Joseph Trapanese

Early life and education

Raised in Jersey City, New Jersey, Trapanese attended Dr. Ronald E. McNair Academic High School before moving on to the Manhattan School of Music.

Film and television music

Early career

Trapanese began his composing career by collaborating with Daft Punk (Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo) on the soundtrack for the Walt Disney Pictures film Tron: Legacy. His arrangements for the soundtrack have been described as "resolutely grand" and "stirring... ominous, hypnotic". The BBC described the work as "a sophisticated integration of acoustic and electronic instrumentation... majestic… rich, solemn tones… saturnine orchestration and a muscular rhythm”.

2011–present

Trapanese has composed for numerous projects, including Disney XD's animated series Tron: Uprising, Sony Pictures Classics' The Raid: Redemption (cocomposed with Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park), Sony Pictures Television's original web series The Bannen Way, the independent feature Mamitas (featured at the 2011 Los Angeles Film Festival), and numerous live-action and animated films from UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television. Trapanese contributed musical arrangements to Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, What Happens in Vegas and Traitor. Alongside composer Daniel Licht, Trapanese produced and orchestrated the scores for seasons 3 and 4 of Showtime's original series Dexter, and provided orchestrations for seasons 5 and 6. The 2012 teaser trailer for Iron Man 3 features Trapanese's composition Something to Fight For.

His career eventually lead to working on major studio feature films working solo and alongside recording artists. Some of his well known credits include Universal Studios's Straight Outta Compton, Lionsgate Films's The Divergent Series: Insurgent, Sony Pictures Classics' The Raid 2, and Universal Studios's Oblivion (co-composed with Anthony Gonzalez of M83).

In 2017, he scored the Sony Pictures film Only the Brave, marking his third collaboration with director Joseph Kosinski, and co-scored the 20th Century Fox musical drama The Greatest Showman alongside composer John Debney. For the latter, he produced several of the chart-topping songs from the film written by Academy Award-winning songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.

Music collaboration with artists

Following his collaborations with Daft Punk on Tron: Legacy, Anthony Gonzalez (M83) on Oblivion, and Mike Shinoda (Linkin Park) on The Raid: Redemption, Trapanese continues to work with artists in film scoring, album production, and live events.

On August 7, 2015 Dr. Dre released his long-awaited third album Compton which featured string arrangements by Trapanese and Jennifer Hammond. They were conducted by Trapanese at the Straight Outta Compton scoring sessions at the Sony Pictures Studios scoring stage in Culver City.

On February 27, 2015 Kelly Clarkson released her seventh album Piece by Piece which featured an orchestra arranged and conducted by Trapanese recorded at EastWest Studios in Hollywood. He collaborated with producers Greg Kurstin, Jesse Shatkin, and Jason Halbert on the project.

On September 22, 2013, Trapanese performed with M83 at the Hollywood Bowl as conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. For the concert, Trapanese arranged new orchestral material for songs from Before The Dawn Heals Us, Saturdays=Youth, Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, and Oblivion. He also arranged and conducted an orchestra for M83's show at Central Park Summerstage in New York City on August 8, 2012.

Released on October 25, 2013, by RCA Records, Kelly Clarkson's Wrapped in Red features an orchestra arranged and conducted by Trapanese. Produced by Greg Kurstin, it is Clarkson's first Christmas-themed release, featuring cover versions of various Christmas standards in addition to original material. As part of the album's promotion, on October 30, 2013, Trapanese led the orchestra for Kelly Clarkson's Cautionary Christmas Music Tale at The Venetian Las Vegas, which was broadcast on NBC on December 11, 2013.

Trapanese collaborated with Active Child on the arrangement of "Silhouette" (featuring Ellie Goulding) for his 2013 EP Rapor. In addition to the album, he provided new string and choir arrangements for his performances in Melbourne, London, New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

For 2012's The Bourne Legacy, Trapanese worked with Moby on a new orchestral version of his "Extreme Ways".

On October 18, 2011, M83's double-disc album Hurry Up, We're Dreaming released with five tracks arranged by Trapanese. Trapanese's work can be heard on "Intro", "Wait", "Soon, My Friend", "My Tears Are Becoming a Sea", and "Outro".

Trapanese co-wrote and co-produced the song "Do or Die" with 3OH!3 from their album Omens.

In 2023, Trapanese collaborated with American chiptune band Anamanaguchi on the anime series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off for Netflix.

Music for live theater

The music Trapanese has produced for theater is performed primarily in New York City, most notably in productions by The Actors Company Theatre. Recent productions that he has provided music for include T. S. Eliot's The Cocktail Party, Arthur Miller's Incident at Vichy, Václav Havel's The Memorandum, and Edward Bond's The Sea. His music for the production of Milan Stitt's The Runner Stumbles was described by the New York Times as "Precise and evocative... wistful, ringing melodies”.

