with Leonard Küßner
Dates: Sat 12 Dec – Sun 13 Dec 2026
Registration deadline: Sun 29 Nov 2026
Target audience: Advanced learners
This seminar offers you the opportunity to delve deeper into the world of orchestral film music. It focuses on instrumentation and orchestration, whilst also covering the topic of harmonisation.
To begin with, we will explore the different instrumental groups and how they interact. In doing so, we will draw not only on film music but also on works from various periods of classical music. Later on, we will apply our knowledge and aural understanding to the grand orchestral sound. This will also involve creating emotionally evocative musical atmospheres through appropriate instrumentation and orchestration, as well as techniques for accompanying and underscoring scenes. As participants, you will have ample time and material for practice for each section.
To help you understand musical structures, we will also analyse and listen to examples from full scores. A basic knowledge of these disciplines is a prerequisite for this seminar. Furthermore, we will be writing our own music, for which a notation programme must be installed on participants’ computers and they must be familiar with its basic functions. Dorico and Sibelius will be used in the seminar for the examples demonstrated.
As well as the basics of orchestration and instrumentation, we also look at how an orchestra can be programmed in a DAW when it cannot be recorded.
To this end, participants should have a DAW with a basic sound set of orchestral instruments installed on their computers. The examples in the seminar will be demonstrated using Cubase. If you do not have a DAW, you can still attend the seminar. In that case, however, the session will consist solely of an informative discussion, and you will not be able to carry out any programming in the DAW yourself.
What this seminar is not: It does not offer lessons in composition, nor does it cover the basics of film music.
The seminar is being held in collaboration with the Münster University of Music.
Leonard Küßneris an award-winning composer for film, theatre and concerts. Following his initial training in percussion and piano, and after many years working in various orchestras and ensembles, he studied composition, specialising in film music, at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg in Ludwigsburg. His most recent works include Wim Wenders’ “ANSELM”, Julia Character’s “Die Kinder aus Korntal” and Franz Böhm’s “DEAR FUTURE CHILDREN”. His solo concert *Zeitenwende* premiered in May 2024, and the opera *Alix and the Fantastic Search for Mr Meisenbär (working title)* is currently in development. Küßner teaches at the Popakademie Baden-Württemberg and ‘Film & Media Music’ at the University of Offenburg. He lives and works in Berlin.
Dates:Sat 12 Dec – Sun 13 Dec 2026, 10 am–5 pm
Registration deadline: Sunday29 November 2026
Cost:Early Bird* €200 / Concession €220 / Standard €260
Further information on funding opportunities can be found here.
Target group: Advanced
Number of participants: min. 5 / max. 8
Language: German
Venue:Münster University of Music, Ludgeriplatz 1, 48151 Münster (Room 109)
*Are you planning to register for the seminar well in advance? Our early-bird discount applies up to two weeks before the registration deadline. As an early bird, you’ll pay just €200 for the seminar.
In collaboration with the Münster University of Music
The seminar programme of the
Filmwerkstatt Münster is supported by
