The touring company of the Broadway musical “Frozen” arrives in March for a series of performances in Portland’s Keller Auditorium.

And with it, “Let It Go.”

The song defined the 2013 Walt Disney Pictures animated film. Kids sang it so often that parents joined in, a sign it was more than a song, but part of American culture.

Written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, the anthem was sung by Idina Menzel as the voice of Queen Elsa. The song sold nearly 11 million copies in 2014, the year it won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

While everyone knows “Let It Go,” few know about 59-year-old Dave Metzger, the man who brought to life not only the song, but the film’s soundtrack and the Broadway score.

All from his Salem studio.

Metzger, who describes himself as “halfway proficient on the bass and a horrible piano player,” is routinely sought out in the entertainment business although he remains, to the audience, in the shadows.

During his career as a composer, arranger and orchestrator, Metzger has orchestrated 75 soundtracks for movies, including “Frozen 2,” “Moana” and “Tarzan” as well as scores for multiple Broadway shows such as “The Lion King.”

“I hear an orchestra in my head,” he said. “All the individual instruments. I don’t know where the spark comes from, but I can tell you it’s a lot of hard work.”

For “Let It Go,” the process began when Metzger received a recording from the composers featuring one playing a basic chord progression along with the vocals. As Metzger listened, he intuitively felt what the song, and the ensuing soundtrack, needed to thrive.

He uses a computer and synthesizer to layer instrument after instrument, to create what an audience will experience.

“I record it and write a score for all the instruments,” he said. “The director and composer listen to what I’ve created. When satisfied, they sign off on the project.”

He did the same for all the songs in “Frozen,” orchestrating a soundtrack for an 85-piece orchestra. For the Broadway stage, he had to rework the score for a 21-piece orchestra.

The touring production required more changes for a slightly smaller orchestra.

To prepare for the North American tour, Metzger spent a month in a town 150 miles from New York City working on the project. Last November, he was in Los Angeles to make final adjustments before the company hit the road.

“I try to maintain the size and scope of the film score with fewer musicians,” he said. “I keep the main song elements but listening to it live requires fewer specific song details because of the stimulus of being in the audience with other people.”

The show will play March 5-22 in Portland, and Metzger may drive up from Salem to see it.

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“Let It Go” is what Metzger called an iconic song. When it was released, he received emails from fans who said the song made a difference in their lives.

“A friend of mine had a granddaughter with cancer,” he said. “He said the girl and her parents listened to that song to get them through the tough times. That made me feel I helped make the world a better place with music.”

Typically when he composes and arranges, Metzger watches a rough cut of the film while creating the score. For the “Frozen” films, he worked off rough storyboards.

In “Frozen II,” Elsa sings the power ballad “Into the Unknown” as a mysterious voice draws her from her slumber into the night. Metzger recalled studying a storyboard as he orchestrated the song for the 2019 film.

“When Elsa stomps on the ground, I know there’s going to be a big visual effect on the screen,” he said. “I have to accent it, and I’m guided by the visuals.”

Before he arranges and orchestrates, Metzger reads the song’s lyrics multiple times, his goal to create music that supports the words.

“Into the Unknown,” also written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, received a 2020 Academy Award nomination for best original song.

The golden question, Metzger said, is what makes a song great and beloved by generations of listeners.

“It’s the eternal search,” he said. “No one knows why one song lives forever. If we knew the answer, there would be only great songs. There’s something organic in the creation.”

***

Metzger, who grew up in Corvallis, said he’s not sure where he got his musical gift. His mother listened to music in the home, and his father was tone deaf and could only recognize “The Star Spangled Banner” if he read the words.

He took piano lessons when he was 6, but quit, and sang in a middle school choir where the director was a composer, which intrigued Metzger. He played the bass in the Corvallis High School band and began studying scores — Stravinsky, Ravel and Copland — and listening to jazz records and writing full charts of what he heard.

He left Corvallis and earned a bachelor of arts in music from California State University-Long Beach and got into the commercial music scene. He lived in Los Angeles until he was 31, and then he and his wife returned to Salem area to be near their families. Two weeks before he left, he began writing music for “The Tonight Show” band.

“I ended up writing 250 pieces,” he said. “By then, everyone wanted to leave L.A. I was gone and still able to work because I had credibility.”

The connections, he said, “fell into place” and he’s always been busy.

Metzger is now working on multiple projects. Contractually, he can’t say what they are, but they include a couple of films and a television series.

The process can be difficult. He wasn’t happy with how what he heard in his head sounded when he scored his latest effort.

“Then, last night, a spark came to me,” he said recently. “It was magic. That’s the beauty of it. In my work, I try and convey to the listener how much I care what they hear.”

Caroline Bowman as Elsa and Caroline Innerbichler as Anna in the touring production of "Frozen" coming to Keller Auditorium in March 2020.Courtesy photo by Matthew Murphy

“Disney’s Frozen”

The national tour of the Broadway show based on the 2013 animated film features Caroline Bowman and Caroline Innerbichler as sisters Elsa and Anna.

March 5-22; Keller Auditorium, 222 S.W. Clay St. Tickets start at $25: portland.broadway.com, or 503-417-0573

--Tom Hallman Jr; thallman@oregonian.com; 503-221-8224; @thallmanjr

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