Paul Rissmann

Born on the Isle of Bute, Scotland, Paul Rissmann is an award-winning composer, presenter, and music educationalist. Frequently commissioned to transform children’s literature into symphonic scores, Paul won a British Composer Award in 2012 and was nominated for an Ivor Novello Composer Award in 2020. Paul’s music has been performed by orchestras all over the world, including the London Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, West Australian Symphony Orchestra and Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse. Recent commissions showcase Paul’s versatility, including a prequel to Stravinsky’s Firebird ballet for the London Philharmonic Orchestra and a setting of Shaun Tan’s Oscar-winning book The Lost Thing for the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. As a passionate advocate for music education, Paul’s work in this field has been acclaimed by the Royal Philharmonic Society and Royal Television Society. Paul appeared as creative director in a Channel 4 (UK) documentary Addicts’ Symphony, which explored how music can be therapeutic in overcoming addiction. Paul curates and performs bespoke concerts that captivate audiences across generations, from full-scale orchestral performances for children to his critically acclaimed series of music discovery concerts Naked Classics. He has guest presented Classics Unwrapped for BBC Radio Scotland and Inside Music for BBC Radio 3.