Faculty Notes: Spring/Summer 2024

Faculty Notes: Spring/Summer 2024 Recent accomplishments, releases, and events by Berklee faculty.

July 8, 2024

Boston Conservatory at Berklee Assistant Professor Meagan Lewis-Michelson starred as Patsy Cline in Delaware Theatre Companys production of Always...Patsy Cline.

Image by Matt Urban, NuPoint Marketing

Berklee BostonCecil Adderley, chair of the Music Education Department, was named the president of the National Association for Music Education. His term starts in June and ends in February 2026.

Assistant Professor Vivienne Aerts is the host of the podcast ViviTalks, which celebrates the 100 talented female musicians from her album Typuhth ng.

Professor Prince Charles Alexander and his family established the Prince Charles Alexander Scholarship fund for a music production and engineering student with demonstrated knowledge of, and commitment to, music of the African diaspora.

Professor John Baboian presented the clinic Solo Guitar: Performance, Arranging & Accompaniment at the Jazz Education Network conference in New Orleans. It included material from Baboian's Berklee Online course of the same name.

Assistant Professor Thavius Beck created content for Moog (a Mariana tutorial), Bitwig (a 5.1 overview course), and Ableton (an Ableton Live 12 course), and was featured on the cover of AphroChic magazine to discuss his latest musical release, Untitled, Vol. 1.

Professor Joe Bennett is the resident musicologist at BBC Radio 5 Live in the U.K., where he analyzes classic tracks for songwriting and production techniques.

Rhoda Bernard, managing director of the Berklee Institute for Accessible Arts Education and assistant chair of the Music Education Department, received the Irene Buck Service to Arts Education Award from Arts|Learning.

Associate Professor Pat Bianchi released his ninth album as a leader, Three, which received 4 1/2 stars in DownBeat. It features Bianchi (Hammond B3 organ), Troy Roberts (sax), and Colin Stranahan (drums).

Assistant Professor Luke Blackburn

Assistant Professor Luke Blackburn is a 2024 recipient of a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He also plays bassoon in the Boston Opera Collaborative's performances of Peter Brook's version of Bizet's Le trag die de Carmen.

Professor Fernando Brand o was the executive producer of the Dani and Debora Gurgel Quartet (DDG4) residency and concert at Berklee. He also performed at Harvard Epworth Church as part of the Celebrity Series.

Professor Sarah Brindell is a cowriter and background singer on Higher Education, a song featuring Ivan Neville on the album Higher Education. She also continues to perform her originals regularly at the Beehive in Boston.

Assistant Professor Cristi Catt sings on the soundtrack for The Walk, a documentary about a puppet that walks from Syria to other countries to heighten awareness of the global refugee crisis. The film was scored by Duke Bojadziev P.D. '01.

Professor Beth Denisch's song Yanvalou was recorded by the Prague Radio Orchestra, conducted by Professor Julius Williams. It was inspired by Katherine Dunham, a pioneering dance anthropologist and leader in bringing African culture to the American public.

Associate Professor Marko Djordjevic 93, Matthew Garrison 92, and Ole Mathisen B.M. 88 form the Take Off Collective, which performed at the inaugural Sweet Summer Sun Music Festival in Greece and at the Bang on a Can's Long Play festival in New York City.

Professor Judith Eissenberg performed as a member of the Lydian String Quartet on the new album Mind Like Water by composer Yu-Hui Chang.

Professor Marti Epstein's motet Prayer was performed by Emmanuel Music; her chamber work Troubled Queen was performed by the Callithumpian Ensemble at Boston's Symphony Hall; and her ensemble work In Praise of Broken Clocks was performed by Sound Icon at Boston Conservatory.

Associate Professor Maria Finkelmeier made CODAworx's 2023 Creative Revolutionaries list, which features 25 individuals at the forefront of what CODAworx, a hub for the commissioned art economy, calls the artistic-activist revolution.

Professor Tomo Fujita played a sold-out show at the Bitter End in New York City. It featured Associate Professor Oz Noy (guitar), Will Lee (bass), and Shawn Pelton (drums). He also played to more than 800 people over two nights at Blue Note China in Shanghai.

Professor Laszlo Gardony played two sold-out shows at Scullers Jazz Club: one with his quartet-Don Braden (sax/flute); Yoron Israel (drums), chair of Berklee's Percussion Department; and Associate Professor John Lockwood (bass)-and the other with Israel's High Standards sextet.

Professor Bruce Gertz's song Waltz 1/19 was a finalist in both the International Acoustic Music Awards competition and the USA Songwriting Competition in the instrumental jazz categories.

Professor Greg Glancey released an album of originals, Ashes to Impulses, and was a featured artist at the 2024 Outside the Box new music festival.

Assistant Professor Akram Haddad

Professor Rich Greenblatt performed three concerts at Caf Mercedes Jazz in Valencia, Spain.

Assistant Professor Akram Haddad orchestrated, conducted, and led the music with the New York Arabic Orchestra for the Ubisoft game Assassin's Creed Mirage; contributed compositions to the film Yes Repeat No; and arranged the song Toyour for the Red Sea Film Festival.

Assistant Professor Susan Hagen toured New England playing Serge Koussevitzky's double bass with British bassist David Heyes in celebration of the 150th anniversary of Koussevitzky's birth.

Professor Herman Hampton created a scholarship and support program in honor of the late Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old violinist and massage therapist. He also has string players from University of Massachusetts at Lowell

LINK:	https://www.berklee.edu/berklee-now/news/faculty-notes-spring-summer-2...
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