Each year, the Eastman School of Music and the Beal Institute of Film Music and Contemporary Media present a unique departmental recital. On January 12, 2023, at 8:00 PM in Kilbourn Hall, Visual Music 5.0 presents the Beal Institute’s second-year graduate students in a live-to-picture staging of their original compositions. Each composer will conduct the performance of their piece(s), as played by the Empire Film and Media Ensemble, comprised of 34 instrumentalists.
The featured composers are Rachel Wu, Ethan Toavs, Karen Goldfeder, Emma Most, and Steven Alcon Wyrick. Emma Most, on behalf of herself and her fellow composers, shares, “This concert is such an exciting opportunity to go behind the scenes of the Beal Institute and enjoy a showcase of our favorite pieces, including a collaboration with RIT School of Film & Animation. We’re so lucky to be able to work with the talented leadership and musicians at Empire Film & Media Ensemble to bring this to a live audience!”
The program shows off a broad range of genres and styles, including excerpts from such recognizable titles as The Matrix and Designated Survivor; clips from documentaries about nature, ex libris, and more; a collaboration with BIODANCE; and an original film from RIT students titled Inspideration.
The director of the Beal Institute, and head of the Media Composition curriculum at Eastman, is six-time Emmy Award-winning composer and conductor, Mark Watters. Of this concert, he says that it is “the most diverse program we have ever prepared. These are five extremely talented and dedicated composers whose works we are tremendously proud to present!”
The Visual Music 5.0 performance is free and open to the public. You may also click here to watch the concert via livestream, starting approximately 15 minutes before the event. This is a performance that you won’t want to miss, and as Rachel Wu so aptly put it, all involved will “present this concert with the utmost enthusiasm and love!”
Looking ahead, on Friday, February 10 at 7:30 PM in Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre, Mark Watters and members of the Empire Film and Media Ensemble will present “Batman in Concert” featuring Tim Burton’s 1989 film starring Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, and Kim Basinger with music by the gothic genius, Danny Elfman.
Media only: Lauren Sageer, Assistant Director of Public Relations and Digital Content,
(585) 451-8492, lsageer@esm.rochester.edu
###
About the Beal Institute:
The Beal Institute for Film Music and Contemporary Media at the Eastman School of Music provides students with instruction and experiences that prepare them for the increasingly evolving opportunities to write, produce, and perform music for film and contemporary media. Founded in 2016 by Emmy-winning composer Jeff Beal (BM85) and vocalist Joan Beal (BM84), and under the direction of Mark Watters, Emmy Award- winning composer and conductor, the program builds on the film legacy of the school’s founder, George Eastman.
Students in the Beal Institute have opportunities to work with established visiting artists: professional composers, arrangers and musicians who are actively engaged in the film, television and video game industry. Students are also encouraged to collaborate on cross-disciplinary and multi-media projects with other students, faculty members from humanities, composition, and other Eastman departments, community arts organizations, and other area universities. The Institute enhances the graduate degree program in convergent media and film music.
Jeff Beal, who received his Bachelor of Music degree from Eastman with High Distinction in 1985, serves as artistic director of the Institute and continues to be closely involved with the students, faculty, and administration of the school.
About Eastman School of Music:
The Eastman School of Music was founded in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman (1854-1932), founder of Eastman Kodak Company. It was the first professional school of the University of Rochester. Mr. Eastman’s dream was that his school would provide a broad education in the liberal arts as well as superb musical training.
More than 900 students are enrolled in the Collegiate Division of the Eastman School of Music—about 500 undergraduates and 400 graduate students. They come from almost every state, and approximately 23 percent are from other countries. They are taught by a faculty comprised of more than 130 highly regarded performers, composers, conductors, scholars, and educators. They are Pulitzer Prize winners, Grammy winners, Emmy winners, Guggenheim fellows, ASCAP Award recipients, published authors, recording artists, and acclaimed musicians who have performed in the world’s greatest concert halls. Each year, Eastman’s students, faculty members, and guest artists present more than 900 concerts to the Rochester community. Additionally, more than 1,700 members of the Rochester community, from young children through senior citizens, are enrolled in the Eastman Community Music School.
About the University of Rochester:
The University of Rochester is one of the nation’s leading private research universities, one of only 62-member institutions in the Association of American Universities. Located in Rochester, N.Y., the University gives undergraduates exceptional opportunities for interdisciplinary study and close collaboration with faculty through its unique cluster-based curriculum. Its College, School of Arts and Sciences, and Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences are complemented by the Eastman School of Music, Simon School of Business, Warner School of Education, Laboratory for Laser Energetics, School of Medicine and Dentistry, School of Nursing, Eastman Institute for Oral Health, and the Memorial Art Gallery.