Brett Miller

October 5, 2025

As one of the youngest in a rare art form, Brett Miller is an active organist, conductor, and arranger who specializes in the art of silent film accompaniment. As an award-winning organist, Brett has continued his academic involvement and advocacy for the education and preservation of silent films through performing “live to picture.” In 2021, he was appointed music director of the Empire Film and Media Ensemble, a non-profit based in Rochester, New York, that advocates for the education, performance, and production of film music. He was recently appointed artistic director of the organization. Brett shares a close relationship between the ensemble and the Beal Institute of Film Contemporary Media at the Eastman School of Music.

His recent scores have been recorded with organizations such as the Eye Filmmuseum, the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau Foundation, Kino Lober Classics, and Milestone Films. He has been featured at various film festivals and has played events in conjunction with film preservationists from the Library of Congress and George Eastman House. In 2023, Brett played to a sold-out performance of Nosferatu at Marian Anderson Hall in conjunction with the Philadelphia Orchestra.  Season highlights include performances for the Houston Symphony, The Boston Pops, The Great Auditorium at Ocean Grove, Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall, Rochester Broadway Theater Leagues “Auditorium Theatre”, and the Historic Colonial Theater.

Brett studied organ with renowned organist Jelani Eddington and piano with Beth Crompton and Joseph Rackers of the Eastman School of Music. He studied film accompaniment with Ben Model and Bernie Anderson. A native of Bedminster, Pennsylvania, Brett is an alumnus of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra Institute. He currently studies at the Eastman School of Music pursuing his masters in orchestral conducting with Neil Varon.