2026 SCHEDULE

Michael Abels is a Pulitzer Prize®-winner and is one of Hollywood’s most acclaimed and influential composers.

Among his accolades, Abels’ scores for Jordan Peele’s Us and Nope were Academy Awards® shortlisted for Best Original Score. The score for Us received a World Soundtrack Award, the Jerry Goldsmith Award, and multiple critics awards, as well as Critics Choice® and IFMCA Award® nominations. It was hailed as “Score of the Decade” by The Wrap. Abels’ score for Nope earned him the African-American Film Critics Association Innovation Award, an IFMCA Award, an SCL Award®, and a Hollywood Music in Media Award.

A three-time Emmy® nominee, Abels was recently nominated for his original main title theme for the series The ’Burbs. For his score for the Disney+ Star Wars series The Acolyte, he received an NAACP Image Award®. In 2023, Abels was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music for the acclaimed opera Omar, co-composed with Grammy®-winning singer/songwriter Rhiannon Giddens, which opens October 23 at Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Abels’ other film credits include Get Out, The Burial, and Bad Education. Most recently, he scored Na Hong-Jin's much-anticipated action-adventure, Hope. His television credits include Sirens and the docuseries Allen v. Farrow. Upcoming projects include the films Behemoth!, directed by Tony Gilroy and starring Pedro Pascal and Olivia Wilde, and An Ode to Mary Jo, directed by Justin Liberman and starring Rhiannon Giddens.

Abels has composed many concert works, including the choral song cycle At War With Ourselves for the Kronos Quartet, and the Isolation Variation for Hilary Hahn, which garnered him a Grammy nomination. His concert works have been performed by the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, and many others. He is also the co-founder of the Composers Diversity Collective.

Thor Bremer is a Chicago-based composer, sound designer, producer, performer, and educator. He has composed music and designed audio for more than 200 game and media titles, working across interactive entertainment, advertising, and other commercial projects. He teaches game music and audio at Columbia College Chicago and digital composition at the University of Illinois Chicago.

Thor’s performance work spans drums, marimba, piano, percussion, and electronic sound. As a drummer, he performs with the progressive rock band Sonus Umbra and maintains an active schedule playing weddings, corporate events, and other live engagements. He also performs on marimba and piano in his own progressive chamber music ensembles, including Nine Worlds.

His current project, Chakras, combines guided meditation, improvised sound baths, electronics, and chamber music in a seven-part immersive concert work. Thor holds an MFA in Game Music and Audio from the University of Chichester and a BA in Music from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. He is also a certified meditation teacher, having completed the Bodhiyana Nondual Teacher Training with Alex Boianghu.

Tim Corpus is a Filipino-American composer and arts manager who is recognized for his compositions across concert music, film, and interactive media. His works have been performed at Carnegie Hall, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia Festival, the Kennedy Center, NYC MoMA, and the Auditorium Theatre, with features on BBC Radio 3, CNN Money, Illinois Public Media, 98.7 WFMT, and Classical King FM. As a film and media composer, he has scored over 30 films and episodic projects, earning industry recognition from national festivals. His album MMXX, a 2022 GRAMMY®-selected release, was praised by critic Robert Hugill as “a striking disc.”

Recent highlights include a nearly hour-long score to The Little Dancer, a dance-theater show directed and choreographed by Rachel Molinaro, and a critically acclaimed performance of “Where the Rivers Meet,” commissioned by the Danville Symphony Orchestra for the 200th anniversary of Vermilion County, IL. He made his Chicago Symphony Orchestra debut at Ravinia Festival, led by Marin Alsop conducting his double percussion concerto, “The Great Lake Concerto.”

An accomplished orchestrator and arranger, he often prepares music for esteemed performers worldwide, including Renée Fleming, Andrea Bocelli, Placido Domingo, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Third Coast Percussion, Opera Festival of Chicago, and others.

Beyond his artistic pursuits, he has led several organizations as Executive Director, including the Hyde Park Youth Symphony, Ear Taxi Festival, Lake Forest Symphony, and also co-founder of the Chicago Chapter of the Society of Composers & Lyricists, Governor of the Recording Academy’s Chicago Chapter, and Board President for the Illinois Council of Orchestras from 2019-2024.

As an entrepreneur in the arts, he founded the publishing company Attacca Publishing, LLC in 2012 and its recent branch Chicago Scoring, a division providing composition and copyist services for film and media composers. His work with music technology has made him an in-demand resource, with his acclaimed YouTube channel bringing tutorials and resources for TouchOSC, Dorico, music notation, and recording software.

