John Joseph Welsman (born 1955) is a Canadian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

known for his work in film and television. He has written film and television scores for production companies in both Canada and the United States. Some of the films he has worked on are '' The Peace Tree'', '' A Winter Tale'', and '' Nurse.Fighter.Boy'' and ''Lantern Hill''.Prouty.
Variety TV REV 1991-92 17
'. Taylor & Francis; March 1994. . p. 66. He has been nominated for the

Gemini Award The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's English-language television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in t ...

ten times, winning four times for his work on the television series ''

Road to Avonlea ''Road to Avonlea'' is a Canadian television series first broadcast in Canada between January 7, 1990, and March 31, 1996, as part of the '' CBC Family Hour'' anthology series, and in the United States starting on March 5, 1990. It was created ...

'', and once for the short film 'The Bellringer'.

Early life and education

Welsman was born in Toronto. He is the grandson of

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

Frank Welsman Frank Squire Welsman (20 December 1873 – 2 July 1952) was a Canadian conductor, pianist, composer and music educator. He began his career as a concert pianist, but ultimately earned his place in Canadian history for establishing Toronto's f ...

and the brother of jazz singer

Carol Welsman Carol Welsman (born September 29, 1960)"Carol Welsman." ''Gale Biography in Context''. Detroit: Gale, 2004. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, 2018-03-25. is a Canadian jazz pianist who accompanies her own easy listening, conversati ...

. He studied piano and theory at the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, and attended the University of Western Ontario in 1974 and 1975. He studied

music composition Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called ...

with Samuel Dolin and Milan Kymlicka.

Career

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Welsman was a member of the folk and roots band Available Space with Cherie Camp and Jeff Kahnert."Singer Cherie Camp makes a pitch for the big time". ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'', May 12, 1981. Welsman conducted and created arrangements for the string orchestra which recorded on

Loreena McKennitt Loreena McKennitt (born February 17, 1957) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer who writes, records, and performs world music with Celtic music, Celtic and Middle Eastern music, Middle Eastern influences. McKenni ...

's 1994 album '' The Mask and Mirror''. Also in the 1990s Welsman composed and arranged extensively for the television series ''

''. Welsman has also composed music for several other television series including '' Franklin and Friends'', ''

My Pet Monster My Pet Monster is a character that began as a plush doll first produced by American Greetings in 1986. It has horns, blue fur, a fanged smile, and wears breakaway orange plastic handcuffs. The property was sold to Saban Brands in 2012. Then in 2 ...

'' (as well as the live action direct to video special of the same name), ''Physic Investigators'', ''

The War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells. It was written between 1895 and 1897, and serialised in '' Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US in 1897. The full novel was ...

'', ''

Freaky Stories ''Freaky Stories'' is a Canadian animated anthology television series, which was originally broadcast by YTV in English and Canal Famille in French (five-minute versions using the French title ''Frissons''). It is an animated show about urban le ...

'', ''CBC's Magic Hour'', '' The Mighty Jungle'', '' By Way of the Stars'' and the 1980s '' Twilight Zone'' series. Welsman's song "Oh Love", co-written with Camp for the film '' Nurse.Fighter.Boy'', was named

Best Original Song The following is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various films, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best ...

at the

30th Genie Awards The 30th Genie Awards were presented on April 12, 2010 to honour films released in 2009.Modra Modra (, , Latin: ''Modur'') is a city and municipality in the Bratislava Region in Slovakia. It has a population of 9,201 as of 2013. It nestles in the foothills of the Malé Karpaty (Little Carpathian mountains) and is an excellent centre for ...

''. Welsman co-wrote a song, "Morning Light", for the Toronto band Men in Suits, who perform to raise money for charity. In 2015 Welsman was named president of the Screen Composers Guild of Canada. Welsman wrote the score for the film ''Kingston Paradise'', which was shown at the Cannes Film Festival, the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival, and the Caribbean Tales Film Festival in 2015."UK Premiere for 'Kingston Paradise' Tomorrow"
''Kingston Gleaner'', via Newspaper Archives, July 02, 2015 - Page 27

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Welsman, John 1955 births Living people Canadian television composers Canadian film score composers Canadian male film score composers Best Original Song Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners Musicians from Toronto Canadian male songwriters 20th-century Canadian composers 20th-century Canadian songwriters 21st-century Canadian composers 21st-century Canadian songwriters