The complete SoundTrack_Cologne programme is live! Dive into to discover this year's full lineup of talks, workshops, and networking activities. It will be an inspiring week!
SoundTrack_Cologne is honored to announce the featured panelists for this year's Composing for TV Series panels, taking place on Friday, July 17, 2026.
Television series rely heavily on music to build atmosphere, shape emotional arcs, and bring stories to life. This year's sessions bring together composers working at the forefront of TV scoring, from a genre-defining period drama to bold new sounds in comedy and event television, offering insights into their creative processes and recent work.
Featured guests include John Lunn, the Emmy and BAFTA-nominated composer behind Downton Abbey, The Last Kingdom - 7 Kings Must Die, The Grantchester Mysteries, among many others; Natalie Hausmann, whose scores blend jazz roots with modern synth textures for series like Mermaids to Lovers and Perfekt Verpasst; and Aisling Brouwer (The Buccaneers), whose latest score for Disney and National Geographic's Pompeii: Out of Time will receive its world premiere live performance at SoundTrack_Cologne award ceremony.
Friday 17. July 2026 · COMEDIA Theater, Studio
10:30 - 11:30
John Lunn
(Downton Abbey · The Last Kingdom - 7 Kings Must Die)
Workshop Discussion
Mod.: Hansjörg Kohli
John Lunn is best known for scoring the flagship ITV/Carnival Films drama Downton Abbey, for which he received two Primetime Emmy Awards (2012, 2013) and two BAFTA nominations. He also scored the Downton Abbey film trilogy. His other credits include The Grantchester Mysteries, Jamestown, Shetland, The White Queen (Emmy-nominated), The White Princess, and To Walk Invisible.
12:00 -13:00
Natalie Hausmann
(Amazon Prime Perfekt Verpasst · RTL+ Mermaids to Lovers)
Mod.: Nik Reich
Cologne-based composer and award-winning jazz musician Natalie Hausmann has scored series including the Amazon Prime Original Perfekt Verpasst, the comedie series Start the fck up, and the Young Adult comedy Mermaids to Lovers (Warner/RTL+), which premiered at Seriencamp Cologne in June 2026. Her sound blends strong melodic themes with textured minimalism, acoustic strings, felt piano, and modern synth soundscapes. She is a SoundTrack_Cologne WFCC Alumni.
16:00 - 17:00
Aisling Brouwer
(Disney+/National Geographic's Pompeii: Out of Time · Apple TV+'s The Buccaneers)
Mod.: Nik Reich
The credis of the Dutch-Irish composer Aisling Brouwer span film, television, and documentary for Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV+, BBC, National Geographic, and Amazon Prime. She scored Rubika Shah's Grierson Award-winning documentary White Riot and recently completed Shah's follow-up feature The Mad Dog of Europe. Her latest score is for the upcoming Disney and National Geographic series Pompeii: Out of Time, which reunites Loki executive producer Kevin R. Wright with Tom Hiddleston.
How is film and TV music created under different production conditions across Europe? And what influence do national production cultures, budgets and international collaborations have on the creative process, and ultimately on the sound of a film or a TV series?
This panel explores the different ways media scoring is approached, organised and prioritised across Europe. While some productions are strongly shaped by schedules, budgets, and efficient workflows, in other contexts greater emphasis may be placed on the artistic development of the score. The discussion focuses on how artistic freedom can be reconciled with the demands of efficient production structures and collaborative decision-making processes.
Drawing on different perspectives from across the production chain, German film composer Freya Arde, French composer Clémentine Charuel, music supervisor Milena Fessmann and post-production supervisor Anne Urban will share insights into their work, creative processes and production realities.
The panel will be moderated by Katja Lucker, Managing Director of Initiative Musik.
Friday 17. July 2026 · COMEDIA Theater, Studio
14.30-15.30
Freya Arde (composer), Clémentine Charuel (composer, Collectif Troisième Autrice), Milena Fessmann
(music supervisor, film producer), Anne Urban (postproduction supervisor)
Mod.: Katja Lucker, Initiative Musik
In cooperation with Initiative Musik