„In order to compose, all you need to do is remember a tune that nobody else has thought of.“
Stepan Sobanov was born in Russia and raised in Austria, where he lives ever since. His musical journey began with recorder and guitar, until he finally decided as a teenager to give up his second great passion, Judo, and dedicate himself entirely to music in the form of composition.
At the age of 15, Stepan began piano and music theory lessons with Dan Zhou, himself chief conductor of the China National Theatre for Opera and Dance Drama. He studied Composition and Music Theory 2015-2017 and Media Composition and Applied Music 2017-2022, both at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, passing with distinction.
Since 2022, Stepan has shared his knowledge and experience as a lecturer at the Vienna Music Institute, and as of 2024, he extends his expertise to the Raindance School of Film in London.
Working from his studio based in the 16th district of Vienna, equipped with industry-standard hardware and software, Stepan Sobanov has established himself as a versatile composer and producer. He has collaborated with many filmmakers and game developers over the years, produced additional music for the TV series Tatort Borowski, and was a finalist at the Vienna Film Music Award for his scoring of the Caviar film sequence.
As a video game composer, Stepan has worked on projects such as Tilt Pack, The Voice Inside, and Erfrechung.
As a composer, Stepan has had the privilege of writing new music for the big band Nouvelle Cuisine, the Taiwanese C-Camerata Taipei ensemble, the principal violist of the Vienna Philharmonic, Christian Frohn, and various other ensembles and solo artists.
In his work as an arranger he has collaborated with artists such as Nadine Sierra, Pretty Yende, Hyung-ki Joo, Olga Peretyatko, Joji Hattori, Josef Spacek, Sarah McElravy, Alexey Stadler and Benedikt Dinkhauser.
In 2018 Stepan Sobanov won the Univision Songcontest with his song Those Memories, performed by Marcharie.