Florian Tessloff
Biography
Florian Tessloff studied jazz piano and composition at Berklee College of Music after having received piano lessons at the Hamburg Conservatory. While studying in Boston, he discovered his love for film scoring and moved to Los Angeles upon his graduation in Composition, where he got to work on films such as The Cooler (dir. Wayne Kramer), Don’t say a word (dir. Gary Fleder) The Majestic (dir. Frank Darabont) and K-19: The Widowmaker (dir. Kathryn Bigelow) as an arranger, studio musician and composer. At that time, he also worked for Academy Award nominated composer Mark Isham.
After moving back to his native Germany in 2004, Tessloff began working with acclaimed directors and producers such as Matti Geschonneck, Uli Edel and Bernd Eichinger, scoring films in many different genres. Together with Peter Hinderthür, Tessloff scored the Academy Award nominated Bernd Eichinger production The Baader Meinhof Complex in 2008.
In 2011 and 2012 Tessloff wrote the scores for Matti Geschonneck’s Years of Love and Das Ende einer Nacht, which both won the Grimme Award and the German Television Award (Deutscher Fersnsehpreis). During that time Tessloff also collaborated with director Max Zähle on his directorial debut Raju, which was nominated in the non-fiction shorts category at the Academy Awards in 2011.
As an arranger, orchestrator and producer, Tessloff worked with composers Danny Elfman and David Newman, overseeing the orchestra recordings for films such as Tarzan 3D and The Unknown Known.
His most recent film scores include the music for Daphne Charizani's Sisters Apart, which premiered at Berlin International Film Festival and received the 2023 Grimme Award, Züli Aladag’s two-part TV movie Brüder (Brothers), the six-part political thriller Bonn (dir. Claudia Garde) as well as the international feature film Norwegian Dream (dir. Leiv Igor Devold).
Florian Tessloff currently works out of his studio in Hamburg, Germany and was awarded the German Music Authors' Prize in 2016.
Film
Norwegian Dream, 2023
Directed by Leiv Igor Devold
Bonn, 2022
Directed by Claudia Garde
Der Kommissar und die Eifersucht, 2021
Directed by Andreas Senn
Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo, 2021
Directed by Philippp Kadelbach
additional music (3 episodes)
Ein Mädchen wird vermisst, 2021
Directed by Markus Imboden
Unbroken, 2020
Directed by Andreas Senn
Sisters Apart (Im Feuer), 2019/20
Directed by Daphne Charizani
Grimme Award 2023
Charlotte Link – The Decision, 2019
Directed by Sven Fehrensen
Der Kommissar und die Wut, 2019
Directed by Andreas Senn
Love by Drowning, 2019
Directed by Justin Kreinbrink
Co-composed w/ Matthias Weber
Ottilie von Faber-Castell, 2019
Directed by Claudia Garde
So einfach stirbt man nicht, 2019
Directed by Maria von Heland
Danowski - Blutapfel, 2019
Directed by Markus Imboden
Tatort – Zeit der Frösche (Time of Frogs), 2018
Directed by Markus Imboden
Taunuskrimi – Im Wald, 2018
Directed by Marcus O. Rosenmüller
Solo für Weiss, 2018
Directed by Maria von Heland
Die verschwundene Famile, 2017/18
Directed by Thomas Berger
Brüder – Die Geschichte eines deutschen IS-Kriegers, 2017
Directed by Züli Aladag
German TV Award
Goldene Kamera
Der Kommissar und das Kind, 2017
Directed by Andreas Senn
TIAN – Das Geheimnis der Schmuckstraße, 2017
Directed by Damian Schipporeit
Wellness für Paare, 2016
Directed by Jan Georg Schütte
Mikelis, 2016
Directed by Marc Bethke
Taxi, 2015
Directed by Kerstin Ahrlichs
Music co-composed w/ Michel van Dyke
Heute bin ich blond, 2013
Directed by Marc Rothemund
additional music
Totenengel, 2013
Directed by Matti Geschonneck
Kunduz – The Incident at Hadji Ghafur, 2012
Dirceted by Stefan Gieren
Eine Frau verschwindet, 2012
Directed by Matti Geschonneck
Das Ende einer Nacht, 2012
Directed by Matti Geschonneck
Grimme Award, Goldene Kamera, German TV Award
Raju, 2012
Directed by Max Zähle
Oscar Nomination 2012 Live Action Short
Liebesjahre, 2011
Directed by Matti Geschonneck
Adolf Grimme Award, Goldene Kamera
Boxhagener Platz, 2010
Directed by Matti Geschonneck
Entführt, 2009
Directed by Matti Geschonneck
Goldene Kamera 2010, Nomination Adolf Grimme Award
Jasper und das Limonadenkomplott, 2009
Directed by Eckart Fingberg
Directed by Uli Edel
Music co-composed w/ Peter Hinderthür
Oscar Nomination Best Foreign Language Film, Nominations BAFTA and European Film Award
FILMSCORE
NORWEGIAN DREAM
Leiv Igor Devold’s coming of age drama centres on 19-year-old Polish immigrant Robert working at a fish factory in Norway and struggling with his feelings for a fellow colleague Ivar. When a strike breaks out in the factory, Robert’s relationship with Ivar and his loyalty to his fellow workers will be tested.
FILMSCORE
BONN
Bonn is a six-part political thriller. Set against the backdrop of a stirring and dramatic family story, the series recounts the rise of the young Federal Republic between the terror of World War II and the return to everyday life amid two rival German secret services.
FILMSCORE
SISTERS APART (IM FEUER)
Rojda, born a Kurd, is a soldier in the German army. When her mother flees Iraq and her sister goes missing there, she asks to be transferred to her old home country to look for her sister. In Iraq, she and her comrades train Kurdish Peschmerga fighters. Suddenly she finds herself in the midst of an armed conflict and has a decision to make.
World Premiere: Berlin International Film Festival 2020
Grimme Award 2023