With degrees from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University and The Hartt School at the University of Hartford, Tim Corpus has received accolades from 3Arts, ASCAP, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, The American Prize, and the Illinois Arts Council. His commitment to his Filipino heritage is evident in his research of Filipino composer Lucio D. San Pedro, presented at institutions including Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History and the University of Hartford.

Tim Corpus, an ASCAP member, publishes his compositions through the American Composers Alliance and Attacca Publishing, LLC.

Laura Hall is best known as the improvisational pianist and Musical Director on the hit TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway, which ran for nine years on ABC with Drew Carey hosting. After a long hiatus the show went on to its 21st season on the CW Network, with Aisha Tyler as host. It finally ended for good in 2024. 

Laura is currently touring with Whose Live Anyway, doing live improv all over the US. She has toured extensively with Drew Carey and the Improv All Stars. She performed live with a combined British and American cast of Whose Line is it Anyway in London at The Adelphi and The Palladium theatres. In 2018 she performed at The Royal Albert Hall in the Whose Line is it Anyway 30th Anniversary Show. She has played with many other improv groups at theaters around the world including: iO West and iO Chicago; The Annoyance Theater; ImprovBoston Mainstage; Impro Neuf in Oslo; Improv Comedy Copenhagen, and Opening Night: The Improvised Musical!

Laura got her start in improv at The Second City Chicago, first with the national touring company, then as Musical Director and Composer for the Jeff Award-winning E.T.C. revue, Channel This! She composed original musicals with The Annoyance Theater in Chicago and Theater-A-Go-Go in Los Angeles, including Patty, Patty, Bang! Bang! which won an L.A. Weekly award for Best New Musical. 

In 2023, together with the Chicago icon of music improv, Lisa McQueen, she created Improvised Broadway. The amazingly talented cast improvises full musicals (story, dialog, songs, music, choreography) based on suggestions from the audience, in the style of an existing musical. It's such a fun challenge, and a deep dive into styles. 

With her husband, Rick Hall, Laura teaches Music Improv all over the world at theaters, universities, and comedy clubs. Laura has created Improv Karaoke, fully produced original tracks for improvisers to make up their own improvised songs. She has co-written a book, The Improv Comedy Musician: The Ultimate Guide to Playing Music with an Improv Group to help teach musicians about the specialized world of being an improv Musical Director. She has also created an in-depth online course, A Musician's Guide to Improv Comedy, to teach musicians how to do what she does on Whose Line and in live improv shows. 

Laura has played for lots of theater and musical theater, most recently as Associate Musical Director, Conductor and Keyboardist on Head Over Heels at Pasadena Playhouse, featuring the music of The Go-Go's. 

Laura has written music for several indie films, including the score for Slice of Pie, a short comedy written by and starring her husband. She wrote songs and score for The Long Isolation, a "Zoom Noir" written by Dan Castellaneta and Deb Lacusta. She scored two award winning documentaries about female holocaust survivors, Swimming in Auschwitz and After Auschwitz. She co-wrote songs and score for Look at Me, with Luke Hannington. Along with Linda Taylor (her band mate on Whose Line), she wrote music for the romantic comedy, Anatomy of a Breakup, directed by Judy Minor. She wrote the score and songs for The Wheels on the Bus series of children’s videos, starring Roger Daltrey as an 8 foot dragon. 

Rick Hall was a founding member of Chicago's Improv Institute. At The Second City, he created and performed in two Main Stage shows, "John Paul Sartre & Ringo" and "Catch 27.” Rick currently improvises with Improvised Broadway at The Second City and the long-form group, Blunch.

Rick can be seen this fall in the Hallmark movie, Holiday Touchdown: A Bears Love Story.

He was a series regular on the improv-based TV show The Factory. He played Agent Johnson on 27 episodes of the hit Disney show KC Undercover and has been on many other television shows including NCIS, Curb Your Enthusiasm, 24, The Middle, Key & Peele and Seinfeld. He's been in commercials for AT&T, Centrum, Sabra Hummus, and many more.

Rick played Bilbo Baggins in Chicago Shakespeare's Lord of the Rings: A Musical Tale. After a successful run in Chicago, the show ran for 5 weeks in Auckland, New Zealand. He was Uncle Joe in Marriott Lincolnshire's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Rick is an accomplished writer and storyteller, which he features in his podcast So Sez Rick. His one-man show Pigboy, stories about growing up on a farm in Central Illinois, was chosen for the HBO Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, and enjoyed successful runs in L.A., Chicago, and across the Midwest. Rick has recorded several of his stories and turned one of them, Slice of Pie, into a short film, which won numerous awards on the film festival circuit. To find out more about Rick, visit www.therickhall.com

TJ Kliebhan focuses his practice on entertainment and music law. He includes Grammy® award-winning artists, managers, producers, record labels, film directors, film producers, film writers, social media influencers, and models among his clients and counsels them on a variety of issues in the entertainment industry, including management agreements, producer agreements, recording agreements, international music rights disputes, contract negotiation and disputes, trademark work, defamation litigation, and business formation. TJ is a member of the Lawyers for The Creative Arts where he sits on their associate board as the President. Through the LCA, he provides pro bono legal services to clients in the Chicago arts and entertainment world. He is also a member of the Recording Academy’s Chicago Chapter as well as the SCL’s Chicago Chapter. In August, 2026, he co-authored a new book on the fundamentals of music law titled Music Law For the General Practitioner which can be purchased wherever books are sold.

