John Leo Dutton
- Composer
- Music Department
John Leo Dutton is a British composer characterised by his emotionally driven, thematic style. He is best known for composing high end drama scores for major networks in the UK, Europe and the US, including the BBC, PBS, ZDF and ORF.
Whether creating full orchestral scores, or contemporary electronic and solo works, his philosophy is the same - music has to move you.
Raised in a household where a piano was always to hand, a love of improvising and creating music developed from an early age. Connections between image, music and art evolved as he became fascinated with the sound of French Impressionist composers and modern jazz instrumentalists. This led to an individual approach to harmony and rhythm that developed as a junior at the Royal Academy of Music and later at Trinity College of Music, London, studying under Simon Bainbridge.
Upon leaving college, John began to write scores for short films, and commissions for television work soon followed, beginning with the score for the BBC Trench series - a dramatic portrayal of life in a front line trench during the Battle of the Somme. His distinctive style became characteristic of several subsequent scores, including Richard the Lionheart and Spartacus for the BBC Heroes and Villains drama series, the WGBH Nova series, Operation Crossbow, D Day - The Last Heroes and Royal Wives at War for network BBC and recent scores for European network dramas, Amazons and God's Soldiers - Siege of Malta.
Raised in a household where a piano was always to hand, a love of improvising and creating music developed from an early age. Connections between image, music and art evolved as he became fascinated with the sound of French Impressionist composers and modern jazz instrumentalists. This led to an individual approach to harmony and rhythm that developed as a junior at the Royal Academy of Music and later at Trinity College of Music, London, studying under Simon Bainbridge.
Upon leaving college, John began to write scores for short films, and commissions for television work soon followed, beginning with the score for the BBC Trench series - a dramatic portrayal of life in a front line trench during the Battle of the Somme. His distinctive style became characteristic of several subsequent scores, including Richard the Lionheart and Spartacus for the BBC Heroes and Villains drama series, the WGBH Nova series, Operation Crossbow, D Day - The Last Heroes and Royal Wives at War for network BBC and recent scores for European network dramas, Amazons and God's Soldiers - Siege of Malta.