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Paul Rissmann's Bio

Paul Rissmann was born on the Isle of Bute, Scotland and is a composer, presenter and music educationalist. He studied composition and classical saxophone at the Royal Academy of Music, Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He currently holds the position of Animateur for the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) and is Children’s Composer in Residence for Music in the Round.

Paul is passionate about music education. He is equally comfortable making music in a primary school or explaining the intricacies of Stravinsky’s motor rhythms to an audience of adults. His work in this field has received awards from both the Royal Philharmonic Society and the Royal Television Society. In 2014, he appeared as creative director in a Channel 4 (UK) documentary Addicts’ Symphony, which explored how music can be therapeutic in overcoming addiction.

Paul’s diverse portfolio of compositions range from electronic music for Microsoft to an orchestral suite for the LSO inspired by Alice in Wonderland. Paul has produced a series of highly interactive works that enable thousands of people to perform as equals with professional musicians. His composition Bamboozled for audience and orchestra has been performed by over 50,000 people – from the Daytona Beach, Florida to Melbourne, Australia. It was performed at an Olympic Torch ceremony in the UK in 2012, in Avery Fisher Hall by the New York Philharmonic and in 2016 was broadcast around Australia by the ABC.

Paul is frequently commissioned to set children’s books to music. In 2012, Paul won a British Composer’s Award for his composition The Chimpanzees of Happytown. This piece was recently recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra, with Paul as narrator, and will be released later this year.

As a concert presenter, Paul has performed with many leading orchestras in America, Australia, Europe, India, Malaysia and the Middle East. Recent engagements include concerts with the New York Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Valery Gergiev and the LSO in Trafalgar Square, Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonia at the South Bank and a tour of India with Nicola Benedetti and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

Paul has presented on BBC Radio Scotland, created a critically acclaimed series of music discovery concerts called Naked Classics, and will soon be delving into the world of opera with Glyndebourne in Behind the Curtain.

www.paulrissmann.com