John Kusiak's Page

Music Genre

Classical, Contemporary, Ambient, Underscore

Performing Rights Organization

ASCAP

Band Members

not applicable

My website:

http://kusiakmusic.com

Credits and Experience:

John Kusiak
Composer

John Kusiak is the founder and principal composer at Kusiak Music in Arlington, MA. Through Kusiak Music, John has composed music for film, television, advertising and live performance, including several award-winning documentaries.
Recent documentary film projects scored by John include:

• “We Shall Remain,” a five-part series for PBS’s American Experience on the history of Native Americans (April-May 2009).
• “Secrecy,” a one-hour documentary on secrecy in government – Special Jury Award, 2008 Sundance Film Festival.
• “Aquarium,” a short narrative coming-of-age film – Honorable Mention, 2008 Sundance Film Festival.
• “Have You Seen Andy,” an HBO documentary about the filmmaker’s efforts to find out what happened to a childhood friend who was abducted and never seen again – 2008 Emmy Award for Outstanding Investigative Journalism.
• “The Singing Revolution,” a critically acclaimed documentary about the non-violent Estonian Revolution, in theatrical release in the U.S. and Europe in 2008.
• Opening films for the Academy Awards (2002, 2007).
• “Gold Rush,” a two-hour American Experience (2006)
• “Patriot’s Day,” an American Experience documentary on Revolutionary War re-enactors (2004).
• Two seasons of “First Person,” a TV series directed by Errol Morris, which Time magazine named one of 10 best series of 2000.

John also composed additional music for Errol Morris’ “The Fog of War,” which won the 2004 Academy Award for best documentary.

Films projects to be released in 2009 include “Scarred Justice: The Orangeburg Massacre, 1968,” (PBS) about the killing of three black students by police during campus unrest in South Carolina, and “Luckey,” (Sundance Channel) about a charismatic inventor of climbing structures who continued to work after an accident left him paralyzed.

John also writes music for live performances, including a long collaboration with Boston-based Prometheus Dance on the following:
• “Warp,” performed at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston in May 2009.
• “The Queen’s Spectre,” 2005.
• “Dreams,” 2004.
• “Apokalypsis,” 2001-2003.


John Kusiak/Composer – page 2

He also wrote an original score for “The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship,” a Russian folk tale, and Tango Mendez, both commissioned and performed by Solar Winds, a woodwind quintet.

In addition, John has written music for numerous national television commercials between 2001 and the present. Clients include: MasterCard, H&R Block, Silk Soy Milk, United Airlines, SBC, Quaker Oats and CVS. John also wrote music for a 2008 internet election ad campaign: “People in the Middle for Obama.”

John studied music at the University of Missouri and played guitar in several rock and jazz bands in the ’80s and ’90s, including the Pousette-Dart Band and The Original Rhythm Method, a fusion jazz-rock band which he led. Most recently, he is part of a five-member band that performs live to Tillie’s Punctured Romance, the first full-length movie featuring Charlie Chaplin. He has performed with this recently restored film at, among other venues, the Academy of Motion Picture’s Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Hollywood and the Pordenone Silent Film Festival in Italy.

A native of both Massachusetts and Missouri, John currently lives in Arlington, MA, with his wife and two sons.

Contact: john@kusiakmusic.com

Role or Type of Service Provided

Composer

Biography

John Kusiak
Composer

John Kusiak is the founder and principal composer at Kusiak Music in Arlington, MA. Through Kusiak Music, John has composed music for film, television, advertising and live performance, including several award-winning documentaries.
Recent documentary film projects scored by John include:

• “We Shall Remain,” a five-part series for PBS’s American Experience on the history of Native Americans (April-May 2009).
• “Secrecy,” a one-hour documentary on secrecy in government – Special Jury Award, 2008 Sundance Film Festival.
• “Aquarium,” a short narrative coming-of-age film – Honorable Mention, 2008 Sundance Film Festival.
• “Have You Seen Andy,” an HBO documentary about the filmmaker’s efforts to find out what happened to a childhood friend who was abducted and never seen again – 2008 Emmy Award for Outstanding Investigative Journalism.
• “The Singing Revolution,” a critically acclaimed documentary about the non-violent Estonian Revolution, in theatrical release in the U.S. and Europe in 2008.
• Opening films for the Academy Awards (2002, 2007).
• “Gold Rush,” a two-hour American Experience (2006)
• “Patriot’s Day,” an American Experience documentary on Revolutionary War re-enactors (2004).
• Two seasons of “First Person,” a TV series directed by Errol Morris, which Time magazine named one of 10 best series of 2000.

John also composed additional music for Errol Morris’ “The Fog of War,” which won the 2004 Academy Award for best documentary.

Films projects to be released in 2009 include “Scarred Justice: The Orangeburg Massacre, 1968,” (PBS) about the killing of three black students by police during campus unrest in South Carolina, and “Luckey,” (Sundance Channel) about a charismatic inventor of climbing structures who continued to work after an accident left him paralyzed.

John also writes music for live performances, including a long collaboration with Boston-based Prometheus Dance on the following:
• “Warp,” performed at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston in May 2009.
• “The Queen’s Spectre,” 2005.
• “Dreams,” 2004.
• “Apokalypsis,” 2001-2003.


John Kusiak/Composer – page 2

He also wrote an original score for “The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship,” a Russian folk tale, and Tango Mendez, both commissioned and performed by Solar Winds, a woodwind quintet.

In addition, John has written music for numerous national television commercials between 2001 and the present. Clients include: MasterCard, H&R Block, Silk Soy Milk, United Airlines, SBC, Quaker Oats and CVS. John also wrote music for a 2008 internet election ad campaign: “People in the Middle for Obama.”

John studied music at the University of Missouri and played guitar in several rock and jazz bands in the ’80s and ’90s, including the Pousette-Dart Band and The Original Rhythm Method, a fusion jazz-rock band which he led. Most recently, he is part of a five-member band that performs live to Tillie’s Punctured Romance, the first full-length movie featuring Charlie Chaplin. He has performed with this recently restored film at, among other venues, the Academy of Motion Picture’s Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Hollywood and the Pordenone Silent Film Festival in Italy.

A native of both Massachusetts and Missouri, John currently lives in Arlington, MA, with his wife and two sons.

Contact: john@kusiakmusic.com