Over two million streams per month on Spotify place Thomas Bergersen among the most active figures in the classical crossover genre today. A Norwegian composer and multi-instrumentalist, he has built a global reputation for production music that frequently appears in major motion picture campaigns, including trailers for Avatar, Harry Potter, and The Dark Knight.
Early Development and Demoscening
Born in Trondheim on 4 July 1980, Bergersen developed his skills without formal conservatory training. He began studying the piano at age six and shifted toward writing symphonic arrangements during his adolescent years. Before establishing his presence in the film industry, he participated in the demoscene subculture. Under the handle Lioz, he produced tracked music modules for the group Index. His collaborative efforts eventually expanded into commercial dance music, including the 2007 trance track Remember September with Boom Jinx.
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In 2010, Bergersen and Nick Phoenix founded Two Steps From Hell to produce specialized cinematic music. Their debut commercial album, Invincible, released in May 2010, signaled the beginning of a prolific sequence of releases including Archangel and SkyWorld. The production company transitioned to live performance in 2022, executing a thirteen-city European tour backed by a full orchestra and choir. Their reach continued to grow with a 2023 performance at the Wacken Open Air festival and an invitation for Bergersen to feature at the 2025 Mountbatten Festival of Music.
Compositional Methodology
Bergersen manages his workflow through Steinberg's Cubase, though he generates his primary melodic ideas on a Grand piano. Eschewing industry standard templates, he constructs a private library of sounds by sampling orchestras and world instruments himself. His creative process prioritizes intuition over adherence to traditional genre classifications. While he acknowledges the influence of composers like Gustav Mahler, he integrates diverse inspirations ranging from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to modern pop artists.
Solo Projects and Humanity Series
Beyond his work with Two Steps From Hell, Bergersen maintains a robust solo discography. His initial solo soundtrack, Illusions, appeared in 2011, followed by the 2014 release Sun. In 2020, he launched Humanity, a seven-part project intended to explore the spectrum of human emotional states. Chapters of this series were released consistently between 2020 and 2026. He has also utilized his platform for humanitarian aid, releasing singles such as Heart and The Hero in Your Heart to support recovery efforts after the Tōhoku earthquake and Typhoon Haiyan.
Fast facts
- Born: 4 July 1980, Trondheim, Norway
- Primary Instruments: Piano, violin, trumpet
- Software used: Steinberg's Cubase
- Solo Album Debut: Illusions (2011)
- Humanity series start date: 2020
- Relocated to the US: 2009
- Citizenship: Norway
Questions readers ask
What is the scale of the Humanity project?
Humanity is a seven-part album series designed to explore various aspects of human emotion, with releases spanning from 2020 to 2026.
Does Thomas Bergersen use pre-made sound libraries?
He uses some public samples but relies primarily on a bespoke library of sounds he has recorded himself from sources around the world.
Achievements
- Instruments: piano
- Genres: epic music
