Debbie Wiseman, OBE (born 10 May 1963) is a British composer for film, television and the concert hall, known also as a conductor and a radio and television presenter.

Biography

Wiseman was born in Belsize Park, north west London, and attended the Henrietta Barnett School. She studied at

Trinity College of Music Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a music, dance, and musical theatre conservatoire based in South East London. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. Trini ...

Junior Department, and then piano and

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

at the

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a music school, music and drama school located in the City of London, England. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz al ...

studying piano with James Gibb, and composition with Buxton Orr. Wiseman is a visiting professor at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

. In 2008, she composed ''Different Voices'' which was premiered by the

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, England. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable recording contracts and important engagemen ...

as part of their 60th birthday celebrations, and the work is now frequently performed. She was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the 2004 New Year Honours for services to the film industry,United Kingdom: was promoted to Officer of the same Order (OBE) for services to music in the 2018 Birthday Honours, and has been awarded Honorary Fellowships of Trinity College of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Wiseman was admitted to the degree of Doctor of Music at the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

in 2015. Wiseman was awarded the Fellowship of the Royal College of Music in 2020.

Credits

Overview

Wiseman's film music credits include '' Tom and Viv'' (Nominated for two

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...

and the Alexander Korda Award for Outstanding British Film, 1994); '' Haunted''; '' Wilde'' (Nominated for Best Original Film Score,

Ivor Novello Awards The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the Welsh entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and Musical composition, composing. They have been presented annually in London by the The Ivors Academy, Ivors Academy, formerly called the Britis ...

, 1997); '' Tom's Midnight Garden''; '' The Guilty''; '' Before You Go''; ''

Arsène Lupin Arsène Lupin () is a fictional gentleman thief and master of disguise created in 1905 by French writer Maurice Leblanc. The character was first introduced in a series of short stories serialized in the magazine '' Je sais tout''. The first ...

'' (Winner of Best Score for a Foreign language film and nominated for Score of the Year, Movie Music UK Awards, 2005); ''

Flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...

'' (Nominated for Best Score for a Horror/Thriller, IFMCA Awards, 2007); and ''

Lesbian Vampire Killers ''Lesbian Vampire Killers'' is a 2009 British comedy horror film directed by Phil Claydon and written by Stewart Williams and Paul Hupfield. The film stars James Corden and Mathew Horne, with MyAnna Buring, Vera Filatova, Silvia Colloca an ...

'' (Nominated for Best Score for a Comedy, IFMCA Awards, 2009). Amongst her television music credits are '' Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators'' (2018); '' Dickensian'' (2015); ''

Wolf Hall ''Wolf Hall'' is a 2009 historical novel by English author Hilary Mantel, published by Fourth Estate, named after the Seymour family's seat of Wolfhall, or Wulfhall, in Wiltshire. Set in the period from 1500 to 1535, ''Wolf Hall'' is a sym ...

'' (2015); ''A Poet in New York'' (2013); '' The Whale'' (2013); '' Lost Christmas'' (Winner of Best Kids TV Movie / Mini-series,

International Emmy Awards The International Emmy Awards, or International Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based International Academy of Television Arts and Sc ...

, 2013); '' The Passion''; '' Jekyll''; '' The Promise'' (Nominated for Best Drama Serial,

BAFTA Awards The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs or BAFTA Awards, is an annual film award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best Cinema of the United Kingdom, British and Worl ...

, 2011); '' He Knew He Was Right''; ''

Warriors A warrior is a guardian specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracy, class, or caste. History Warriors seem to have been p ...

'' (Best Original Score ( RTS Awards, 2000), Winner of Best Drama ( The South Bank Show Awards, 2000) & Winner of Best Drama Serial (

, 2000)); '' Father Brown''; '' WPC 56''; '' The Coroner'': '' Land Girls'' (Winner of

Broadcast Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

Award, 2010); '' Joanna Lumley's Nile''; '' Fry's Planet Word''; '' Stephen Fry in America''; ''

Othello ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'', often shortened to ''Othello'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare around 1603. Set in Venice and Cyprus, the play depicts the Moorish military commander Othello as he is manipulat ...

'' (Nominated for Best Single Drama,

, 2002); '' The Project''; '' Judge John Deed''; '' Feather Boy'' (Best Children's Drama,

, 2004); ''

The Inspector Lynley Mysteries ''The Inspector Lynley Mysteries'' is a British crime drama television series that aired on BBC One from 12 March 2001 to 1 June 2008, consisting of six series and 24 episodes. The protagonist, Detective Inspector Thomas "Tommy" Lynley, 8th Earl ...

''; '' Michael Palin's New Europe'' ("Wild East" & "Baltic Summer"); '' The Andrew Marr Show''; '' Stig of the Dump'' (

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

Winner, 2002).

2000s

Her album ''Wilde Stories'' was nominated for a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

and was used on a set of animated films made in 2003 for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

. Wiseman conducted the National Symphony Orchestra playing the music live to accompany screenings in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

of two of those films, ''The Selfish Giant'' and ''The Nightingale and the Rose''. In 2007 she was awarded the Gold Badge of Merit by the British Academy of Composers & Songwriters. In 2008 she composed and conducted the CD ''Different Voices'' with the

, with narration by

Stephen Fry Sir Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, narrator and writer. He came to prominence as a member of the comic act Fry and Laurie alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring in ''A Bit of ...

and solo vocals performed by Hayley Westenra, The lyrics are written by Don Black.

