His favorite projects have included working with Ken Burns on his recent PBS series “The Roosevelts” and an NBC Olympics broadcast with Tom Brokaw. Keltonic’s now at work on scores for films about Egypt, India and the Auschwitz museum. Though he works on entertainment projects too, he favors documentaries.

Composer John Keltonic graduated from University of Richmond and used to compose for local theater groups and television. Now his soundtrack work is featured widely on national television, including on the Discovery Channel and CNN.

John Keltonic’s name may be unfamiliar, but chances are you’ve heard his music. The Emmy-winning composer has written scores for Ken Burns, the Olympics and dozens of PBS and Discovery Channel programs.

In the living room of his Bon Air, Va., home where he works, the tall and gregarious Keltonic explains how his three-decade career seems to have been decided by fate.

As a psychology student at the University of Richmond in the ’70s, he was passing through the school’s music building when he heard strange noises emanating from behind a closed door. Inside he found music professor Alan Stein playing the first synthesizer he’d ever seen. With 20 minutes till his next class, Keltonic began chatting with Stein about the intriguing device.

“We left that room 13 hours later,” Keltonic says. “We became fast friends.”

Aside from two years of piano lessons as a child, Keltonic’s only formal musical training was Stein’s mentorship. When UR asked Stein to write music for a film about the university, he passed it along to Keltonic, giving the 20-year-old his start as a composer.

Graduating with a psychology degree, Keltonic spent the next nine years working for the state, all the while building up his composing career. Early gigs included providing music for CBS-6 and Theatre IV, which is now Virginia Repertory Theatre. But these days he’s all over national television.

Before he writes a note of music for films, Keltonic sits down with a project’s director or producer to discuss what they’re looking for. Usually, Keltonic does post-scoring, meaning he writes music to fit an already edited film.

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