David Metzger

David Metzger
Born (1960-12-12) December 12, 1960 (age 63)
Corvallis, Oregon, United States of America
Occupation(s)Film score composer, arranger, and orchestrator

David Metzger (born December 12, 1960) is an American composer, conductor, arranger, and orchestrator who has worked on many Disney Animation films, including Wish, Frozen, Frozen 2, Moana, Planes, Wreck-It Ralph, Tarzan, and Brother Bear.[1][2][3] In addition to his work for Disney, he has done orchestrations for over 50 major films, composed the musical scores for Tarzan 2, Brother Bear 2, and Tarzan and Jane,[2][3] and has numerous video game, theme park, television, and commercial credits, as well as co-arranging and orchestrating "When You Wish Upon a Star" for the 2006 Walt Disney Pictures logo with Mark Mancina, and co-composing the 2013 DisneyToon Studios logo with Mancina.

He was nominated for a Grammy Award for his producing work on Frozen 2.

Metzger received a Tony and a Drama Desk nomination in 1998 for his orchestration of Broadway musical The Lion King.[citation needed] He won a DVDX award for best original score in a DVD premiere movie for Tarzan 2 in 2006.

He has orchestrated the Broadway musical Frozen[4] and is also orchestrating the musical August Rush.[5]

Metzger grew up in Corvallis, Oregon. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from California State University, Long Beach.[6][7] He also did graduate work at UCLA. He began composing for choir and jazz band in junior high school. In his young adult years, he wrote many jazz band charts that are still played today. He was the arranger for jazz trumpeter Maynard Ferguson in the late 1980s.[8] From 1992 to 1997, he was the arranger for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

He was a longtime collaborator with film composer Mark Mancina.[9] Beginning in 2008 he has also worked with other notable Hollywood and Broadway composers including Robert Lopez, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, Julia Michaels, Benjamin Rice, Alan Menken, John Powell, Alan Silvestri, Christophe Beck, and others.[10][11][12]

He currently lives in Oregon with his wife. He has two grown sons.

  1. ^ Baer, April. "Salem's David Metzger: Shaping The Sound Of Frozen". www.opb.org. Archived from the original on 2017-01-18. Retrieved 2016-12-23.
  2. ^ a b Metzger, Dave. "Home". www.davemetzgermusic.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2017. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  3. ^ a b Metzger, Dave. "IMDb - Movies, TV and Celebrities". IMDb. Archived from the original on 19 February 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  4. ^ "See Who Landed Coveted Leads in 'Frozen' Songwriters' New Musical, Up Here | Playbill". Playbill. Archived from the original on 2016-08-14. Retrieved 2016-12-23.
  5. ^ "August Rush - DKC/O&M". DKC/O&M. Archived from the original on 2017-03-17. Retrieved 2016-12-23.
  6. ^ "The Music Behind the Screen: Interview with Orchestrator Dave Metzger". The Music Behind the Screen. 9 June 2011. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 23 December 2016.
  7. ^ "The Orchestrator | The Score". www.thescore.org.[permanent dead link]
  8. ^ Ferguson, Maynard. "arrangements by Dave Metzger". UNT libraries finding aids. Archived from the original on 26 November 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  9. ^ Curtin, Barbara. "Sounds of success: Oregon composer makes 'Planes' soar". USA TODAY. Archived from the original on 2017-02-02. Retrieved 2017-08-26.
  10. ^ Stabler, David. "Disney's 'Frozen': A behind-the-scenes look at the movie's music that gets its magic from an Oregon man". OregonLive.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-06. Retrieved 2016-12-23.
  11. ^ "'Frozen' arranger enjoys Oscar glory from afar in Salem". www.opb.org. Archived from the original on 2017-01-31. Retrieved 2016-12-23.
  12. ^ "'Frozen' arranger working on sequel, 'Frozen Fever'". OregonLive.com. Archived from the original on 2017-08-28. Retrieved 2016-12-23.