SoundTrack_Cologne 23 announces nominees for the EUROPEAN TALENT COMPETITION

Eighteen composers and sound designers from fourteen nominated entries are in the running for this year’s EUROPEAN TALENT AWARD. While some collaborated in teams, others worked individually on their submissions. The winners will be announced at the festive awards ceremony on July 17th at the COMEDIA Theater.

The EUROPEAN TALENT COMPETITION provides a dedicated platform specifically for emerging talents in film music and sound design.

Participants had the choice to either compose the original score or to create the sound design for the short film "FAKE NEWS" (directed by David Seul) - or to re-score the film in a collaborative team of composer and sound designer.

The nominees (in alphabetical order):

Jakob Altmann (Score), Anastasios Antoniou (Score), Bertold Budig (Sound Design), Guilhem Coletti (Score & Sound Design), Constanze Lewandowsky (Sound Design), Barnabas Molnar (Score), Daniella Nassar (Score), Andrea Neri (Score), Niels Peter Olrik (Score), Samuel Pfeil (Score), Marcel Rudert (Score), Peter Seedoch (Score), Natasa Sormaz (Sound Design), Nicolas Soulatre Varea (Score & Sound Design), Natalija Strahinic (Sound Design), Aldo Tizcareño (Score), Yiheng Xian (Score) and Maja Zielińska (Sound Design).

The competition screening will take place on Friday, July 17th at 10:30 at ODEON Cinema. To buy the tickets for the screening, click here.

The nominees and their new scores and sound designs for "FAKE NEWS" will be presented to the audience and jury by Yati Durant.

The winner of the WDR FILMSCORE AWARD will have the opportunity to record an original composition of 7 – 9 minutes length with the WDR Funkhausorchester – for many young composers, this could be their first opportunity to record with a large orchestra and the beginning of filling out their film-scoring calling card.

The winner for the best SOUND DESIGN will receive a 5.1 cinematic mix down in the prestigious sound mixing studio toruspost.

Find out more information about our nominees and the jury members.

Live Music Events at SoundTrack_Cologne 23 · SEE THE SOUND 2026

Join us for three outstanding live music events that showcase the magic of music across film, television, video games, and beyond.

Admission is free for all SoundTrack_Cologne accreditation holders (excluding day passes and select ticketed events).

Not attending the congress? No problem, individual tickets are available for all concerts, so you can join us for these special events. Find all the information and ticket links below each concert.

SoundTrack_Cologne 23 announces nominees for the PEER RABEN MUSIC AWARD

Nine composers are nominated for the PEER RABEN MUSIC AWARD. The winner will be announced at the festival awards ceremony on July 17 at the COMEDIA Theater.

The PEER RABEN MUSIC AWARD honors the Best Original Music in a Short Film. The winner receives a prize money of 1,500 euros. First presented in 2009, the award commemorates the great German film composer Peer Raben.

Nominated are seven film scores from festival highlights of the international short film scene, recognised for their innovative and dramaturgically coherent use of music and sound in relation to the narrative.

This year's selection features award-winning titles including The Apricot, winner of Best Animated Short Film at the New York International Children's Film Festival and Best Animated Short for Kids at the Portland Festival of Cinema, as well as The Gathering Light, selected for Flickerfest, Australia's leading international short film festival.

The nominees:

- Ksenia Ignatenko & Leticia Martínez Goás (A Better You, directed by Arina Popa)
- Becca Schack (Unbound, directed by Kendra Copeland)
- Dayanera Alipour & Maximilian Lindinger (MELPOMENE - Fragments of a fever dream, directed by Kai Sieber)
- Daniel Duque (The Gathering Light, directed by Xavier Masson-Leach)
- Ayda Akbal (Rough Ways, directed by Benjamin McFadden)
- Pascal Horn (The Apricot, directed by Alex Avila)
- Lukas Geppert (Lantern, directed by Leopold Schraudolph)

The competition screening will take place on Thursday, July 16, at 18:30, at Odeon Kino 2. To buy tickets for the screening, click here.

