Paul Rissmann

Paul Rissmann was born on the Isle of Bute, Scotland and is a composer, presenter and music educationalist. He currently holds the position of Animateur with the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) and is Children’s Composer in Residence for Music in the Round.

Paul is passionate about music education. 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 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 USA to 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 round 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