Edwin Wendler (born 11 April 1975) is an Austrian composer currently working in Los Angeles, California.

Biography

Born into a musical family (Wendler's father, Prof. Dr. Anton Wendler, worked as a tenor and assistant director at the Vienna State Opera while his mother had a brief career as an operatic soprano before switching careers to work for the United Nations), Wendler attended the Vienna Choir Boys from 1985 until 1989, participating in four tours around the globe, singing in more than 500 concerts and opera performances, sharing stages with José Carreras, Agnes Baltsa, and Alfredo Kraus, and working with conductors such as Colin Davis and Horst Stein. After his voice changed, Wendler attended the Theresianische Akademie, from which he graduated with honors, in 1993.

Wendler's passion for film music started at around the age of 10, and by the time he graduated from high school, his collection of soundtrack CD's exceeded 1500. From 1996 until 1998, Wendler wrote, directed, and scored several award-winning short films for the Austrian independent film company, Magellan-Film. His work was showcased at several independent, local and international film festivals, including the UNICA Festival.

Wendler earned certificates in film scoring and screenwriting from UCLA Extension in 1999. His first concert commission arrived that same year from the University of Ottawa and its choral director, Laurence Ewashko. The resulting piece, Consolatio, for choir and symphony orchestra, received a standing ovation at its premiere at St. Joseph's Church, Ottawa, and was subsequently broadcast on local Canadian television stations. In 2004, the piece was performed at Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, by the Stockport Youth Orchestra and five combined choirs from the area. Philip Mackenzie conducted.

After composing music for dozens of short films, Wendler landed his first feature film when writer/director Temi Lopez hired him to score his 2001 movie, Home - The Horror Story, starring Richard Beymer and Grace Zabriskie.

In 2003, Wendler scored JoséAntonio W. Danner’s ambitious comedy short film, Wrong Hollywood Number. Collaborators on this project: London Metropolitan Orchestra, legendary recording engineer Mike Ross-Trevor, and Academy Award-nominated scoring mixer Dennis S. Sands.

In 2004, Wendler was accepted into the prestigious ASCAP Film Scoring Workshop, which concluded with a recording session at 20th Century Fox’s Newman Scoring Stage, with famed scoring mixer Armin Steiner and the Hollywood Studio Symphony Orchestra.

Also in 2004, film composer Paul Haslinger asked Wendler to join his team as an arranger, orchestrator, and music programmer, resulting in work on the movies Into the Blue, Turistas, The Fifth Commandment, and Gardener of Eden, as well as the second season of the Showtime series, Sleeper Cell. During this time, Wendler also wrote additional music for the NBC reality series, Fear Factor.

In 2007, Wendler was hired to score the internet series, The Interior (soundtrack released by Perseverance Records as an online exclusive album), and in late 2008 / early 2009, he wrote the music for the U.S. version of the film, Broken Angel.

In November 2009, artistic director and conductor Christopher McCafferty commissioned a piece for a cappella choir from Edwin Wendler. The Illumni Men's Chorale premiered the resulting Winter Medley at its inaugural concerts on December 19 and 20, 2009, in the Seattle area.

Composer John Ottman hired Wendler as orchestrator on the 2010 movie, The Losers.