A Better You plunges us into a near-future dystopia where positivity is enforced by law. A woman desperate to keep her vulnerable brother safe must perform emotional labour for a therapy dog and survive a system that has already swallowed everyone around her. Unbound explores the realities of stereotypical typecasting through the story of a talented Black actress in a powerful one-woman show. In MELPOMENE – Fragments of a Fever Dream, theatrical performer Lucien tries to let go of the stress of a recent performance, only to find himself drawn into an emotional conversation about young artists’ fears and uncertainties for the future. Selected for Australia's Flickerfest Film Festival, The Gathering Light follows an old man searching for jewels in the Hawkesbury River. Set in the wild Washington Territory of 1887, Rough Ways centres on the battle of The Kid, who suddenly faces a choice that might determine the rest of his life. The hand-drawn 2D animated film The Apricot tells the story of a 10-year-old boy experiencing his first summer working on his family's apricot farm; a two-time award-winning project based on real childhood memories the director holds dear. Lantern takes us into another dystopian world, where a girl must befriend the magical creature trapped inside a lantern in order to escape her captor and the cruel system he upholds.

The nominees and their films will be presented to audience and jury under the moderation of composer André Feldhaus.

Get your badge now and attend this exciting competition.

Composing for Film at SoundTrack_Cologne 23

Music is one of cinemas's most powerful storytelling tools, shaping how we feel, remember, and understand what we see on screen. As part of the Composing for Film Day at SoundTrack_Cologne 23, taking place on Thursday, July 16, our guest composers will discuss their creative approaches to scoring for film: translating image, emotion, and story into music. From intimate, independent projects to genre-defining blockbusters, their work spans a remarkably wide range of genres and styles.

This year, we are proud to welcome Finnish composer Panu Aaltio, the 2026 HARPA Nordic Film Composers Award recipient for Little Siberia, and the only composer to have won the IFMCA Best Documentary Score award for all three films of a trilogy: Tale of a Forest (2013) · Tale of a Lake (2017) and Tale of the Sleeping Giants (2022).

Joining him is Nathan Larson, whose acclaimed scores for films such as Boys Don't Cry · High Fidelity · Margin Call and The Woodsman, have established him as one of independent cinema's most distinctive voices.

We are also pleased to welcome Swiss composer Mirjam Skal (Les Courageux), recently honoured with the Rolf-Hans Müller Prize for Best Film Score (awarded for her soundtrack to the Tatort episode Of Apes and Men) and the German Documentary Film Music Award (Vracht).

Closing this year’s Composing for Film Day is our Career Achievement Award 2026 honouree, Christopher Young, whose more than 160 film scores, from Hellraiser to Spider-Man 3, have made him one of the most versatile voices in contemporary film music.

Composing for Films
Thursday, July 16 · COMEDIA Theater, Roter Saal

10:30 - 11:30
Panu Aaltio
Little Siberia - winner of the HARPA Nordic Film Composers Award 2026
Workshop · Discussion

12:00 - 13:00
Nathan Laron
Boys Don't Cry · High Fidelity · Margin Call
Workshop · Discussion

14:30 - 15:30
Mirjam Skal
Les Courageux · Vracht - winner of the German Documentary Film Music Award 2025
Workshop · Discussion

16:00 - 17:30
Christopher Young
Hellraiser· Spider-Man 3 · Norma Jean & Marilyn
Conversation with the STC23 Career Achievement Award Winner

SoundTrack_Cologne 23 announces Video Games Composer Lineup

Music has become a crucial narrative force in modern video games, shaping worlds, deepening emotional impact, and bringing stories to life in increasingly immersive and interactive ways. SoundTrack_Cologne 23 once again spotlights the creative minds behind some of today's most compelling game scores.

