Festival highlights and concert programs
Soundtrax brings together composers, industry leaders, scholars, and enthusiasts around themed programming that spans films, games, immersive media, and more.
Featured concerts include:
- Film Scores Live! — The Music of Terence Blanchard — Featuring Grammy Award–winning composer and jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard performing his film music from Malcolm X, BlacKkKlansman, and more with Gateways Festival Orchestra and The E-Collective.
- The Red Violin in Concert — The Eastman Philharmonia and violinist and faculty member YooJin Jang will perform to the film screening, conducted by Eastman alumnus Jeff Beal. Beal is a five-time Emmy-winning composer acclaimed for his richly expressive scores for streaming and film—including Netflix’s House of Cards, HBO’s Carnivale and Rome, Ed Harris’s film Pollock, and the documentaries Blackfish and Queen of Versailles.
- John Williams Reimagined (American premiere) — Enjoy cinematic themes reinterpreted for cello, flute, and piano, played by artists who have collaborated with Williams himself.
- Interstellar in Concert — Organist Roger Sayer will perform his arrangement on the historic Sanctuary Organ at Rochester’s Third Presbyterian Church and share behind-the-scenes stories about working with Christopher Nolan and Hans Zimmer.
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 — In Concert — Live orchestra accompaniment by the Rochester Philharmonic to the blockbuster film franchise’s final installment.
Get tickets to individual Soundtrax concerts.
Free daytime speaker sessions (with registration)
In keeping with URochester’s mission of community enrichment, all daytime speaker sessions are offered free of charge (with registration required). These sessions—which include panel discussions, workshops, and exploratory sessions on topics such as AI in music, spatial audio, synthesizers, immersive sound design, and more—will convene in Kilbourn Hall and Hatch Recital Hall at Eastman.
Register for free Soundtrax events.
A nexus of film-music disciplines at URochester
Soundtrax is not just a festival—it’s also a nexus of disciplines. The University’s Hajim School, with its storied history in optics, imaging, acoustics, and engineering, joins forces with Eastman’s world-renowned strengths in performance, composition, and media to celebrate the art and science of sound in visual culture.
George Eastman, founder of the Eastman School of Music and Kodak, is often considered a pioneer of early motion picture technologies. Hosting a film-music festival in Rochester evokes that legacy—music and imagery, invention and artistry, coming full circle in the place they began.
As Mark Bocko, codirector of Soundtrax and an engineering professor at URochester, observes, this is an opportunity to “explore how the artistry, science, and technology of sound and music shape visual media.”
University of Rochester President Sarah Mangelsdorf adds, “The festival brings together the University of Rochester’s signature strengths in music performance and production with our leadership in optics, acoustics, visual science, and engineering.
