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Joseph Trapanese

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Joseph Trapanese is an American composer, conductor, arranger and music producer, born in 1984. He grew up in Jersey City and studied at the Manhattan School of Music. He works for film, television, records, theatre, concerts and games. His career began with his collaboration with Daft Punk on the soundtrack of the Disney film Tron: Legacy. His arrangements were described as grand and menacing, and the BBC praised the blend of acoustic and electronic instruments.

Music and breakthrough

He then wrote the music for the animated series Tron: Uprising, for the web series The Bannen Way and, with Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park, for The Raid: Redemption from 2012. For The Raid 2 he wrote alone, and for Oblivion with Anthony Gonzalez of M83. He also worked on Straight Outta Compton, The Divergent Series: Insurgent, Only the Brave and, together with John Debney, on the musical film The Greatest Showman. For the drama series Dexter he made the scores for seasons 3 and 4 and the orchestrations for seasons 5 and 6.

Influence

His work with artists goes beyond film. In 2015 he wrote string arrangements for the album Compton by Dr. Dre, which he conducted, and for the album Piece by Piece by Kelly Clarkson. In this way he shows how film music and pop music merge in the present day: an orchestra working together with producers, DJs and rappers.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to the music of The Raid: Redemption and notice the interplay of hard electronic beats and fast rhythms with the driving force of the action scenes.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

Categories: Artists