The Beal Institute Presents: Visual Music 8.0
An Evening of Original Music Performed Live-to-Picture in Kilbourn Hall
Each year, the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music and the Beal Institute of Film Music and Contemporary Media present a unique departmental recital. The Beal Institute, ranked as one of the best music programs in the world by The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard, offers a highly selective two-year master’s program, admitting no more than six students per year. On January 23, 2026, at 7:30 p.m. in Kilbourn Hall, “Visual Music 8.0” will feature current Beal Institute students in a live-to-picture staging of their original compositions. Each composer will conduct their work, performed by the Eastman School Symphony Orchestra (ESSO).
This concert will premiere a new original score for the classic 1932 horror film The Mummy, starring Boris Karloff. Featured student composers are Joel Hoo, Silvio Campanaro, Leya Li, Junyang Li, and Rita Veneziale. In addition to the full-length movie, ESSO will perform the Disney animated short Egyptian Melodies, featuring a new score by Joe Osterstock.
Joel Hoo shares his gratitude for being part of this award-winning program: “Eastman has opened doors for me to collaborate across disciplines and artforms in ways I never expected—from scoring films and animations to recording with incredibly skilled musicians and artists from many different backgrounds.” He continues, “The Beal Institute has been an incredible place to grow as both a film composer and collaborator, and the friendships I’ve made through these projects have been the most rewarding part of my journey.”
The director of the Beal Institute and head of Eastman’s Media Composition curriculum is six-time Emmy Award-winning composer and conductor Mark Watters. “Visual Music is a very unique opportunity that we offer our students, serving as a final test of their musical storytelling abilities. In addition to composing their original music, they are required to conduct the premiere performance in sequence to the film before a live audience.” He also notes that “These are real-world challenges, and we can expect the highest results from these remarkable young composers.”
The “Visual Music 8.0” 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.
Looking ahead, on Friday, February 13, at 7:30 p.m. in Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre, Mark Watters and a live orchestra will present Disney-Pixar’s “Up in Concert,” featuring Michael Giacchino’s Oscar- and Grammy award-winning score performed live-to-picture. Join us to follow the unlikely duo of a curmudgeonly 78-year-old balloon salesman and his 8-year-old stowaway on this hilarious, heartwarming journey to a lost world filled with danger and surprises.
Media only: Lauren Sageer, Associate Director of Public Relations & Digital Content,
(585) 451-8492, lsageer@esm.rochester.edu
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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 ’85E and vocalist Joan Beal ’84E, 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 comprising more than 170 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.