Awards and honors

• In 2012, Trapanese was nominated for an IFMCA Award for 'Breakthrough Film Composer of the Year' by the International Film Music Critics Association
• In 2013, Joseph was nominated for Discovery of the Year for Oblivion at the World Soundtrack Academy Awards in Ghent, Belgium.
• In 2013, Trapanese was nominated for the ASCAP Composers’ Choice Award for the movie Oblivion.
• In 2015, Trapanese was nominated for Best Original Song Written for a Film from Insurgent for the song "Carry Me Home" at the World Soundtrack Academy Awards
• In 2015, Trapanese won the Black Reel Award for Outstanding Score for the film Straight Outta Compton.
• In 2018, Trapanese was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Music for The Greatest Showman (shared with John Debney)

Education

Trapanese completed his bachelor's degree in composition at the Manhattan School of Music, and later an M.A. in Music for Visual Media at UCLA, with support from the Henry Mancini fund. Joseph's tutors included Giampaolo Bracali, Bruce Broughton, Paul Chihara, Roger Bourland, Jack Smalley, and Martin Bresnick, and he also engaged in brief studies with Louis Andriessen, Aaron Jay Kernis, Julia Wolfe, Mark Snow, and Ira Newborn. From 2008 to 2011, Trapanese taught the Electronic Music and Composition curriculum at UCLA's Herb Alpert School of Music.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

References

References

1. Romero, Adrienne. [https://www.nj.com/hudson/2019/03/jersey-city-still-feels-like-home-to-oscar-winning-composer.html "Jersey City still 'feels like home' to award-winning composer"] {{Webarchive. link. (December 24, 2019 , ''[[The Jersey Journal]]'', March 18, 2019. Accessed December 24, 2019. "Joe Trapanese returned home from Hollywood on Friday to talk and help guide students of The Ethical Community Charter School about composing music and scoring for film, television and video games.... Trapanese went to McNair Academic High School and the Manhattan School of Music for his undergraduate studies.")
2. Walters, Barry. (December 7, 2010). "Daft Punk, 'Tron: Legacy Original Motion Picture Soundtrack' Review". Spin.com.
3. (November 24, 2010). "Daft Punk Mash Classical, Electronica to Shape 'Tron: Legacy's' Soundscape". The Hollywood Reporter.
4. (December 7, 2010). "Music – Review of Daft Punk – Tron: Legacy". BBC.
5. Mercedes Milligan. (May 1, 2012). "Disney XD's 'TRON: Uprising' Coming Soon!". Animation Magazine.
6. (May 3, 2012). "Film Interview: Off The Grid". Topanga Messenger.
7. (May 3, 2013). "Iron Man 3 – Movie Trailers". Apple.
8. "Something to Fight For by Joseph Trapanese on SoundCloud". Soundcloud.com.
9. Balfour, Jay. (July 11, 2015). "Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar & Eminem To Feature On 'Straight Outta Compton' Soundtrack; complex.com".
10. Feeney, Nolan. (November 25, 2014). "Exclusive: Joseph Trapanese scoring 'Divergent' sequel 'Insurgent'". [[HitFix]].
11. Webb, Charles. (March 28, 2014). "Interview: Composing for Hell – Joseph Trapanese Talks Scoring THE RAID 2". twitchfilm.com.
12. Feeney, Nolan. (April 24, 2013). "M83 and the Music for 'Oblivion'". [[Time (magazine).
13. Mendelson, Scott. (December 20, 2017). "Greatest Showman' Review: Lots Of Songs, Not Much Story". Forbes.
14. (September 23, 2013). "Review: M83 and Hollywood Bowl Orchestra explore youth". Los Angeles Times.
15. Amanda Hatfield. (August 9, 2012). "M83 played Central Park Summerstage (pics, review, setlist)". Brooklyn Vegan.
16. "Kelly Clarkson – Wrapped In Red". AllMusic.
17. [http://www.facebook.com/ActiveChild/posts/10152013001871940 "Active Child"] {{Webarchive. link. (January 24, 2016 ''[[Facebook]]'' Retrieved December 20, 2013.)
18. (July 31, 2012). "Stream Moby's Orchestral New 'Bourne Legacy' Version Of "Extreme Ways"". Ology.
19. (October 18, 2011). "M83 – Hurry Up, We're Dreaming. (CD, Album) at Discogs". Discogs.com.
20. (May 30, 2012). "New Song: 3Oh!3, 'Do Or Die'". Buzzworthy.mtv.com.
21. Otterson, Joe. (2023-03-30). "'Scott Pilgrim' Netflix Anime Series Reunites Film's Cast, From Michael Cera to Chris Evans".
22. Annette Midgette. (November 12, 2007). "Murder and Hymns". [[The New York Times]].
23. [http://filmmusiccritics.org/awards-archive/2012-ifmca-awards/ "2012 IFMCA Awards"] {{Webarchive. link. (March 10, 2017 , ''Filmmusiccritics.org'')
24. [http://www.filmfestival.be/en/film-music/wsa-discovery-of-the-year-nominees-announced/02-09-2013/2026 "Discovery of the Year Nominees Announced"] {{Webarchive. link. (October 23, 2013 ''Filmfestival'' February 9, 2013.)
25. [https://www.ascap.com/playback/2014/05/action/2014-composers-choice-awards.aspx "Vote for the ASCAP Composers’ Choice Awards"] {{Webarchive. link. (December 21, 2016 ''ASCAP.com'' May 31, 2014.)
26. link. (February 21, 2018 ''soundtrack.net'' September 14, 2015.)
27. [http://awardswatch.com/news/16th-black-reel-award-winners-creed-punches-its-way-to-the-top/ "16th Black Reel Award Winners"] {{Webarchive. link. (March 4, 2016 ''AwardsWatch.com'' February 19, 2016.)
28. [https://variety.com/2018/film/news/saturn-awards-nominations-2018-black-panther-walking-dead-1202727752/ "‘Black Panther,’ ‘Walking Dead’ Rule Saturn Awards Nominations"] {{Webarchive. link. (March 16, 2018 ''Variety'' March 15, 2018.)
29. link. (July 9, 2010)
30. "Joseph Trapanese Scoring Phil Cunningham's & Brent Dawes' 'David'".
31. "Joseph Trapanese Scoring Peter Atencio's 'Animal Friends'".
32. (October 29, 2021). "Joseph Trapanese Tapped as Composer of Netflix's 'The Witcher' Season 2".