Born and raised in Muscat, studied music in Mumbai and now making Hollywood sway to his tunes - meet Prateek Rajagopal - a young film composer based in Los Angeles, who is now rubbing shoulders with the Grammy, BAFTA and Emmy Award winning artists. Already a renowned metal and rock artist, Prateek is making waves as a music composer in the world's largest media hub.

Prateek Live in performance at one of his gigs

A massive social and cultural shift from his life in Muscat, which he still considers his second home, Prateek's true musical journey began in Mumbai. He began playing in popular death metal outfit GUTSLIT, touring worldwide, and producing records while pursuing a business degree from University of Mumbai. His own Indian-metal supergroup The Minerva Conduct bagged the ‘Best Metal Artist’ award by an Indian radio station and received rave reviews worldwide, being featured on Metal Injection and Rolling Stone. But that was just the beginning. The most ambitious and experimental project, HOIA was his path into the world of film composition. It featured Grammy nominee Colin Edwin of Porcupine Tree fame, and created plenty of buzz in the Progressive Rock circuit globally, receiving accolades from Prog Magazine, Red Bull Music, and The Hindu. At one point, he was also the youngest endorsee of Rotosound Music Strings, alongside Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Elton John. Following a brief stint working with Indian playback singer Arjun Kanungo, he found himself scoring ad-films and jingles for big companies and brands.

He eventually applied to USC's prestigious Screen Scoring program (Master’s of Music), and was only the second Indian and the first Middle-East born person to be admitted in its history. He has since been mentored by Hollywood veterans Pete Anthony, BAFTA-winning composer Garry Schyman and Emmy-winner Laura Karpman; and his music has been performed in LA’s finest studios like Warner Bros and Capitol Records.Since graduating, he scored the climax track to Emraan Hashmi's latest feature film directed by Indo-American director Shyam Madiraju. Prateek collaborated with a successful Hollywood TV composer Michael Kramer (Lego Ninjago, Disney Gallery:Star Wars The Mandalorian), and is being mentored by Derrick Spiva Jr, director of the LA Chamber Orchestra, to write a piece which will be premiered by one of LA’s most sought-after ensemble groups Salastina. Salastina’s players have performed on the scores of films like Star Wars, Terminator, Pirates of the Carribean and Tenet, to name a few.

Prateek's musical journey bears all the hallmarks of an aspiring young musician, whose middle-eastern routes are as much a part of his success as are the vivid experiences from the Western world.