Debbie Wiseman

A composer of film and television music, Debbie Wiseman is also known as an educator and on-air personality. Her music has been nominated for several awards, notching a few wins. She is also a regular guest conductor with orchestras throughout Britain. Wiseman was born in London on May 10, 1963, and began composing music at the age of eight. She went on to attend the Trinity College of Music's Junior Department, and after finishing her time there, she studied piano and composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Upon completion of her studies, she quickly landed a job for a Channel 4 documentary, which launched her career as a composer for the big and small screens. She is a regular contributor on BBC Radio 3 and 4. Over her varied career, she created the music for high-profile serious television dramas like Wolf Hall and Dickensian, alongside the scores for documentaries, including Joanna Lumley's Nile, Fry's Planet Word, and Palin's New Europe. Wiseman gained more exposure for her work on the big screen. The composer was responsible for the music in Haunted, Wilde, Lesbian Vampire Killers, and Tom's Midnight Garden. Her score for the 1997 Oscar Wilde biography starring Stephen Fry earned her many accolades, including a nomination for an Ivor Novello Best Original Film Score Award, and assured her frequent appearances in the Classic FM Hall of Fame. In 2011, she was signed to Warner Classics and released her first solo album, Piano Stories. Fry joined Wiseman in 2020 for a recording of The Mythos Suite, on Decca. Wiseman made the Queen's New Year's Honors list and was honored with an MBE in 2004, and in 2018, she was awarded the OBE. In 2012, she was selected as one of the nine composers chosen to write music for the Queen's Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant. Since 2015, Wiseman has been the composer in residence at Classic FM. ~ Bekki Bemrose & Keith Finke, Rovi