Mark McKenzie was born in Lake City, Minnesota, and as his parents loved music
they made sure that each of their seven children studied piano and practiced at least an hour
a day. As he entered high school he became engrossed in classical music, particularly J.S.
Bach, Beethoven, and Chopin. He also became very interested in the music of rock bands like
Yes, Deep Purple, Emerson Lake & Palmer and others spending every free minute listening to
music, playing the piano, organ, French horn, recorder, and to some degree the guitar.
Attending the University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire, he studied music composition
as well as English literature. After earning his Bachelors degree in music composition he
moved to L.A. in 1979 and finished both his Masters and his Doctorate in music composition
at the University of Southern California.
During those years he was especially enanored with the music of Bartok, Stravinsky, Webern, and
Vaughn Williams. In addition to his music studies, McKenzie also read as much as he could, getting
a doctoral emphasis in American literature. He finished his formal composition studies in 1984 and
was awarded the distinction "Outstanding Doctoral Graduate of the Year" by the USC faculty. After
being invited by the music faculty to stay on, he taught part-time courses in 20th
Century compositional techniques, music theory, counterpoint, orchestration and aural skills while at
the same time beginning a career in film music. After meeting Bruce Broughton at USC and orchestrating
his music, McKenzie soon orchestrated for composers such as Danny Elfman, Alan Silvestri,
Cliff Eidelman, Marc Shaiman, John Barry, Basil Poledouris, James Newton Howard and Randy
Edelman.
Since beginning his own scoring career in 1991, McKenzie has received a number of
composition awards in the concert music arena, including the Hans J. Salter Award for his Chamber
Symphony I, the Grand Prize in the International Horn Society's Composition contest for his
horn octet Zao, and an honorable mention in the Fargo Symphony Contest for his symphony Threnody
for the Innocent Infants. His children's symphonic work "The Lion and the Mouse" has received
performances with orchestras across both the US and Europe. After 2000, he was recognized
particularly for his music for small religious films, highlighted by
The Greatest Miracle
in 2011.
McKenzie in the 1990's
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