Golden Eye Award winning Michael Künstle is a Swiss-Polish composer / songwriter / arranger: a crossover artist with a keen desire to push the boundaries of musical genres.
His joy in collaborative work, sense of visual storytelling and friendly character makes him a frequent collaborator in film, pop and concert music. His music ranges from electronic pieces to symphonic scores, „with a high degree of dramaturgical realisation, a clear attitude and a sensitive and thematically expressive voice“ (David Zinman and Henning Lohner on „Evermore“).
Recent work highlights include scores for brands including Samsung, Pfizer, Hewlett Packard and Barclays, agencies including W+K Amsterdam, Grey/Townhouse NY, and The Community US, and directors including Juan Cabral, Pierre Monnard and Vedran Rupic. With his composing partner Matteo Pagamici he has also scored the highly successful Swiss feature film „The Neighbours from Upstairs“ (2023), the French thriller series „Hors Saison“ (2022), and „Neumatt“ (2022) - the first Swiss TV series picked up by Netflix and available in 190 countries.
Together, they share a high-end music studio in Switzerland and compose all media related projects from film and TV to advertising.
He is determined to work with the best possible musical collaborators in the field, including: Anthony Weeden (conductor: The Theory of Everything, Thor), Cliff Masterson (conductor: The Batman, Rings Of Power), Katherine Tinker (pianist: Spencer, Phantom Thread), Nick Wollage (engineer: The Northman, Solo – A Star Wars Story), musicians of the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Contemporary Orchestra. They have recorded scores at the renonwned Abbey Road Studios and AIR Studios in London.
His songwriting credits include the Universal Music Group published ballad „Without A Parachute“ by Swiss pop singer Anna Rossinelli. In addition, he gave a crossover concert with her and the Symphony Orchestra Basel, which he arranged and conducted.
Further collaborations include pop artists such as Baba Shrimps, Lovebugs and Noti Wümié as well as „Echo Jazz“ winning singer Jasmin Tabatabai, NY-born rapper Rootwords and contemporary singer and artist Marena Whitcher.
Künstle’s upcoming solo project „Orchestral Spaces“ was recorded at Abbey Road Studio 1 with an 92-piece orchestra including an arrangement of Ed Sheeran’s „Take Me Back To London“.
His compositions were performed in Switzerland, Poland, England, Germany, Italy, Austria and Luxembourg. Amongst others by the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich under the baton of legendary conductor David Zinman.
Since 2015, he works together with extraordinary sound engineer Daniel Dettwiler (Herbert Grönemeyer, Niki Reiser), with whom he shares studio facilities. Their longtime work relationship allows a profound conception of the sound of Michael’s music. Alongside Daniel’s vast collection of vintage microphones and his Cadac mixing console on which Queen‘s „Bohemian Rhapsody“ was originally mixed, sound quality is essential to Michael’s work.
With his roots as a jazz and rock drummer, he was always determined to expand his musical horizon - not only by learning the craft of different musical genres, but also as a musician. He plays the piano, guitar and bass and performs his instruments often in his scores. Occasionally he sings.
Growing up in a musical environment, at the age of 9, his father took him into his band. Together, they wrote close to 100 songs, which led to Michael’s fascination in composing.
As much as he’s determined to find fresh and innovative musical expression, he strongly believes in the profound study of musical tradition.
He graduated from the University of Arts in Zurich (ZHdK) in Jazz and Composition with his MA specialising in Media Composition. He attended additional studies with film composer and orchestrator David Angel (John Williams) and film composer Henning Lohner (Hans Zimmer) as well as masterclasses with film composer Alexandre Desplat and jazz composer Maria Schneider.
Michael has strong work ethics and is a fast and precise collaborator. He gets fascinated by all different kinds of stories and musical genres, which makes him an open-minded value for your project and assures his ability for a tailored soundtrack.
Evermore - Golden Eye Award at Zurich Film Festival 2012
“These emotions, the individual characters, the development, the story: you went into every detail in our collaboration, with an openness and joy, which was just fantastic.
Watch the result. I love the music.”
“Michael Künstle managed to create a perfect balance between differentiated texture and emotional condensation.”