Jon Pierre, known professionally as Deciius, is an award-winning composer, producer, and professor with over 20 years of experience creating original music for film, television, advertising, and video games. His signature style merges the emotional weight of orchestral scoring with the raw energy of hip hop, R&B, and electronic music—pulling listeners into stories with precision and power.

Based in Chicago, Deciius is the founder of Apex Music and Sound, a music house delivering custom scores and sound design for top-tier clients in the ad, film, TV, and game industries. 

Anton Riehl is a classically trained composer, multi-instrumentalist, and active performer as a modular synthesist.

His work spans film, TV, video games, and commercials. As a composer and arranger, he specializes in blending acoustic and electronic voices. He has collaborated with Danger Mouse, Karen O, Mike Patton, Daniele Luppi, Úyanga Bold, and more. 

Brian Rosenblatt joined Downey Lenkov Milstein Kus in 2016 after leaving one of Illinois’ top 25 largest law firms after nearly 15 years. Brian has previously developed and co-chaired both an “Entertainment, Media and Privacy Practice Group” and an “Intellectual Property Group” at his past firms. Brian brings his entire platform to Downey & Lenkov, where he continues to expand his local, regional and national practice.

Brian’s practice is focused in three main areas: 1) entertainment (including media and advertising), 2) intellectual property and 3) litigation. His entertainment practice concentrates on transactions, media clearance and liability, advertising injury, defamation, 1st Amendment issues, and corporate matters. He also handles intellectual property transactions and litigation, specifically copyright, trademark matters and unfair/deceptive trade practice litigation.

Brian represents, and has represented, high-profile individuals and entities, including a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, a U.S. Presidential candidate, high-ranking officials and clergy within the Arch-Diocese, NBA All-Stars, NFL Players, international athletics gear manufacturers, award-winning songwriters, multi-platinum selling recording artists, national recording artists, social media celebrities, producers, record labels, managers and national platform festivals. Brian has also represented concert promoters in contract negotiations and class action litigation. He has worked locally and nationally on numerous film, television and literary projects. He counsels start-ups, media and internet companies. He serves as general counsel for online magazines, record labels, concert promoters and tech companies.

Brian has been an active member of the National Academy of Arts & Sciences since 1996. He is on the governing committee of the American Bar Association’s Forum on the Entertainment and Sports Industries and serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Forum’s Law Journal, Entertainment and Sports Lawyer.

Sam Scheidler is one of Chicago’s busiest music directors. He teaches musical improv at The Second City and performs across the US with their national touring company. Sam can be found musical directing Baby Wants Candy, Shamilton, or any number of improv shows in one of Chicago’s legendary comedy venues. You can hear his piano stylings each week on Charm Scene, a musical improv podcast, or on some episodes of Off Book. Follow Sam @677sam677.

Tony Scott-Green sculpts original music for film, TV and media and has worked on feature films, TV shows, documentaries, web series and sonic branding for Fortune 500 companies. Originally from Scotland, he now composes and records at Greenhouse Sound Studios in Chicago and Los Angeles.

“My goal is to make music that breaks down the barriers between audiences and the visions of creative, passionate people. The right music helps an audience see better.”

For almost twenty years, he did something completely different from music: pursuing a career in tech and consulting, advising Fortune 500 clients in management and tech strategy. Managing multi-million dollar projects with dozens of people. He’d ask clients, “What’s your differentiator?” “What makes you special?” “What do you do that no-one else can?” But it took 20 years to figure out that what made him different was the music he heard in his head that no-one else could hear and no-one else was making.

Considering himself a storyteller first, filmmaker second, and composer third, he is a firm believer that “The right music helps an audience see better,” and is known for often incorporating and manipulating vintage instruments and alternative textures into his scores, creating unfamiliar, yet undeniably emotive, threads woven into the music. When not composing music, he can be found going too fast on motorcycles, not quite fast enough on bicycles, and collecting guitars and oddball musical instruments.

