Blankenburg was born in Germany in 1972 and is currently living in Auckland, New Zealand. At the age of six he began playing the piano and the drums. As a teenager he was an active member of two jazz formations. During his two-year stay in New York City he collaborated with various musicians and composed, produced and arranged music in the genres of Funk, Soul and RnB. He won the “MTV Europe Songwriting Contest” through which he was able to close an artist contract with Warner Chappell Germany, Warner Brothers Music. The winning track “Drag Me Down” was published in Germany and the according music video rotated on MTV Europe Music Television. Further publications followed within the genre of electronic music and vinyls were distributed to local DJs. Since 2005 he is focusing on scoring feature films, TV-movies, short films and documentaries. In summer 2006 he completed a Film scoring course at the Berklee College of Music, Boston. At the beginning of 2007 he moved to Auckland, New Zealand and music became his profession. He is composing orchestral pieces for Los Angeles’ leading Motion Picture Advertising Company “Immediate Music” (founded by Jeff Fayman and Yoav Goren). These compositions were recorded live with members of the “New Era Scoring” orchestra in Los Angeles. In 2007 he signed on to exclusively score and produce music for the highly anticipated feature film sequel. Meanwhile layouts were composed to be used as inspirational music for the scriptwriting process. The recently launched videoclip “Planet Earth Forever” by "The Secret" (www.thesecret.tv) team is featuring Jo’s piano based composition accompanied by a large orchestra and ethnic instruments. Furthermore he is composing for the short film “Kesi – Born Of War” by New York based director Scott Blanding is inspired by a humanitarian project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Jo’s compositions will have a strong orchestral foundation, authentic african singing, ethnic percussion and plucked instruments. For a taste of his piano works, film music, world music and selection of electronica visit his website www.JoBlankenburg.com\r