Leo Birenberg

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Birenberg at the 2025 WonderCon Leo Birenberg by Gage Skidmore.jpg
Birenberg at the 2025 WonderCon

Leo Birenberg is an American composer and orchestrator for film and television.

Contents

Career

Born 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] His favorite score is from Out of Africa . [3]

After graduating, he had a chance encounter with composer Christophe Beck, who ended up taking Birenberg on as a mentee. [4] 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. [5]

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 , [6] and the YouTube Red series Sing It! [7]

In 2016, Birenberg received an email from producer Eric Appel, and asked to compose music for the then-upcoming FX series Son of Zorn . [8] 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. [9] 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 . [10]

In 2018, Birenberg co-composed YouTube and Sony series Cobra Kai with composer Zach Robinson. [11] They also scored the subsequent seasons through to season six. In addition, he recently scored the music for Dreamworks' Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny. [12]

In 2019, Leo composed the music for Hulu's Pen15. [13] He also recently scored Adult Swim's animated series Tigtone and Tribeca Film Festival selection Plus One. [3]

Awards and honors

The joint score with Zach Robinson for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story won the 2023 Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited or Anthology Series, Movie or Special (Original Dramatic Score). [14] The duo also gained the following nominations:


Their music for Cobra Kai has had the following nominations:

Filmography

Films

YearTitleNotes
2024 How to Rob a Bank Composer
2024Die Hart: Die HarterComposer with Zach Robinson
2023 Bottoms Composer with Charli XCX
2022 Weird: The Al Yankovic Story Composer with Zach Robinson
2022 Butcher's Crossing Composer
2022 Mack & Rita Composer
2022 Anything's Possible Composer
2022 Unplugging Composer
2020 Impractical Jokers: The Movie Composer with Zach Robinson
2020 Secret Society of Second Born Royals Composer
2019 Red Penguins Composer
2019 Plus One Composer
2017 F the Prom Composer with Zach Robinson
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 (segment: "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

YearTitleNotes
2025 Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Composer with Zach Robinson (10 episodes)
2024–present Jurassic World: Chaos Theory Composer; Original Jurassic Park themes by John Williams (10 episodes)
2023–2025 Twisted Metal Composer with Zach Robinson (10 episodes)
2023 Obliterated Composer with Zach Robinson (8 episodes)
2023 Florida Man Composer with Zach Robinson (7 episodes)
2022 Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin Composer with Zach Robinson (6 episodes)
2022–2023 Interrupting Chicken Composer (11 episodes)
2022 The Boys Presents: Diabolicals Composer (TV mini series, 1 episode)
2020–2023 Die Hart Composer with Leo Birenberg (18 episodes)
2020–2022 Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous Composer; Original Jurassic Park and Jurassic World themes by John Williams and Michael Giacchino (50 episodes)
2020–2021 Central Park Composer (12 episodes)
2020 Helter Skelter: An American Myth Composer (TV mini series, 6 episodes)
2019–2021 PEN15 Composer (24 episodes)
2019–2020 Tigtone Composer (20 episodes)
2018–2019 Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny Composer (26 episodes)
2018–2025 Cobra Kai Composer with Zach Robinson (65 episodes)
2018 In Search of Greatness Composer
2016–2018 Adam Ruins Everything Composer (7 episodes)
2016 Take My Wife Composer (7 episodes)
2016 Son of Zorn Composer (13 episodes)
2016A Classy BroadComposer
2016 Sing It! Composer with Zach (10 episodes)
2015 Big Time in Hollywood, FL Composer (12 episodes)
2014The BritishesComposer
2014Next Time on LonnyComposer (10 episodes)
2014 30 for 30: Soccer Stories Composer (1 episode)
2012The Kindly MidwesternerComposer (TV mini series, 8 episodes)
2011–2013DropoutComposer (18 episodes)

Shorts

YearTitleNotes
2023Every Part of YouComposer
2023One Night With LoveComposer
2020Pretty PeopleComposer
2016Remember This VoiceComposer
2015ScatterwildComposer
2014GroomingComposer
2013After I've GoneComposer
2013Three Little WordsComposer
2013The Desert SonComposer
2012Goat SuckerComposer
2011Dani and WayneComposer
2011Shock TroopComposer
2011Baby RuthComposer
2010The HarbingerComposer
2010The Half ManComposer
2009Caring Hearts & Caring HandsComposer
2009KouzelnikComposer

Video Games

YearTitleNotes
2022Cobra Kai 2: Dojos RisingComposer with Zach Robinson
2020 Cobra Kai: The Karate Kid Saga Continues Composer with Zach Robinson

References

  1. "Leo Birenberg - USC Department of Screen Scoring". uscscoring.com.
  2. Schroeder, Jules. "A 28-Year-Old Hollywood Composer Shares 3 Ways To Optimize Creativity Under Pressure". Forbes .
  3. 1 2 "Exclusive Interview – Composers Leo Birenberg and Zach Robinson on Cobra Kai". Flickering Myth. 11 May 2018.
  4. Tobogan, Randy (1 February 2017). "Composer Coverage: Meet Leo Birenberg".
  5. "Hitting the right notes with Leo Birenberg". 10 October 2016.
  6. "Bringing Zorn to life musically with composer Leo Birenberg (interview)". 13 July 2017.
  7. "Leo Birenberg on composing the new series Son Of Zorn and the influence of "Barbarian percussion" (EXCLUSIVE) - The Iris". iris.theaureview.com.
  8. "Son of Zorn Q&A: Leo Birenberg Discusses Composing Music on a Live-Action/Animated Series". 21 December 2016.
  9. marj.galas@variety.com (2 February 2017). "Finding The Heart In Comedy: "Son Of Zorn" Composer Leo Birenberg".
  10. "Son of Zorn - Interview with Composer Leo Birenberg". 11 July 2017.
  11. "Leo Birenberg & Zach Robinson Scoring 'Karate Kid' Sequel Series 'Cobra Kai'". Film Music Reporter. 3 February 2018.
  12. "Composer Leo Birenberg on solving the musical puzzles of film and TV". Fox 11 LA. 30 November 2018.
  13. "Weekly TV Music Roundup". Film Music Reporter. 3 February 2019.
  14. "2023 Nominees & Winners for Outstanding Music Composition For A Limited Or Anthology Series, Movie Or Special (Original Dramatic Score)". Television Academy. Retrieved 2025-04-22.
  15. "66th Annual Grammy Awards 2023". Grammy Awards. Retrieved 2025-04-22.
  16. "Vote in the 2022 ASCAP Composers' Choice Awards". ASCAP. 2022-02-23.
  17. "Vote in the 2023 ASCAP Composers' Choice Awards". ASCAP. 2023-02-27.
  18. "IMFCA Award Nominations 2024". IMFCA. 2025-02-13.