This year's lineup features five outstanding artists:

London-based duo Boxed Ape (Alistair Kerley & Frankie Harper), whose work spans major AAA titles and acclaimed indie productions alike Horizon Call of the Mountain · The Casting of Frank Stone · Beyond a Steel Sky;

Maclaine Diemer (Guild Wars 2 · Rock Band · Wildgate), two-time nominee for the Game Music Award at the World Soundtrack Awards and a 2025 nominee for Best Original Score for Interactive Media by the Society of Composers and Lyricists;

and Zanshin, a multifaceted electronic artist whose distinctive approach to sound design and synthesis has informed work across both music and games (Lightfield). In addition to the panel and roundtable, Zanshin will perform live at 674FM Konzertraum on the evening of 15 July.

Joining them is Emmy Award-winning composer Nainita Desai, whose remarkable work spans BAFTA-winning games (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II), major streaming productions (American Murder - The Family Next Door) and acclaimed feature films and documentaries (For Sama · The Reason I Jump · Nocturnes). 

Together, all five composers will participate in a roundtable discussion, hosted by composer Helge Borgarts, exploring the artistry, challenges, and innovations shaping the world of game composition.

Composing for Video Games

Wednesday 15 July 2026 · COMEDIA Theater, Roter Saal
Moderator: Helge Borgarts

10:30 – 11:30
Boxed Ape
(The Casting of Frank Stone · Horizon Call of the Mountain · Beyond a Steel)
Workshop - Discussion

12:00 – 13:00
Maclaine Diemer
(Guild Wars 2 · Rock Band · Wildgate)
Workshop - Discussion

14:30 – 15:30
Zanshin
(Lightfield)
Workshop - Discussion

16:00 – 17:30
Boxed Ape, Maclaine Diemer, Zanshin and Nainita Desai
Games Roundtable with Helge Borgarts

674FM Konzertraum
19:30 - 21:00
Game Music Composer Concert with Zanshin
Performance
In cooperation with Game Music Composer Concerts

WORKSHOP: Sonic Improvibing An improvisational scoring approach for audiovisual media

The sonic identity of a film score is shaped not only by traditionally taught elements such as rhythm, melody, harmony and arrangement, but equally by the unique timbres that define the sound world. To invent a new experimental instrument, sound generating process or -device to come up with distinctive timbres is an amazing method to create innovative, non-generic sound-worlds for audiovisual media.

Exploring these possibilities by transforming emotional attachment to the narration into sound and music in real-time to the playback of visual content with these specifically designed instruments or sound devices can be a very effective means of setting the tone for a scene, a sequence or even a whole movie. It’s all about getting into the vibe by allowing your heart to be part of a playful, joyful, and sometimes challenging, intuitive, improvisational and creative process: Welcome to the world of Sonic Improvibing!

The beauty/pain juxtaposition, this is always what I strive for. -Nathan Larson

In this workshop, taking place at the recording studio o-ton (80 square meters A-room, fully equipped with a stage, Grand Piano, Amps, a Drum set, a PA system and 4k projector), participants will explore the method to work out a live performance of a score for a short film under the guidance of acclaimed independent film composer Nathan Larson (Boys Don't Cry · High Fidelity · Margin Call · The Woodsman).

The resulting performance will then be presented as part of the STC23 program, during the mediamusic Network Reception at o-ton, on Wednesday, 15th of July at 9:30 pm.

Participants will receive a link to a film clip approx. 4 weeks in advance of the workshop. They are requested to work out a unique way of creating sound: One option is to build an instrument or find an alternative way to use existing instruments. This may involve anything from cigar boxes with rubber bands as "poor man's guitars" to bowed pizza trays. Another option is to come up with an electromechanical sound generating process involving a microphone setup, for example the amplified sound of a plucked credit card halfway on a table. 

"We would love it, if your sound ideas were furthermore elegantly contributing to the narration - whether by paraphrasing, contrasting or by adding a meta layer of meaning and interpretation. You might also bring a short motif, that shows the potential of your sonic approach - whether you bring an instrument or bring a sound design idea", Nathan Larson.

The workshop is based on an improvisational group effort, not on single participants scoring preparations. So while it might be nice to have your computer with you, it is not required for the workshop.

