BIFSC
Berlin International Film Scoring Competition
BIFSC offers emerging Film Composers the platform to showcase their work and compete to receive multiple Awards worth of over 3500 Euros, participate in Film Scoring Workshops and have their music recorded by a live ensemble, be invited in Film Festivals with VIP accreditation.
Berlin International Film Scoring Competition 2024
AWARD WINNERS
Andrea Roccasalvo, Italy
First Prize Winner 2024
Born in Ragusa in 1993, Andrea began studying piano at the age of 13. He continued his studies first at the G. Verga Music High School in Modica and later at the "Vincenzo Bellini" Conservatory in Caltanisseta and the "Arcangelo Corelli" Conservatory in Messina. In 2016, he embarked on studies in Electronic Music at the Licinio Refice Conservatory in Frosinone, where he graduated with a thesis on sound design in the world of video games. His desire to merge digital and electronic skills with music for film led him to pursue further academic studies at the "Santa Cecilia" Conservatory in Rome. He graduated with honors in Applied Music for Images in March 2023, composing music for several scenes in the film "The Imitation Game".
Andrea has participated in numerous national and international competitions. In 2016, he was named a finalist in the International Composition Competition Maurice Ravel. During the Winter Olympics in Beijing, he worked for "Artmediamix" in collaboration with the “Guggenheim Museum” in Venice and the “Italian National Olympic Committee” (CONI) on various audiovisual projects. Currently, he is active in the educational field and as a composer for independent audiovisual projects. On November 18, 2023, he won the second prize at the "Vincenzoni" film music competition in Treviso. He also received a special mention at the Lavagnino International Competition for film music composition.
Find out more about Andrea Roccasalvo:
Watch Andrea Roccasalvo's submission
Andrea Roccasalvo 1st Prize Winner BIFSC 2024
Kevin Fong, Hong Kong
Second Prize Winner 2024
Kevin Fong, a Los Angeles-based composer and producer, graduated from Berklee College of Music with dual majors in Film Scoring and Music Production. He believes in the power of music to tell stories and evoke emotion. Working for renowned composer Harry Gregson-Williams, Kevin pushes the boundaries of his craft. His compositions seamlessly blend electronic and traditional orchestration, using modular synth to create captivating soundscapes that connect with listeners on a deeper level.
Find out more about Kevin Fong: https://www.kevinfongmusic.com/
Watch Kevin Fong's submission
Kevin Fong 2nd Prize Winner BIFSC 2024
Tobias Auer, Austria
Third Prize Winner 2024
I am a 20-year-old trumpet player, whose musical journey began when I received a trumpet as a gift at the age of five. At the age of 14, I attended a music high school in Innsbruck and took lessons at the Tyrolean State Conservatory, shaping my passion for the trumpet and music in general. During that time, I started to develop an interest in composition, which turned out to become a great passion of mine.
From playing in a Brass Quintet, for which I wrote my first compositions, to participating in youth orchestra projects and more, I have always been deeply involved in music. Currently, I am a proud member of the RET Brassband and the Catch Basin Brassband.
About 1 1/2 years ago, I began writing music for visual media, exploring the world of scoring through various contests. Alongside my performance pursuits, I am currently studying Instrumental and Vocal Pedagogy, as well as concert studies focused on the trumpet, in Innsbruck.
Find out more about Tobias Auer:
Watch Tobias Auer's submission
Tobias Auer 3rd Prize Winner BIFSC 2024
Berlin International Film Scoring Competition 2024
FINALISTS
Adrian Baugut, Germany
Finalist 2024
Adrian is a 26 year old musician, composer, and producer born in Germany who recently made the switch from producing popular music to pursuing his big dream of becoming a major composer for film and tv. Starting to learn drums at the age of 2 and piano at the age of 6, Adrian gathered an enormous variety of musical knowledge (classical, jazz, pop, ethnic) through his father who was a piano player and choir leader, as well through playing in Rock/Pop bands and orchestras at a young age. He received a scholarship at the HDPK Berlin to study Music Production at the age of 18 and worked as a producer in Berlin for four years. He was selected to visit the LIMPI (Lillehammer Institute fro Music Production and Industries) program in Norway in 2020/2021 and followed his journey to live and produce pop music in San Diego and Los Angeles, California. He decided during that period to take a leap of faith and follow his childhood dream of combining all musical knowledge into one format: Film Music. Since his childhood Hans Zimmer and recently Ludwig Goransson have been great inspirations, musically and philosophically. Adrian's contribution to BIFSC is his first ever entry into the public film world and he is keen to learn, find mentors, and get his foot into the film industry.
Find out more about Adrian Baugut:
https://www.instagram.com/adrian_franz_baugut/
https://www.facebook.com/adrian.baugut/
Weissa G, Malaysia
Finalist 2024
Born and raised in Malaysia. Weissa G developed an interest in music at a young age, but it was all just for fun. In 2018, she joined a local audio production studio as an intern composer for advertisements. That’s where she started her journey as a music composer. Currently, she is working independently and contributing to a range of projects, including commercials, short films, feature films, and production libraries. Her deep passion for storytelling through music continues to drive her artistic endeavors.
