Thomas Bergersen
Thomas Jacob Bergersen (born 4 July 1980, Trondheim, Norway) is a Norwegian composer, multi-instrumentalist, and the co-founder of the production music company Two Steps From Hell.[1][2] Bergersen's compositions have featured in many motion picture campaigns, such as Avatar, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Twilight Saga, The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, Da Vinci Code, The Mummy, The Dark Knight, Tron: Legacy and hundreds more. Bergersen has scored over one thousand soundtracks and film trailers.[3]
Thomas Bergersen | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Thomas Jacob Bergersen |
Born | 4 July 1980 |
Origin | Trondheim, Norway |
Occupation(s) | Composer |
Instrument(s) | |
Years active | 2003–present |
Website | www |
Career
He started his musical career as a demoscener, writing tracked modules under the name Lioz in the group Index.[4][5][6] Bergersen worked with fellow Norwegian artist Boom Jinx on the 2007 trance single "Remember September".[7]
In May 2010, Bergersen and his business partner, Nick Phoenix, released a debut public Epic Music Two Steps From Hell album titled Invincible.[8] Several additional commercial album releases followed, including Archangel and SkyWorld.[9] Bergersen also performed in a 2013 live concert at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.[10] In 2010 Bergersen composed the original music for the movie The Human Experience. The Soundtrack CD was released on 29 March 2011.
Bergersen released a solo-produced soundtrack titled Illusions in 2011.[11] His second solo album, Sun, was released in September 2014. He has also released several commercial singles since 2011, including "Heart" and "The Hero in Your Heart," which were intended to provide disaster relief in the wake of the Tōhoku earthquake and Typhoon Haiyan, respectively.
In March 2020, the album series Humanity was announced. Humanity is intended to be a seven-part set exploring all aspects of human emotion. On 1 July 2020, Humanity - Chapter I was released. Humanity - Chapter II was released on 11 November 2020, followed by Humanity - Chapter III. Humanity - Chapter IV was published on 2 September 2021, and on 21 April 2023 Humanity - Chapter V was released.[12]
Personal life
Bergersen said he moved from Los Angeles to Miami, and then to Seattle between 2010–2014 in the liner notes of his album Sun. The song "Cassandra" on the same album was inspired by his then-girlfriend. Bergersen considers himself a gamer and plays games such as Duke Nukem 3D, Doom, Quake and Hitman: Absolution.[13]
Music
Bergersen stated that he has been influenced by musicians from many genres, such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Katy Perry. However, he stated that Gustav Mahler is among his primary influences. He dislikes the concept of music genres, which he thinks limit music to certain structures for the purpose of classification. For this reason he generally avoids following genres and industry conventions and follows his own intuition instead.[14]
He draws inspiration from his personal emotions and events in romantic relationships,[13] and anything "unique and beautiful" in his surroundings.[14]
Thomas is using some sample libraries that are publicly available, however most of his sounds are bespoke and he has sampled many orchestras, world instruments, and other sounds himself from all over the world, those samples are available only to him. According to Thomas, he is using Steinberg's sequencer Cubase in order to compose his music.
Discography
Studio albums
- Illusions (2011)
- Sun (2014)
- Humanity (2020–)
- Chapter I (2020)
- Chapter II (2020)
- Chapter III (2021)
- Chapter IV (2021)
- Chapter V (2023)
Symphonies
- American Dream (2018)
- Seven (2019)
Studio albums
- Invincible (2010)
- Archangel (2011)
- Halloween (2012)
- SkyWorld (2012)
- Classics Volume One (2013)
- Miracles (2014)
- Colin Frake on Fire Mountain (2014)
- Battlecry (2015)
- Classics Volume Two (2015)
- Vanquish (2016)
- Unleashed (2017)
- Dragon (2019)
- Myth (2022)
References
- Hellerová, Šárka (11 December 2019). "Hudební skladatel Thomas Bergersen: Tíhnu k dramatické hudbě". Novinky.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 1 August 2022.
- Rome, Emily (8 April 2012). "Their movie trailer music is proudly commercial". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
- Demerly, Tom (27 July 2018). "China's new video of its naval-aviation forces blows 'Top Gun' away". Business Insider. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
- "Welcome to nginx!". Archived from the original on 7 August 2013. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
- "LioZ - Nectarine Demoscene Radio". Scenemusic.net. Archived from the original on 2 June 2016. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
- "Amiga Music Preservation". Amp.dascene.net. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
- "Boom Jinx feat. Thomas J. Bergersen – Remember September (CDr) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
- "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - "Music". Two Steps from Hell. Archived from the original on 26 November 2016. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
- Rome, Emily (15 June 2013). "Movie trailer music composers Two Steps From Hell perform live". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
- "Illusions". Thomas Bergersen official site. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
- "Thomas Bergersen, "Humanity - Chapter V"". Apple Music. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
- Riley, Luke (2 September 2013). "Interview: Thomas Bergersen, Composer". Starburst. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
- Wright, Chris (6 May 2016). "Meet Thomas Bergersen — Master of Powerful, Epic Music". Gear Patrol. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
External links
- Thomas Bergersen at IMDb
- Modules by Lioz (Playable with VirtualDub)