Active participants: €95 (Max. 12 participants) - To register, use the code composingworkshop
Observer: €45 (Max. 5 participants) - To register, use the code passiveworkshop

Workshop places are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis upon receipt of the registration fee for each participation category. Please note that SoundTrack_Cologne conference accreditation must be purchased separately.

This masterclass is held in cooperation with Kassel University and will be hosted by composer, sound engineer, and media producer Roman Beilharz.

The Sound Focus at SoundTrack_Cologne 23 From Sensitive Stories to Zombie Horror

The 23rd edition of SoundTrack_Cologne dedicates a full festival day to sound: On Friday, July 17th, high-profile case studies and workshops on sound design and music bring together composers and creative teams behind acclaimed films and TV series.

The programme opens with sound designer and mixing engineer Jenny Winter and director Linda Verweyen, both specialists in socially critical audiovisual projects. Their case study, Sound for Sensitive Stories, presented by BVFT, examines their work on the participatory documentary HALIMA – HOW TO STAY STRONG. Single tickets for the case study Sound for Sensitive Stories are available here.

Next, a case study offers an in-depth look at the collaboration between supervising sound editor and sound designer Billie Mind and film editor Evelyn Rack on SOUND OF FALLING (IN DIE SONNE SCHAUEN), winner of the Jury Prize at the 78th Cannes Film Festival in 2025. Both received the ICS Award for Best Editing, along with nominations for the German Film Award, Mind for Best Sound and Rack for Best Editing. The panel will be hosted by Ulla Kösterke and presented by Filmtonfrauen. Single tickets for the case study SOUND OF FALLING are available here.

In the afternoon, a talk with Grammy Award-winning composer, sound engineer and producer Simon Goff explores how to create your own sound world. His work on films such as WAVES and series such as THE GOLD has earned wide acclaim for its immersive, textural soundscapes and compositional depth. Goff has also collaborated with some of the world's most celebrated contemporary composers and musicians, including Hildur Guðnadóttir on JOKER and CHERNOBYL.

The day closes with Cologne-based composer, sound designer and DJ Robert Feuchtl, a.k.a. Bob Humid, offering an in-depth look at object-based sound design and mixing using the industry-leading DAW SEQUOIA by BORIX FX. Working through the pilot episode of the zombie series BLUTDRUCK, a genre where sound design is particularly demanding, Bob Humid demonstrates object-editing techniques for placing individual sounds into realistic spaces and adding subsonic room tones.

____________

Sound Design & Music

Friday 17 July 2026 · COMEDIA Theater, Die Eins

10.30 - 11.30
Case Study: Sound for Sensitive Stories
Participatory Documentary HALIMA - HOW TO STAY STRONG
Jenny Winter (sound designer, mixing engineer) & Linda Verweyen (director)
In cooperation with BVFT
Single tickets for this event are available here.

12.00 - 13.00
Case Study: SOUND OF FALLING (IN DIE SONNE SCHAUEN)
Billie Mind (supervising sound editor, sound designer) & Evelyn Rack (film editor). 
Mod. Ulla Kösterke
In cooperation with Filmtonfrauen
Single tickets for this event are available here.

14.30 – 15.30
Panel: Creating Your Own Sound World
Simon Goff (composer, sound engineer, producer)

16.00 - 17.00
Workshop: Object Based Sounddesign and Film-Sound-Stage-Mixing
Using Sequoia for the Underground Zombie-Series BLUTDRUCK
Bob Humid (composer, sound designer, DJ )
In cooperation with BORIS FX

Christopher Young receives the Career Achievement Award at STC23

The Career Achievement Award of SoundTrack_Cologne's 23rd edition goes to composer Christopher Young, one of the most prolific and versatile voices in contemporary film music.

Named the "Greatest Horror Film Composer of All Time" by BBC Music Magazine, Young will attend SoundTrack_Cologne from July 15 to 17, 2026.  On Thursday, July 16, he will engage in an in-depth onstage conversation about his acclaimed career. The following evening, Friday, July 17, the composer will be honoured with the Career Achievement Award during a special ceremony, featuring the Neues Rheinisches Kammerorchester performing a selection of his most iconic film scores.