Find out more about KWeissa G: https://weissagmusic.com/
Matias Santos, Sweden
Finalist 2024
Multi-instrumentalist and composer Matias Santos was born in 1995 in Gothenburg, Sweden. His musical journey began when he composed his first piece of music on a second-hand piano his parents acquired from an old Swedish church. His passion for music composition grew as he immersed himself in the study of western-music theory and classical piano. Matias' upbringing as a second-generation immigrant was marked by a unique blend of musical influences. While studying western-classical music theory and Swedish folk music at school, he was also surrounded by the sounds of Argentine and Uruguayan tango, milonga, and murga, as well as Chilean cueca and caporales. As a result, his compositions organically reflected this rich heritage. In his adolescent years, Matias explored his family's cultural roots, which further enriched and informed his musical style.
Today, Matias is based in Berlin and works as a composer and sound engineer while studying in the Master's Program at Konrad Wolf Babelsberg Film University. Here he finished his studies in contemporary composition and production under professors Renée T Coulombe and Brian Greene. He wrote his first string quartet piece “Filtered Through Memories” which was performed in 2022 at St. Elisabeth Kirche (Berlin). During his academic years, Matias became deeply fascinated by field recordings, convolution reverbs and spectral music, which he seamlessly integrated with his traditional western-composition background to further develop his compositional style.
Find out more about Matias Santos: www.santosmatias.com
Yilun Song, China
Finalist 2024
Yilun is a media composer born in Beijing and currently living in New York City. Yilun began learning piano as a child and dreamed of becoming a writer. After discovering composition in middle school, he was immediately obsessed with telling his story through music and decided to pursue this path, got his bachelor's degree in music technology at NYU and is currently studying in the NYU screen scoring masters program.
Along his musical journey, Yilun learned several instruments including guitar, bass, and guqin, and is still learning. He likes to record them and explore textures and melodies that elevate emotions and highlight the narrative on the screen. He has been mainly scoring for short films and games, including A Doctor's Order (2023) which was selected for the 2023 New York Short Film Festival and other festivals.
Find out more about Yilun Song: www.songyilun.com
Kei Sugiyama, USA
Finalist 2024
Kei Sugiyama is a composer, conductor, and violinist. He holds BM and MM degrees from The Juilliard School and regularly performs at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. His summer engagements have included performances at the Aspen Music Festival and School, Verbier Festival, and Britten-Pears Arts. As a Morse Teaching Artist Fellow, he has developed music education curricula for underserved middle schools in New York City, and he continues to enjoy serving his local community as an educator. Kei made his conducting debut with the Eastern Music Festival Orchestra in 2019, and he participated in the 2022 NYU Screen Scoring Summer Workshop. His extensive experience performing in orchestras around the world has shaped his compositional style into a uniquely symphonic form of storytelling. Kei is a 2023-2024 Society of Composers and Lyricists New York mentee.
Find out more about Kei Sugiyama:
Yang Yuan, China
Finalist 2024
I’m Yang Yuan, a 27-year-old female composer from China. Started to listen to hiphop and RnB from the 90s to the 00s when I was a child. This triggered my interest in music. At the age of 18, I was admitted to the Composition Department of the Xinghai Conservatory of Music. After a series of studies, I conducted a more in-depth exploration of the composition techniques of modern music, focusing on the composite style represented by Schnittke. Also began to develop an interest in swing jazz and soul & funk of the 70s to 80s at the same time. Admitted to the Shanghai Conservatory of Music as a master's degree student in composition after graduating from Xinghai. During that period, I used composition techniques such as pitch-class sets and total sequences in my works. Harmonic-wise, contemporary jazz deeply influenced me. Later after learning about the works of contemporary European composers, I began to try composing concrete music and electronic music, combining the electronic sounds created by me with acoustic instruments to create compositions. Composing with a sense of atmosphere and imagery is my advantage. Not used to relying on text explanations to explain my music works. I hope that the audience can be simply moved by the music content and have their unique feelings. Currently, I am experimenting in the fields of film soundtracks, game soundtracks, and pop electronics.
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Yi Zeng, China
Finalist 2024
Yi Zeng is a self-taught composer and music producer who began to explore the realm of music composition and production during his early ages in high school. He entered the professional music field shortly after graduating from university in 2008. With exceptional talent and a strong musical foundation, Yi has made his works flourish in all major genres including orchestral, jazz, ambient, and traditional Chinese music.
In 2014, Yi started his first music studio in Shanghai which provides game music services to top-tier Internet giants such as Tencent Games and NetEase Games. Yi has been working with numerous main-stream games including "Honor of Kings", "NARAKA: BLADEPOINT" and "Call of Duty: Mobile". Meanwhile, he has been active in composing music for Chinese animations like "The Outcast" Seasons 3 and Season 5 as well as "The King's Avatar SP."
In 2023, Yi entered the Royal College of Music (London) to pursue a Master's degree in Composition in Screen.
Yi's work has won a great reputation in the game music industry including receiving the Silver Award for Game Music at the Global Music Awards for his music work on "The Outcast" in 2019. Also, his music works in the mobile game "Honor of Kings" won the 2022 G.A.N.G. Awards for Best Music in the Social/Casual Game Category, and a nomination for 2021 Best Original Dramatic Score of The National Academy of Video Game Trade. Yi’s most recent work in “Honor of Kings” won the 2022 Hollywood Music in Media Awards. One of his music pieces "Deer of Nine Colours" won the 2023 Jerry Goldsmith Awards in the category of Promotion & Advertising.
Find out more about Yi Zeng:
