Michael Yezerski
Click below to watch Secrets of the Score #001: Michael Yezerski.
Watch the original scene from The Devil's Candy.
INTRODUCING MICHAEL YEZERSKI
Michael Yezerski has a unique voice in film music today. From the gripping and contemporary, to the subtle and emotional, his scores are highly evocative, original and diverse.
Recent film scores include Sean Byrne’s explosive horror metal epic, The Devil’s Candy, which won Best Original Score at Fantastic Arts 2015 and Peer Pedersen’s We Don’t Belong Here, starring Catherine Keener and Anton Yelchin. Bill Guttentag and Michael Ware’s searing documentary feature Only The Dead See The End of War premiered at Telluride followed by a successful season on HBO.
Michael’s first feature film scores were the critically acclaimed The Black Balloon (dir. Elissa Down) and The Waiting City (dir. Claire McCarthy). He wrote both score and songs for these films, collaborating with major recording artists. Since then, Michael has written the scores for over fourteen feature films and has been nominated four times for the Australia’s highest film honor - the AACTA award for Best Original Score. He has won numerous industry and guild prizes.
Other career highlights include the Academy Award winner, The Lost Thing (Best Animated Short), Josh Lawson’s riotous The Little Death (Winner Audience Award SXSW) and PJ Hogan's Mental.
Several of the most acclaimed Australian television productions of the last few years feature a score by Michael Yezerski. The period drama, A Place To Call Home (now entering its fifth season), is fast becoming a cult hit around the world, screening in over one hundred and fifty countries. The acclaimed mini-series Peter Allen: Not The Boy Next Door won multiple AACTA awards and the true crime thriller Catching Milat shocked the country (the highest rated drama series of 2015).
Michael studied musical composition under Peter Sculthorpe and Ross Edwards at the University of Sydney graduating with first class honors. Michael then graduated with distinction in audio technology from the Australian Institute of Music and completed Film Music studies at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School. He began playing the clarinet at age 7 before teaching himself to play the piano at age 12 and composing a year later.