Originally trained as a jazz drummer, Young discovered the world of orchestral scoring through the work of Bernard Herrmann. After studying at UCLA's Film School under legendary composer David Raksin, his breakthrough came with the orchestral-and-choral score for Hellbound: Hellraiser II, which earned him a Saturn Award and established him as a distinctive voice in film music.

Across more than 160 feature films, Young has demonstrated an extraordinary capacity to work across a wide range of genres, from the visceral horror of Hellraiser and the hit Pet Sematary, to the electro-trance textures of Swordfish, the Celtic intimacy of The Shipping News, and the large-scale action of Spider-Man 3.

He has collaborated with directors including Sam Raimi, Guillermo del Toro, Norman Jewison, Curtis Hanson, Barry Levinson, among many others. Young received a Golden Globe nomination and a Critics' Choice nomination for The Shipping News, two Emmy nominations for his television work, including the fall-of-Saigon drama Last Flight Out and the HBO picture Norma Jean & Marilyn. In 2023, he was named Composer of the Year by the International Film Music Critics Association and he is also the recipient of BMI's Richard Kirk Award for Outstanding Career Achievement.

In recent years, Young has scored the AppleTV+ series Echo 3, returned to the horror genre that made his name with the Blumhouse production Sinister, ranked the scariest film of all time in 2020, and lent his music to the video game Marvel's Deadpool VR for Meta. He also scored André Øvredal's newest film for Paramount Pictures, Passenger, which will have it's theatrical release this summer.

Beyond his work for the screen, Young is deeply committed to mentoring the next generation of film composers, teaching at USC for over a decade, serving as a two-term president of the Film Music Society, and as president of the Madrid Film Music Festival.

__________

Thursday 16.07.
COMEDIA Theater · Roter Saal
16:00 - 17:30
Christopher Young · Talk

Friday 17.07.
COMEDIA Theater · Roter Saal
19:00 - 21:00
Award Ceremony · The Neues Rheinisches Kammerorchester will perform film scores by Christopher Young and other renowned film composers

Three Weeks Left — Don't Miss Out! · EUROPEAN TALENT COMPETITION ·

Composers and sound designers — your deadline is approaching! You have three weeks left to submit your entry for the EUROPEAN TALENT COMPETITION. Don't miss your chance to compete for the WDR FILMSCORE AWARD or the EUROPEAN TALENT AWARD IN SOUND DESIGN by scoring or designing the sound for the short film FAKE NEWS (directed by David Seul).

Submission deadline is May 20th, 2026 10:00 am CEST.

Participants are invited to create either an original score or the sound design for the short film "FAKE NEWS" (Director: David Seul), offering their own artistic interpretation of its visuals and narrative.

Submissions may be realised individually or collaboratively. Composers and sound designers are also welcome to form creative teams.

Sound designers in particular are encouraged to submit sound-design-only-focused projects!

The twelve finalists will be presented with their work to the audience and jury during the SoundTrack_Cologne competition screening. The award ceremony will take place during the official gala on Friday, July 17th, 2026.

The winner of the WDR FILMSCORE AWARD will have the opportunity to record an original composition of 7 – 9 minutes length with the WDR Funkhausorchester – for many young composers this could be their first opportunity to record with a major orchestra and to fill out their film-scoring calling card.

The winner for the best SOUND DESIGN will receive a 5.1 cinematic mix down for a short film at the renowned cologne based sound studio toruspost.

The deadline for submitting the application is May 20th, 2026, 10:00AM CET!

The contest is open to all active students in the fields of composing, music, sound design, sound and editing at a European film or music school (without age limit); or any young European creatives up to and including 30 years of age.

> The online registration form and the terms and conditions for your participation can be found by following the link below.

After the online registration you may download the short film and start your project.

Short film "FAKE NEWS" (Germany, 2025, 4:32 min.)

Directed by: David Seul 

Developed within the Master´s Programme „3D Animation for Film & Games“ by Internationale Filmschule Köln (IFS) and Cologne Game Lab.

