Mark McKenzie Mark McKenzie

Born:5 June 1956, Lake City, Minnesota.

Biography:
Minnesota-born composer Mark McKenzie was taught to play piano from an early age, and graduated with a Masters and Doctorate in Music Composition from the University of Southern California, having studied composers such as Pierre Boulez and Witold Lutoslawski, and having been nominated as "Outstanding Doctoral Graduate of the Year". After teaching at USC for a few years following his graduation, he began his film music apprenticeship working with Bruce Broughton, completing orchestrations on 'Young Sherlock Holmes (1985). McKenzie subsequently undertook orchestration duties for a number of composers, including Danny Elfman, Cliff Eidelman, Marc Shaiman, Alan Silvestri and Basil Poledouris, and quickly established himself as one of the most competent and reliable orchestrators in the business. He composed his first original score in 1991, for the horror movie "Son of Darkness: To Die For 2", and his works since then have been small scale, low-profile, but of consistent high quality. His more prominent titles include the comedy feature "Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde" (1995), the made-for-TV swashbuckler 'The Disappearance of Garcia Lorca' (1997), the Irish TV mini-series "Durango" (1999), and the sequel to the hit fantasy movie "Dragonheart: A New Beginning" (2000). During the last years of his life, following the death of Arthur Morton and the retirement of Alexander Courage, McKenzie's was the lead orchestrator for Jerry Goldsmith, having worked with the great man on "The Last Castle", "The Sum of All Fears" and "Star Trek: Nemesis"; McKenzie also continues to be one of the leading orchestrators-for-hire in Hollywood, having recently worked on hit movies such as “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”, “Robots”, “Spider-Man 2” and “Van Helsing”. McKenzie's music is also an Oscar favourite, with his score for "Blizzard" being heard over the 2003 obituary montage. He enjoys a strong collaboration with record producer Douglass Fake, which has resulted in many of McKenzie's scores being released on CD on the Intrada label, and it cannot be long before Hollywood finally sits up and takes notice of this exceptionally talented individual.

Reviews:
Dragonheart: A New Beginning, Durango, Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde, The Lost Child and The Ultimate Gift

Filmography:
The Last Sin Eater (2007), Saving Sarah Cain (2007), The Ultimate Gift (2007), In From the Night (2006), Silver Bells (2005), Stitch’s Great Escape (2004), Blizzard (2003), Dragonheart: A New Beginning (2000), The Lost Child (2000), Durango (1999), The Disappearance of Garcia Lorca (1997), Down Periscope (1996), Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde (1995), My Family (1995), Frank and Jesse (1994), Warlock: The Armageddon (1993), Son of Darkness: To Die For II (1991).

Highest Grossing Films as at end of 2007 (adjusted for inflation):
My Family ($18.0m), Warlock: The Armageddon ($6.7m), Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde ($4.5m), The Ultimate Gift ($3.3m), The Last Sin Eater ($0.4m), Blizzard (negligible grosses), The Disappearance of Garcia Lorca (negligible grosses), Frank and Jesse (negligible grosses), Son of Darkness: To Die For II (negligible grosses)

Links:
Official Site maintained by Jeron Moore

Blizzard The Disappearance of Garcia Lorca Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde Dragonheart: A New Beginning Durango Frank and Jesse In From the Night The Last Sin Eater The Lost Child My Family Saving Sarah Cain Silver Bells Son of Darkness: To Die For II The Ultimate Gift Warlock: The Armageddon


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