Vanessa Donelly

Vanessa Donelly is a German film composer, producer & songwriter known for the movie THE ANGEL IN THE WALL.

 

After learning from great composers like Randall Meyers (SOPHIES WORLD), Alexandre Desplat (GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL), James Newton Howard (THE DARK KNIGHT) and Danny Elfman (ALICE IN WONDERLAND), she met cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger (QUEEN OF THE DESERT) and director Silvia Zeitlinger (HOW WE WILL LIVE TOGETHER). Over the course of several films, Vanessa was fortunate enough to not only collaborate with them but also to call them friends today.

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In 2017, Vanessa founded her own recording studio DONELLY RECORDS and in 2020 became a member of “Books, Music and Lyrics” London, where she started writing music at London's West End. Alongside works such as the ARD series AM PASS (Season 3-5) and the ZDF series SOKO LEIPZIG, she branched into the gaming industry in 2024 with GHOST HAUNTING by Three headed monkey Films.

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In 2023, she won the Vespertilio Award at Ore d'Orrore in the category “Best Film Music” in Rome (Italy), the “Heimspielpreis” at the Braunschweig International Film Festival and was interviewed by Bita Schafi-Neya for NDR2 and NDR Kultur, Cornelia Bittmann for the cultural magazine “Mosaik” of WDR and Gesa Ufer for Deutschlandfunk Kultur.

 

In March 2024 Vanessa had the great honor of speaking in the German Federal Parliament BUNDESTAG about “Reconciling family and career in the arts and cultural sector”. End of 2024 she was part of the jury of the German Film Music Award.

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This year, Vanessa composed the score for the feature film Hygge by Lena Fakler and Zarah Schrade. Following her work on The Three Musketeers at the Luisenburg Festival, directed by Catharina Fillers, she is currently in a new collaboration with director Mark Monheim on the ARD film Louma, starring Marie Nasemann, Trystan Pütter, and Timur Işık in the leading roles.

 

In addition to film music, Vanessa is a founding member, composer and musical director of the satirical cabaret band PASSIVATTRAKTIV, consisting of lyricist Rune Baruschke and singers Lisa Hintzke and Rafael Albert. In December 2023 they won the title of ACT OF THE YEAR at the WABE Berlin.

Her musical 1000 Tales will premiere in mid-November 2025 and was written by West End writer James Coleman.

 

Vanessa is represented by her agent Alexander Hemmpel and lives and works near Hanover and Berlin, Germany.