Leo Birenberg is an American composer and orchestrator for film and television.
Career
editBorn in Kentucky and raised in Chicago, Birenberg studied composition at NYU and USC.[1] While there, he started composing his first scores in collaboration with his roommate, filmmaker Jeremy Reitz.[2]
After graduating, he had a chance encounter with composer Christophe Beck, who ended up taking Birenberg on as a mentee.[3] Under Beck's tutelage, Birenberg worked as the score coordinator on numerous large projects, including The Muppets, Pitch Perfect, Runner Runner, and Frozen. In 2014, Birenberg started composing additional music for Beck’s films, including Muppets Most Wanted, Edge of Tomorrow, and Ant-Man.[4]
In 2014, Birenberg also started composing his own original scores for television shows, including Next Time on Lonny, The Britishes, Big Time in Hollywood, FL,[5] and the YouTube Red series Sing It![6]
In 2016, Birenberg received an email from producer Eric Appel, and asked to compose music for the then-upcoming FX series Son of Zorn.[7] Upon approaching the series, he took the original up-beat synth-heavy score and replaced it with something that spanned a vast array of musical styles, sampling the styles of country music and church choirs.[8] In 2017, Birenberg released a soundtrack for the show. That same year, Birenberg also started composing music for the Seeso original series Take My Wife. He also composed the score for the 2017 comedy F the Prom.[9]
In 2018, Birenberg co-composed YouTube and Sony series Cobra Kai with composer Zach Robinson.[10] They also scored the second season, airing in April 2019. In addition, he recently scored the music for Dreamworks' Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny.[11]
In 2019, Leo composed the music for Hulu's Pen15.[12] He also recently scored Adult Swim's animated series Tigtone and Tribeca Film Festival selection Plus One.[13]
Filmography
editFilms
edit| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Bottoms | Composer with Charli XCX |
| 2022 | Weird: The Al Yankovic Story | Composer with Zach Robinson |
| 2022 | Butcher's Crossing | Composer |
| 2019 | Plus One | Composer |
| 2017 | F the Prom | Composer |
| 2015 | The Peanuts Movie | Composer (additional music) |
| 2015 | Ant-Man | Composer (additional music) |
| 2015 | Hot Tub Time Machine 2 | Composer (additional music), Orchestrator |
| 2014 | Good Kill | Composer (additional music) |
| 2014 | Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day | Score Producer |
| 2014 | Red Army | Composer |
| 2014 | Edge of Tomorrow | Composer (additional music) |
| 2014 | Muppets Most Wanted | Composer (additional music) |
| 2014 | Endless Love | Composer (additional music), Score Producer |
| 2013 | Frozen | Score Coordinator |
| 2013 | Runner Runner | Score Coordinator |
| 2013 | R.I.P.D. | Score Coordinator |
| 2013 | The Internship | Score Coordinator |
| 2013 | The Hangover Part III | Score Coordinator |
| 2013 | Movie 43 | Composer (segments: Happy Birthday) |
| 2013 | Charlie Countryman | Score Coordinator |
| 2012 | Struck By Lightning | Score Coordinator |
| 2012 | The Guilt Trip | Score Coordinator |
| 2012 | Pitch Perfect | Music Assistant |
| 2012 | The Watch | Score Coordinator |
| 2012 | This Means War | Score Coordinator |
| 2011 | The Muppets | Score Coordinator |
| 2011 | Tower Heist | Score Coordinator |
Television
edit| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man | Composer with Zach Robinson |
| 2024 | Jurassic World: Chaos Theory | Composer; Original Jurassic Park themes by John Williams |
| 2023 | Twisted Metal | Composer with Zach Robinson |
| 2022 | Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin | Composer with Zach Robinson |
| 2022 | Interrupting Chicken | Composer |
| 2020–2022 | Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous | Composer; Original Jurassic Park and Jurassic World themes by John Williams and Michael Giacchino |
| 2020 | Central Park | Composer (pilot) |
| 2019 | Tigtone | Composer |
| 2018-2019 | Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny | Composer |
| 2018–present | Cobra Kai | Composer with Zach Robinson |
| 2016 | Take My Wife | Composer |
| 2016 | Son of Zorn | Composer |
| 2016 | Sing It! | Composer |
| 2015 | Big Time in Hollywood, FL | Composer (12 episodes) |
References
edit- ^ "Leo Birenberg - USC Department of Screen Scoring". uscscoring.com.
- ^ Schroeder, Jules. "A 28-Year-Old Hollywood Composer Shares 3 Ways To Optimize Creativity Under Pressure". Forbes.
- ^ Tobogan, Randy (1 February 2017). "Composer Coverage: Meet Leo Birenberg".
- ^ "Hitting the right notes with Leo Birenberg". 10 October 2016.
- ^ "Bringing Zorn to life musically with composer Leo Birenberg (interview)". 13 July 2017.
- ^ "Leo Birenberg on composing the new series Son Of Zorn and the influence of "Barbarian percussion" (EXCLUSIVE) - The Iris". iris.theaureview.com.
- ^ "Son of Zorn Q&A: Leo Birenberg Discusses Composing Music on a Live-Action/Animated Series". 21 December 2016.
- ^ marj.galas@variety.com (2 February 2017). "Finding The Heart In Comedy: "Son Of Zorn" Composer Leo Birenberg".
- ^ "Son of Zorn - Interview with Composer Leo Birenberg". 11 July 2017.
- ^ "Leo Birenberg & Zach Robinson Scoring 'Karate Kid' Sequel Series 'Cobra Kai'". Film Music Reporter. 3 February 2018.
- ^ "Composer Leo Birenberg on solving the musical puzzles of film and TV". Fox 11 LA. 30 November 2018.
- ^ "Weekly TV Music Roundup". Film Music Reporter. 3 February 2019.
- ^ "Exclusive Interview – Composers Leo Birenberg and Zach Robinson on Cobra Kai". Flickering Myth. 11 May 2018.