John Beal Guest Conductor
An internationally recognized film music conductor with thousands of hours in front of orchestras in Hollywood and around the world, award-winning film and television composer John Beal is as at home on the concert stage as he is in the recording studio. Principal Pops Conductor of the Hollywood Symphony Orchestra™, Maestro Beal is a highly sought-after conductor and has conducted a wide and diverse variety of shows and film scores with many of the world’s greatest musicians in venues stretching from London to Tokyo, from the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, the Brussels Philharmonic and The City of Prague Philharmonic, to the National Symphony of Malaysia Kuala Lumpur, as well as major symphony orchestras throughout the United States, including several decades in Los Angeles with the Hollywood Studio Symphony Orchestra. Throughout his career as a Music Director, Maestro Beal has arranged and conducted orchestras on albums and in concerts and television with very diverse artists ranging from visionary Electronica DJ Deadmau5 and AIVA artificial intelligence, to Olivia Newton John, Gladys Knight, and B.B. King.
As an accomplished composer, Mr. Beal created music for 45 theatrical features, television films and documentaries, 26 major network television series or specials, and 35 national advertisers. He was music director/music consultant for over 20 major network specials, and his works appear on more than 30 recordings. Working with the Walt Disney Imagineering Team, John Beal created music for Disneyland’s America Sings, Carousel of Progress and Country Bear Jamboree, as well as supervising and conducting music for the televised Grand Opening ceremonies of Walt Disney World. Mr. Beal is internationally recognized for composing original scores for the marketing of over 2,000 major studio projects, including Star Wars, Titanic, Forrest Gump, Aladdin, Braveheart, The Matrix, and The Last Samurai.
Mr. Beal attributes the passion that led him to pursue a lifetime in film and television music to childhood days watching silent film restorations at the side of family friend, celebrated theater organist Gaylord Carter, and to an amazing group of mentors: Composer William Kraft; Five-time Academy Award composer nominee George Duning; Academy Award winner Dominic Frontiere; Disney’s Academy Award nominee Buddy Baker; Academy Award nominee and multiple Emmy Award-winning conductor Ian Fraser; twelve-time Emmy Award nominee, conductor Nick Perito; and Emmy Award-winning composers Billy Goldenberg and Earle Hagen.
A two-term former Governor of the Composers & Lyricists Guild of America and two-term former Governor of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Mr. Beal is the founding General Manager and concert and television producer of the Hollywood Symphony Orchestra™, shepherding it through its debut season. A combat veteran, Mr. Beal is active with Veterans in Media and Entertainment, an organization dedicated to training, encouraging, and connecting veterans with employers in the entertainment industry.
Currently living in California, Mr. Beal is married to Helene Nielsen Beal and enjoys the attending live theatre, symphony and opera concerts in Los Angeles and San Francisco.