MIC Alumna Emily Bear Writes Music for Moana 2

Earlier this February, Disney announced that the Grammy-winning team Barlow & Bear have been working on the music for Moana 2 for the past two years. The duo is best known for 'The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical' which won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album in 2022 and was the first Grammy winning album to originate on Tiktok.

The duo includes Music Institute of Chicago Academy Alumna, Emily Bear, who studied piano lessons with the late Emilio del Rosario. A musical powerhouse at just 22, she's racked up awards like Grammys and Emmys for her work as a composer, producer, arranger, pianist, and singer-songwriter. Recently, she shattered records by becoming the first composer ever to score a feature film released on a streaming platform at such a young age. Her work on the Netflix movie "Dog Gone," starring Rob Lowe, included composing and producing the entire score, and the film itself soared to the top spot on Netflix worldwide.

Bear has graced legendary stages like Carnegie Hall and performed at the White House. Quincy Jones produced her acclaimed jazz album "Diversity" at just 9. By 16, she headlined European tours and scored for Disney, DreamWorks, and tech giants.

"I started classical piano lessons when I was four. A few months later, I discovered the world of jazz, which opened up my eyes. I love classical music and it’s a huge inspiration to everything I do now. I wouldn’t be where I am now without all of my classical training but I knew that I never wanted to be a classical concert pianist. I always wanted to create. When I discovered the world of jazz, that opened up those doors a little bit more because there’s a little bit more room to create in playing jazz. I grew up doing both things, musically bilingual."

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