The Arthur Satz Department of Music is thrilled to welcome YouTube sensations Rick Beato and Anthony Fantano to the River Campus on April 24, 2025, at 7 PM in Strong Auditorium for a panel discussion with guest moderator Dr. Skye Paine. This event is free and open to the public. 

Rick Beato is an American musician, educator and YouTube personality and currently has nearly 5 million subscribers on the platform. The videos on his “Everything Music” channel regularly receive over a million views and have had over 500 million views in total. He has worked as a musician, college professor, songwriter, and record producer. In his work on YouTube he has interviewed Sting, Pat Metheny, Brian May, Eric Johnson, Ron Carter, Victor Wooten, John Scofield, Larry Carlton, Vinnie Colaiuta, Bernard Purdie, and Peter Frampton among others.

Anthony Fantano is best known as “the internet’s busiest music nerd,” but he is much more than that.  The New York Times declared him “The Only Music Critic Who Matters (if You’re Under 25).”  For over 15 years his channel—The Needle Drop—has been a leading voice on YouTube with over a billion views and more than 3 million subscribers who tune in to his daily uploads. Despite this influence, Anthony has remained steadfastly independent, and has become a primary model for intelligent, thought-provoking music criticism on YouTube.

Dr. Skye Paine lives a double life as both an associate professor of French at SUNY Brockport and as a music critic on YouTube under the apt moniker of “Professor Skye.” He has had his channel since 2018 where he delivers deeply analytical video essays on newly released music while making unexpected connections drawing from his academic background. Although he obtained his doctorate in 17th Century French Literature from UC Santa Barbara, he now focuses his research primarily on American and International Rap music. He is also the coordinator of the new “Hip-Hop Minor” at SUNY Brockport. 

This event is part of the Rochester Area College Music New Media Speaker Series, a collaboration between University of Rochester and SUNY Brockport.

Parking is free and open to the public in many campus lots after 5 PM.  This campus map will assist with finding a place to park and navigating to Strong Auditorium: https://www.rochester.edu/maps/printable_maps/URmaps_RiverCampus.pdf