Vanessa Donelly

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

During her music studies at the Hannover University of Music , Drama and Media, Vanessa Donelly learned under film composer Randall Meyers (SOPHIES WORLD) and attended numerous international master classes with renowned composers such as Alexandre Desplat (GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL), James Newton Howard (THE DARK KNIGHT) and Danny Elfman (ALICE IN WONDERLAND).

Her career began with her first film for cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger (QUEEN OF THE DESERT) and director Silvia Zeitlinger (HOW WE WILL LIVE TOGETHER). Today, Vanessa is lucky enough to call them her friends.

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. Along side works such as the ARD series AM PASS (3rd season) and the ZDF series SOKO LEIPZIG, she has also branched into the gaming industry in 2024 with GHOST HAUNTING by Three headed monkey Films.

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. After being voted ACT OF THE MONTH at Wabe Berlin in April 2023, PASSIVATTRAKTIV went on to the final in December 2023, where they won the title of ACT OF THE YEAR and will perform their program SOMETHING WITH CULTURE at Wabe Berlin in October 2024.

Recently, Vanessa Donelly 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”.

She is part of this year's jury of the German Film Music Award and will hold the laudation on November 9th during the Film Music Days in Halle.

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