MAY 27, 2026 | Congratulations to Eastman graduate Joel Hoo on being selected as one of three winners of Nova Linea Musica’s NLM Score Call 2025. His composition, This Moment, will premier May 27, 2026 at The Checkout in Chicago, performed by the NLM Piano Trio under the mentorship of Grammy-nominated composer Clarice Assad. Joel recently earned his Master of Music degree in Contemporary Media and Film Composition at the Eastman School of Music’s Beal Institute.
DECEMBER 11, 2025 | Joel won an award at the Midwest Flim Festival for his score to Wind Walker, directed by Daniel Zhang. A composer, improviser, producer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist, Joel has had his works performed nationwide at venues including San Francisco’s Heron Arts and Los Angeles’s Walt Disney Concert Hall. He has earned numerous honors, among them the Theodore Presser Foundation Scholarship in Music, the One Found Sound Emerging Composers Award, the Indie Film Music Contest (Young Division), and the Illinois Music Association Scholarship.