A plant lives a peaceful life on a balcony above the streets. Until one day, its owner starts following fake news on how to treat plants. Serious mistreatment is forcing the plant to take action: Assuming that a computer is the source of all evil, the plant tries to kill the messenger.

CALL FOR ENTRIES: · EUROPEAN TALENT COMPETITION 2026 · Filmscore and Sound Design

SoundTrack_Cologne 23 (July 14th – 17th, 2026) invites emerging composers and sound designers to apply for the EUROPEAN TALENT COMPETITION in the categories WDR FILMSCORE AWARD and SOUND DESIGN.

Participants are invited to create either an original score or the sound design for the short film "FAKE NEWS" (Director: David Seul), offering their own artistic interpretation of its visuals and narrative.

Submissions may be realised individually or collaboratively. Composers and sound designers are also welcome to form creative teams.

Sound designers in particular are encouraged to submit sound-design-only-focused projects!

The twelve finalists will be presented with their work to the audience and jury during the SoundTrack_Cologne competition screening. The award ceremony will take place during the official gala on Friday, July 17th, 2026.

The winner of the WDR FILMSCORE AWARD will have the opportunity to record an original composition of 7 – 9 minutes length with the WDR Funkhausorchester – for many young composers this could be their first opportunity to record with a major orchestra and to fill out their film-scoring calling card.

The winner for the best SOUND DESIGN will receive a 5.1 cinematic mix down for a short film at the renowned cologne based sound studio toruspost.

The deadline for submitting the application is May 20th, 2026, 10:00AM CET!

The contest is open to all active students in the fields of composing, music, sound design, sound and editing at a European film or music school (without age limit); or any young European creatives up to and including 30 years of age.

> The online registration form and the terms and conditions for your participation can be found by following the link below.

After the online registration you may download the short film and start your project.

Short film "FAKE NEWS" (Germany, 2025, 4:31 min.)

Directed by: David Seul 
Developed within the Master´s Programme „3D Animation for Film & Games“ by Internationale Filmschule Köln (IFS) and Cologne Game Lab.

A plant lives a peaceful life on a balcony above the streets. Until one day, its owner starts following fake news on how to treat plants. Serious mistreatment is forcing the plant to take action: Assuming that a computer is the source of all evil, the plant tries to kill the messenger.

Call for Entries: PEER RABEN MUSIC AWARD 2026 Best Music in a Short Film

We are pleased to announce that submissions are now open for the PEER RABEN MUSIC AWARD, honoring outstanding music in a short film.

SoundTrack_Cologne 23, taking place from July 14th to 17th, 2026, invites film composers and filmmakers to submit their short films with their original compositions for the PEER RABEN MUSIC AWARD.

The award, now in its 18th edition, grants 1,500 euros to outstanding film scores that demonstrate innovation and powerfully support cinematic storytelling through music and sound.

The award, first presented in 2009, commemorates the great German film composer Peer Raben.

Submission criteria:

• Short films with a maximum length of 15 minutes (incl. end credits) in all industry standard formats.
• There are no restrictions regarding country of production, genre, or content.
• Films must have predominantly original music.
• Short films whose production was completed after January 1st, 2025 or that premiered after January 1st, 2025.
• The nominees should be present at the screening of the films and will be presented to the audience and the jury during the competition screening. The award ceremony will take place during the official Gala on Friday, July 17th, 2026.

Submission fees: 
Early Bird: 12 Euros until March 26th, 2026 10:00 am CEST
Late: 17 Euros until April 15th, 2026 10:00 am CEST

Terms, conditions and the application form for the competition can be found here:

Book early and join STC 23 at the best rate! Low prices for a limited time only

Accreditations for SoundTrack_Cologne 23 are now available at reduced rates. Please note that prices will increase significantly as the congress approaches.

Early-Bird tickets are available only until Monday, March 16, 2026, 10:00 am (CET)! 

*As SoundTrack_Cologne takes place during the summer season, we strongly recommend booking your hotel as early as possible.