The Music

The music of Holy Spirit was developed in teamwork. The style of the music followed the suggestions of director Mike Baran but there was enough freedom for the creative ideas of five different composers. The main score was written and arranged by Richard Dana Laughlin who also was the musical director of the studio recordings.


The composers

Richard Dana Laughlin


Music – Score
Richard Dana "Rich" Laughlin was born in Minneapolis/USA. His musical career began in this city, where styles such as classical music, jazz, rock and funk mixed. Rich started playing the trumpet at the age of 12. Early influences were the trumpeter/composer Don Ellis and pop star Prince, a classmate whose path crossed with that of Rich. He founded his first jazz rock formation and played in the big band of Lionel Hampton's former drummer John Stafford.
Later Rich became the solo trumpeter and arranger of a US Air Force Band, which brought him to Europe. After his military service he stayed in Munich, where he became one of the most sought-after trumpeters. He played with Charlie Antolini, the style-forming salsa band Conexion Latina, Al Porcino and the legendary trumpeter Benny Bailey, for whom he also composed and arranged. Rich has worked for various plays and musicals, e.g. at the Theater des Westens/Berlin, the Deutsches Theater/ Munich and in New York on Broadway. He accompanied live concerts by Ute Lemper, Caterina Valente, Milva and Mercedes Sosa. Rich composed the score for Holy Spirit, including "Requiem in White" and the adaptation of the opera finale of "Falstaff".
CD recordings: "Old World – New World", "Benny Bailey – I remember Love" and many more...
Current bands: Melting Point, Rich Laughlin Ensemble, Duo Vadana
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Mani Gruber


Sound Design, Music
Mani Gruber is an original from Munich. In addition to his career as a sound engineer, he has also always worked as a musician, initially as the front man, singer and guitarist of the hard rock band "Boysvoice", later as a permanent member of the successful ABBA cover band "ABBA 99". In 2007 Mani founded the "Maniac Studios", an excellently equipped recording studio in which music productions of all kinds can be recorded. Compositions/arrangements, voice recordings and sound design are also part of Mani's program. Due to his many years of stage experience, Mani Gruber repeatedly made excursions into acting and took on smaller roles in musicals and short films.
Mani Gruber's Maniac Studios were the venue for most of Holy Spirit's recordings. Mani developed the complete sound design for the film, ensured clean voice recordings and mixed all audio tracks. He also composed and arranged several pieces of music such as the rock song "Screaming Heart".
Musicals: Rocky’s Crazy Horror Show, As Time Goes By
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Werner Bauer


Composer, Singer
Werner Bauer worked for 25 years as an actor and singer on the theater stages of cities such as Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, Vienna and Zurich before changing to directing. His activities led to collaboration with Roman Polanski and Ralph Siegel, among others. He has appeared on stage in well-known plays and musicals, such as "Harry and Sally", "Dance of the Vampires", "Der Schuh des Manitu", "Titanic" and "Disney's Beauty and The Beast" and is represented as singer and songwriter on numerous CDs and DVDs.
For several years Werner Bauer has mainly worked as a director and writer. His productions include the musical "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" in Tecklenburg, endowed with awards and audience prizes, the world premiere of "Kopfstimme" and "Ein Stück vom Mond" at the Akademietheater at the Prinzregententheater in Munich. Werner Bauer also staged "Sugar - some like it hot" for the Thun Seespiele, as well as the world premiere of the musical "Luther, Rebell Gottes" at the Stadttheater Fürth. There he also staged Brecht's "Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder". Werner Bauer composed "Touch the Sky" for Holy Spirit and the final song "Holy Spirit", which he also interpreted himself.
Current production: "Monty Python's Spamalot" on the open-air stage Tecklenburg
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Marcus Lee


Composer/Arranger
Marcus Lee studied both piano and classical composition at the Munich Conservatory. He runs his own music production company "ml-productions" and works with various singers worldwide, from New York and London to Jamaica. He composes and arranges, his trademark are cross-genre productions mainly from the areas of rap, trap, blues, jazz and soul.
Together with Jon Falke he composed and arranged several titles for Holy Spirit, including "Lacrimosa (The Abuse)", "Wonder Waltz" and "Bless my Tristesse", which he recorded in the recording studio "Jon Ton".
CD releases: "Introduction" (2018), "A New Beginning" (2019), "ShowDown" (2019)
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Jon Falke


Composer/Arranger
Jon Falke has been playing keyboards since his youth and was an active musician in the rock band "S.N.O.B.". During this time his instrument was the synthesizer and he wrote his first arrangements. Today he owns a recording studio and has mainly focused on composing. Under his own label "Jon Ton Musik" he works as a singer/songwriter, whereby his special interest is the experimental compilation of new sounds and samples and he mixes different styles like jazz, rock, blues and rap.
In collaboration with Marcus Lee, Jon composed and arranged the titles "Lacrimosa (The Abuse)", "Wonder Waltz" and "Bless my Tristesse" for Holy Spirit. The titles were recorded by them together in the recording studio "Jon Ton".
CD release: "Are you talking to me?"
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The performers

Matthias Kostya
Actor and singer

Matthias Kostya, who plays the leading role of Commissioner Lenz Stöger in "Holy Spirit", is a trained actor and musical performer. He was to be seen in many main musical roles, e.g. he already played "Death" in the musical "Elisabeth" in Vienna. For "Holy Spirit" he interpreted the rock song "Screaming Heart" composed by Mani Gruber.
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Jenny Evans
Singer

Jenny Evans from England is one of the great all-round talents in show business. The jazz singer is - according to TIME Magazine: "... the leading female jazz singer in Germany." For "Holy Spirit" she sang a fascinating cover version of the song "The Silencers" by Vikki Carr, arranged by Richard Dana Laughlin.

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Rickie Kinnen
Singer

Rickie Kinnen is an exceptional singer who has appeared in numerous TV and radio productions as well as CD recordings. She also lent her voice to many film characters as a singer and dubbing artist. For "Holy Spirit" Rickie interpreted the song "Touch the Sky", which was composed by Werner Bauer.
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Stefanie Derner
Singer

Stefanie Derner is a versatile artist, whether on stage, in a recording studio or with a band. She played leading roles in musicals such as "Mamma Mia", "Footloose", "Die letzten 5 Jahre" or "Rent". You can also hear Stefanie's voice in commercials, radio plays, cartoon series and on CD productions. For Holy Spirit she sang the polyphonic "Angelic Choir".
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The score musicians

Richard Dana Laughlin (trumpet, cornet, keyboards)
Mani Gruber (guitar, bass, vocals, keyboards)
Armin Woods (keyboards)
Achim Schroeter (saxophone, clarinet, flute) Lukas Jochner (trombone)
Fabian Beck (bass trombone)
Leo Gmelch (bass trombone)
Teresa Brunnmüller (bandoneón)
Jon Falke (keyboards, programming)
Marcus Lee (keyboards, programming)
Felix Bronner (piano)
Mani Gruber, Tom Schuster, Karin Lüders,
Sebastian Lumpe, Franziska Woell
(background vocals)


All music titles of the film (titles included in the official soundtrack are marked with *)



Links


Maniac Studios

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ml-productions

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Freibank Music Publishing

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Sexteto Milonguero

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