2010s

In the Classic FM Top 100 2010 Movie Music Chart, Wiseman's score for ''Wilde'' was voted in at number 12 by the station's listeners. In 2011 Wiseman presented a Radio 4 programme on the composer, Joseph Horowitz, and appeared on the panel of ''Your

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight audio recordin ...

at Christmas'' with Bill Bailey and Jo Whiley, presented by Kirsty Young. Since 2011, Wiseman has been signed as a recording artist to Warner Classics, her first solo album for the label, ''Piano Stories'', which featured piano solo performances by the composer of many of her scores, entered the UK Classical Artist Album Chart at number 10. She presented a

series ''Backtracks'', examining the role of music in film and television productions. In 2013 she presented ''Scoring Father Brown'' for Radio 4, which followed her composition process through the various stages as she scored the music for the BBC drama series. She also scored '' A Poet in New York'', which was broadcast in 2014 on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

. In 2015 she wrote the theme tune and incidental music for BBC1's daytime drama '' The Coroner''. In March 2015, Wiseman's original score for the BBC drama series ''

'' entered the UK's Classic FM chart at number 1. In the following year, it won the Royal Television Society West Awards for Best Composer, Drama, and the Music and Sound Awards for Best Original Composition, Television Programme Score. Wiseman is Classic FM's Composer in Residence and her first album commissioned by Classic FM, ''The Musical Zodiac'', reached Number 2 in the UK Classical Chart in September 2016. In 2016 she composed the soundtrack to the 2017 film '' Edie''. Wiseman has composed new signature music for Viking Cruises and was honoured as Godmother to their new river ship, ''Viking Herja'', in March 2017. Wiseman's second album commissioned by Classic FM, ''The Glorious Garden'', a collaboration with Alan Titchmarsh, was released in March 2018 and topped the UK Classical Chart for three weeks.

2020s

Wiseman's album ''The Mythos Suite'', a collaboration with

, went to number 1 in the UK classical charts on its release in February 2020. Wiseman's album to celebrate the Queen's 95th birthday ''The Music of Kings and Queens'', with narration by

Helen Mirren Dame Helen Mirren (; born Ilyena Lydia Vasilievna Mironov; 26 July 1945) is an English actor. With a career spanning over six decades of Helen Mirren on screen and stage, screen and stage, List of awards and nominations received by Helen Mirre ...

and

Damian Lewis Damian Watcyn Lewis (born 11 February 1971) is a British actor, musician and producer. He rose to prominence portraying U.S. Army Major Richard Winters in the HBO miniseries ''Band of Brothers (miniseries), Band of Brothers''. Lewis won a Prime ...

, went to number 1 in the UK Classical charts on its release in June 2021. Debbie was voted the most popular living composer in Classic FM Hall of Fame 2022 with seven entries: ''Wolf Hall'', ''Shakespeare and Hathaway'', ''Wilde'', ''The Musical Zodiac'', ''The Mythos Suite'', ''The Music of Kings and Queens'', and ''The Glorious Garden'' reaching its highest ever position in the chart at number 4. Wiseman was the official composer and musical director of the Platinum Jubilee Celebration at Windsor in May 2022. Later that same year, a specially-commissioned track, ''Elizabeth Remembered'', composed and conducted by Wiseman, was used by the BBC as the theme music for its coverage of the late Queen's funeral and associated events. She later revealed it had been recorded by the

BBC Concert Orchestra The BBC Concert Orchestra is a British concert orchestra based in London, one of the British Broadcasting Corporation's five radio orchestras. With around fifty players, it is the only one of the five BBC orchestras which is not a full-scale sym ...

five years earlier: "It was done in great secrecy, but with great respect; we understood that it had to be done. It was sad to have to do it, but at the same time we knew we were doing it for the right reasons." In 2023 she composed a new setting of the

Alleluia ''Hallelujah'' (; , Modern Hebrew, Modern ) is an interjection from the Hebrew language, used as an expression of gratitude to God. The term is used 24 times in the Hebrew Bible, Tanakh (in the book of Psalms), twice in deuterocanonical books, ...

for the

coronation of Charles III and Camilla The Coronation of the British monarch, coronation of Charles III and his wife, Queen Camilla, Camilla, as Monarchy of the United Kingdom, king and List of British royal consorts, queen of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth re ...

. In 2023, Wiseman released "Signature", a compilation album of her most popular works, performed live in concert by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Debbie. It went straight to number 1 in the UK Classical Chart on its release on 30 June 2023.

References

External links

Official website

* ttp://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar98/articles/debbie.html Interviewat Sound on Sound
Biography
at cinemusic
Debbie Wiseman
at Soundtrackguide.net

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wiseman, Debbie, female English film score composers English television composers British women film score composers English conductors (music) British women conductors (music) Composers from London British music educators Ivor Novello Award winners Officers of the Order of the British Empire Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama Alumni of Trinity College of Music 1963 births Living people 21st-century British conductors (music) 21st-century British women musicians