Jeannie Tanner is an award-winning composer with 8 Grammy®-considered albums and 5 ASCAP composer awards. She is a singer-songwriter, vocalist, pianist, trumpeter, percussionist, and producer who performs and records her original music: a mix of pop, jazz, R&B, and Latin rhythms. Jeannie’s music has been used for television shows including Single Ladies (VH1 – produced by Queen Latifah), Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (Bravo), Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings (Netflix), Culinary Travels with Dave Eckert (PBS/The Travel Channel), Revenge(ABC), Fox NFL Kickoff (Fox), The Young & the Restless (CBS) and Days of Our Lives (NBC). 

Jeannie’s music has been featured in many movies including A Christmas Duet (Hallmark), Christmas Cookies (Hallmark), Signed, Sealed, Delivered for Christmas (Hallmark), Doomsday Mom (Lifetime) and Christmas in the Air (Hallmark) — as well as Indie films Blame It On Toby (starring Kevin J. O’Connor) and Scrooge and Marley (starring David Pevsner, Tim Kazurinsky and Rusty Schwimmer).

Jeannie has scored the music for the series Bong Zombies (Amazon Prime), the short film The Hike, the Art Institute of Chicago Impressionist Wing video, Preservation Chicago Tour / Arlington Deming Historic District video, and promotional videos for the YWCA of Chicago. Jeannie has written theme songs for various podcasts including The McCarthy Sisters Show (Jenny McCarthy), The Daily Former (Life After Hate), and Find Your Truth (Driving Force Institute). She also wrote the theme music and continues to produce the podcast Just Ask Abby. 

As a performer, Jeannie has headlined at top Chicago area venues/festivals performing with her groups 3 Martini Jeannie (3MJ) and the Jeannie Tanner Quartet — including City Winery, Metropolitan Club (Willis Tower) Northalsted Market Days, Taste of Chicago, Midsommarfest, Hey Nonny, BackLot Bash, Wells Street Art Fair, Porch Fest, Winter’s Jazz Club, Andy’s Jazz Club, the Park West, the Cubby Bear, Vincent, Victory Gardens Biograph Theatre, Ottawa 2 Rivers Wine and Jazz Festival, Skokie Theatre, the Gen Club, the Dearborn, Eddie V’s, Reggies, Davenport’s, the Highwood Music Festival, the Redhead Music Festival and the Arts Clubs of Chicago. Ms. Tanner also performs solo (playing piano and singing) and as a duo. She performs for private/corporate events throughout the year. 

In 2023, Jeannie was elected as a Board Governor of the Chicago Chapter of the Recording Academy (Grammy’s) and chairs the chapter’s DREAM committee (DEI Ambassador). She serves on the Recording Academy’s P&E and S&C committees (local and national). She has been an activist for artists’ rights/legislation in Springfield, IL, and in D.C., and continues to advocate for equality in the music community.

Carlos Villalobos is an award-winning multi-instrumentalist, composer, songwriter, and producer whose sonic fingerprints can be found across the music, television, and film industries. From his private studio Villa de Lobos, Carlos crafts powerful soundscapes that have shaped some of the most iconic moments in pop culture.

With a genre-defying style and deep musicality, Carlos's work has been featured in hit TV shows such as Empire, Sex & The City, Dexter, Criminal Minds, CSI: NY and Baywatch Hawaii—the latter of which marked his explosive entry into the world of music in television, where he composed the original music and the show's theme song, “Let Me Be The One.” His film credits include Redemption, Signature Move, The Spy Who Knew Me, and Strings, among others.

Carlos is the founder of Alistar Records, an independent label that’s home to his bold creative projects and gives voice to his many creative alter egos—(La) Esperanza, Angry Chiwawah, Sonic Head, Candy Koma—each one a unique vessel for sonic experimentation and soul-stirring innovation.  Under these monikers, he pushes artistic boundaries, seamlessly blending genres and reinventing musical identities.

Beyond his solo ventures, collaboration runs deep in his journey.  Carlos is a sought-after collaborator, having worked with artists like Filter, Eminem, Michael Jackson, Nikola Bedingfield, Ashley Ballard, the cast of Empire and many others. His career is marked by a legacy of creative innovation—from writing, producing and performing all instruments on O-Shen’s award-winning debut Iron Youth, to remixing for Filter, to co-writing and performing with hard rock band Hurricane on their album Liquifury.

Carlos's unique ability to fuse melody with mood makes him a go-to creative for cinematic storytelling. Whether scoring for screen or sculpting immersive audio experiences, his mission remains constant: to elevate narrative through unforgettable sound.  To translate feeling into frequency. To sculpt stories from sound. To remind us that music, at its best, doesn’t just play—it speaks.