Lisa Morgenstern

Berlin-based composer Lisa Morgenstern first came to public attention in 2019 with her debut album Chameleon. She’s since played headline shows across Europe and beyond, performed in prestigious venues such as Berlin’s Philharmonie and Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, appeared at festivals including Iceland Airwaves, South by Southwest and Reeperbahn Festival and has opened for artists like Ólafur Arnalds, Joep Beving and Max Cooper.

As a live performer, she has developed a distinctive stage language that blurs the line between classical concert, electronic performance and cinematic songwriting, combining voice, piano, analog synthesizers, orchestral ensembles and, at times, even choir. Most recently, she received Best Neoclassical / Crossover Composer at the German Music Authors’ Prize (DMAP 2026), highlighted for her live performance release The Wind Tunnel Session.

Especially her nationally broadcast live performances with the Munich Radio Orchestra (BR) and, separately, with the renowned Bulgarian Voices Berlin choir proved to be key artistic turning points for her subsequent work. The latter were awarded first place in the World Choral Cup 2024 Chamber Choir category for a joined performance including works she wrote and arranged. Both the choir and the Munich Radio Orchestra are featured prominently on her upcoming album. Furthermore, in 2026, the Stegreif Orchester premiered her recomposition of Lili Boulanger’s d’un matin de printemps.

As a film composer, she was hired to co-score THE EMPRESS (DIE KAISERIN), which became Netflix’s then most-watched non-English-language series and later received an International Emmy Award for Best Drama Series. She has completed work on its second season and is currently finishing the third, for which she is also vocalist, pianist and arranger, and continues to lead recording sessions with the Reykjavík Orchestra at Harpa Hall in Iceland.

Morgenstern’s broad musical language is rooted in her upbringing as the independently minded daughter of two orchestral musicians, one German and one Bulgarian. She began playing piano at the age of five before pursuing a promising ballet career, which ended abruptly due to injury at 15, leading to a rebellious youth driven by a robust hunger for music in all its forms - from punk and metal to alternative pop and electronic music - while never losing touch with her enduring admiration for Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev and Stravinsky. These influences have shaped her work since, by looking back to her roots with as much innovation and enthusiasm as it looks forward to the future.