Debbie Wiseman OBE appointed President of Making Music

Making Music, the UK’s largest membership body for leisure-time music, is thrilled to announce that one of the UK’s most successful music ambassadors has been appointed as its first female President.

Throughout the last 20 years, composer and conductor Debbie Wiseman has gifted film and television productions with iconic music, from Edie and Wolf Hall to The Andrew Marr Show and Stephen Fry in America, plus many more. Awarded the Gold Badge of Merit by the British Academy of Composers & Songwriters, Debbie is also a Visiting Professor at the Royal College of Music, and regularly gives masterclasses to schools and colleges about the art of composing music for picture. Her ‘Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra’, Different Voices, is now frequently performed by school and youth orchestras across the country.

Debbie says:

I'm honoured and excited to be taking on this important role as President of Making Music. The energising power and thrill of music - playing, singing, listening and enjoying - is an experience from which everyone should have the opportunity to benefit, whether at school, in the community, or in an amateur or professional capacity. Music is a universal language and it speaks to each and every one of us, across all genres and abilities. Making Music believe that it's vitally important to put music-making at the heart of our communities - as do I. As President I will help spread the word; and I look forward with great anticipation to much wonderful music-making - together!

Making Music Chief Executive Barbara Eifler:

We are delighted and honoured that Debbie has agreed to be our next President, following in the footsteps of other composers in our 84-year history, including Peter Maxwell Davies and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Her work is familiar to millions and we hope with Debbie’s help to reach even more people and show them that making music is for everyone.

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For more information contact natalie@makingmusic.org.uk 

Making Music, 8 Holyrood Street, London SE1 2EL
020 7939 6030
info@makingmusic.org.uk
www.makingmusic.org.uk
Twitter: @MakingMusic_UK
Facebook: facebook.com/makingmusicuk
Instagram: @makingmusicuk

Making Music, The National Federation of Music Societies
A company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales no. 308632
Registered Charity in England and Wales no. 249219 and in Scotland no. SC038849

Notes to editors

• Debbie Wiseman is a familiar figure in broadcasting – she is Classic FM’s Composer in Residence, and appears regularly on BBC Radio 3 and 4, and has also appeared as an expert guest on the BBC broadcasts of The Proms.
• Debbie appears in concert halls across the country conducting her film scores, and has been a regular guest conductor at the Royal Albert Hall as well as appearing at the 2014 Cordoba International Cinema Music Festival, becoming the first female conductor in the history of the event. 
• Since 1935, Making Music has supported and championed leisure-time music groups across the UK with practical services, artistic development opportunities and by providing a collective voice for its members. We now represent over 3,500 groups of around 190,000 musicians of all types, genres and abilities.