Martin Kiszko

Martin Edmund Kiszko (born 9 February 1958) is a British composer, musicologist, librettist and poet. He is best known for his film and television scores.

Kiszko's family hails from and area of Poland which is now Belarus and from Leeds, England. Kiszko began his music studies at age seven and was accepted at the Leeds City College of Music at age ten.

He studied music composition with Duncan Druce at Bretton Hall College (University of Leeds) and filmmaking with George Brandt at the University of Bristol, where he directed and scored the short film Skokholm Light. He later studied with Wyndham Thomas at Bristol to complete his PhD thesis on the growth of balalaika orchestras and the migration of the balalaika.

Kiszko's interests in film music were nurtured by veteran film composer Edward Williams, who was mentored by composer Ralph Vaughan Williams and British conductor Muir Mathieson. Kiszko assisted Williams from 1979 onwards when he began work on co-producing Williams' album Music for Life on Earth for the BBC David Attenborough series of the same name. They also created a touring live performance multi-media group – creating performances where instrumentalists transformed sound and video image in real time. The group has grown into the successful music and multi-media organisation Elektrodome.

Amongst Kiszko's well-known works are many of his film and TV scores: The Killing of John Lennon, The Uninvited, The Human Sexes, Alien Empire, Battle of the Sexes, Realms of the Russian Bear, Land of the Eagle, Omnibus, Newsround, Wildlife on One and The Natural World. Several of his scores have won awards, including Best Music Video for Dreamworks, an eight-minute natural history promo made by the BBC for Steven Spielberg. He has also released eight albums featuring major European orchestras.

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