We had the good fortune of connecting with Johannes Winkler and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Johannes, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
Over the course of my career i have worked in many environments which where all part of the decision working towards a creatively centered live. I think I am by nature an expressive person and have always felt a strong connection to music. The biggest lesson in trying many jobs was to learn that no matter what one does, passion is the one thing that can make the difference between being good at what you do or failing at something when loosing the drive. What makes me very satisfied with a music career is the endless possibilities to develop further and seek new paths. There is literally no limit and the excitement about this drives me every day. As a filmcomposer my main mission is to tell a story with a variety of musical expressions. This is a very satisfying task as you are contributing enormously to the movie experience and being in this job now for around 10 years i can say that i have found my destination as an artist. Additionally releasing music without any precomposed picture is also a very satisfying world of its own which is my second passion.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
As a young teenager i was often criticized for trying out to many different things as opposed to doing one thing well. Which meant i wanted to learn as many instruments as possible, try out every sport that i could and so on. Later this turned out to be an advantage because in my field of art a huge overall knowledge is required to succeed. So i can encourage anyone to listen to your own instincts and ignore your surrounding. That doesnt mean there isn´t good advice out there but nobody can judge your path as good as you can yourself. This broad interest in anything that strikes my interest also formed my sound as artist a lot. I like to combine styles from different parts of the music history and create my own hybrid sounds from these. Especially combining Classical Instrumentation together with electronics and Synthesizers is something i am very interested in and my lates work “The Moogendorfer Etudes” is a example of this technique.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Vienna is the city of music so i would definitely focus on that – showing and experiencing some of the best sounding concert halls in the world. The richness of music culture in Vienna is outstanding and very unique. Just think of the Musikverein which was opened 1870 and is home to the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. On the other hand Vienna is known for its coffee house culture which is a beautiful experience for any visitor. You can spend days just checking out these historical places and trying out all the specialities they have to offer!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
We live in times where knowledge is very accesible and i love to study as much as i can whenever i have free time. Lately i have been very impressed by the book “12 Notes on Live and Creativity” by Quincy Jones. This is a must read for any artist in the music world and beyond. On a more spiritual note there is a fantastic book from Victor Wooten called “The Music Lesson” which is also a wonderful and inspiring source of knowledge.

Website: https://www.winkler-johannes.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johanneswinkler_composer/channel/

Linkedin: https://at.linkedin.com/in/johannes-winkler-16646164?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/johanneswinklercomposer/?ref=py_c

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@johanneswinkler3013

Other: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Winkler_(Filmkomponist)

Image Credits
Stefan Panfili

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutColorado is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.