'. The work was premiered at Worcester Cathedral on December 16th 2003 and won the 2004 British Academy of Composers and Songwriters Composer of the Year Award in the Education and Community category.
Most recently he has worked as Music Consultant on Aardman Animation's computer game of Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), and has written a cantata A Radius of Curves to celebrate the 2006 Isambard Kingdom Brunel 200th birthday celebrations.
For the early part of 2007 Kiszko composed, conducted and performed the score for the new major movie The Killing of John Lennon (2006).
In addition to his composition, he has completed a PhD on the migration of the balalaika, published an article in The Galpin Society Journal and wrote the entry for 'Balalaika' in the New Grove Dictionary of Music. He also wrote and directed the first UK video on the craft of film music composition - The Art of the Film Score.
In 2016 he was awarded an honorary doctorate (DLitt) for his work by the University of Bristol. UK.
