I was born on February 18th 1984 in a small town near Dresden/Germany. At the age of 5 I started to play the piano, influenced by my father who studied music and worked as keyboard player and composer in a rock band.
I began composing my first musical pieces at the age of 10, writing pop songs and others experimenting with old MIDI equipment. In this time, I got more and more fascinated by the broad musical landscapes in movies, watching certain movies over and over again, just to hear the music. At the age of 14, I began to write more and more orchestral music, being mainly influenced by American film composers such as John Williams, Danny Elfman, Jerry Goldsmith and others. I wrote a piece for orchestra as part of my A-level exams, which got performed by a local orchestra in 2001.
After my graduation from school, I started to work as freelance composer for several film and game projects and continued to write more orchestral concert music as well.
From 2004-2008 I studied Composition/Arrangement at the Dresden University of Music “Carl Maria von Weber” under Rainer Lischka, Marko Lackner, Lars Juling and others finishing my diploma with grade A.
Besides my studies I have been working as composer and orchestrator on several major film projects, including the British comedy “Save Angel Hope” starring Billy Boyd, Bernard Hill and others and “Ausbilder Schmidt – Der Film” starring German comedians Ausbilder Schmidt, Axel Stein, Ingo Appelt, Bernhard Hoëcker, Collien Fernandes and others.
Apart from my work for film, I’m also working in the field of Game Music, mainly as orchestrator for Germany’s biggest game music company “Dynamedion” for which I have orchestrated major game titles such as “Black Prophecy” and “Anno 1404″, which received high acclaim by the critics.
In 2008, I teamed up with long time colleague Moritz Schneider to found “Nachos and Cheese” – a full service for media music, specialized on real orchestra and orchestral hybrid productions.
Also, I’m writing concert music on a quite regular basis for several ensembles and artists, including Orchestras, BigBands and chamber ensembles. In 2010 I got commissioned to write a violin concerto for Anna Karkowska and the London Symphony Orchestra which has been recorded in July 2010 at Abbey Road Studios in London and is going to be released on CD.
Besides my work as composer, orchestrator and arranger, I’m also tutor for the online course “Cinematic Orchestration” by Thinkspaceonline as well as private teacher for composition, orchestration and music theory for several students around the world.
Currently I’m working on the Musical “Dällebach Kari” which will have its premiere on July 14th 2010 at the “Thuner Seespiele” in Switzerland.
