Alum Notes: Fall 2022

1971

Kenneth Gabriel Heiser B.M. of Laredo, TX, held a concert featuring a six-piece band playing 20 of his original songs in his hometown of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

1973

Kevin Driscoll B.M. of Framingham, MA, led the performance of the Driscoll Productions Brass Band Concert, honoring a Boston-area Marine veteran’s 100th birthday. The band used a Dixieland-style marching entrance, playing tunes such as “The Marine’s Hymn” and “When the Saints Go Marching In.”

Faith Jones Ozan of Crestline, CA, moved from Laguna Beach to Los Angeles, where he built a specialized music cottage to provide music lessons for students with autism. Individualized programs address speech, language, behavioral, academic, and social goals within musical environments.

1977

Michael Druxman of Corrales, NM, played bass with the Albuquerque Philharmonic Orchestra. A recent concert included Beethoven No. 3 ("Eroica") and John Williams’s Harry Potter Symphonic Suite. Druxman also performs with his jazz quartet Last Call and has won awards from the New Mexico Activities Association for his original compositions.

Steven Saltzman released his second book, The Music of Film: Collaborations and Conversations, this summer. Through interviews and conversations with professional composers, music supervisors, music editors, and picture editors, the book shows how music for film and television works, according to insiders in the industry. Visit saltzmanmusic.com. 

1978

David Wilson B.M. of Orange, NH, retired from a 40-year teaching career in 2020. He has spent his retirement writing the book, music, and lyrics for a two-act musical titled Freedom Lost. He is beginning to promote the show through his production company, Orange Wind Productions.

1979

Tim Sublette of Smithville, MO, released his tablature-based method book, Necessary Guitar, in April; it is available on Amazon. Sublette is also the owner of Smithville Music Studio in Smithville. 

1980

Sirabhorn Ti Muntarbhorn B.M. of North Hollywood, CA, recently gave a master class titled This Business of Music to a select group of jazz music graduate and undergraduate students from Royal Conservatoire The Hague. The class was videotaped for the conservatory’s archives.

1981

Phil Raskin B.M. of West Orange, NJ, is a drummer, percussionist, and producer whose career has spanned more than four decades and has taken him to over 30 countries. He has performed with many acclaimed artists, including Mike Gibbs '63 and faculty members Joe Lovano and George Garzone, among others. 

David Rosenthal B.M. of West Windsor, NJ, is currently the musical director and a keyboardist for Billy Joel.  

Rolf Sturm of North Bergen, NJ, has collaborated with renowned jazz performer Abbey Lincoln and vocalist/songwriter Jenna Mammina for nearly a decade. He recently performed at Dizzy’s Club at Lincoln Center and 10 Columbus Circle in New York City. 

1982

Lenora Helm Hammonds B.M. of Durham, NC, received a doctoral degree in music education in September. She also completed a film score for the indie film The Problem of the Hero.

Peter Munsch B.M. of Pound Ridge, NY, released the album Primal Impressions this spring with the help of his Munsch Bunch. The songs were inspired by life experiences, fellow musicians, family elders, a Greek poet, two Clydes (Stubblefield and Frazier), Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and verses from the Bible. 

 

Bob Ross B.M. of New York City is a bassist and is currently recording a new album with his improvisational soundscape trio, RMA.

Gary Stager B.M. of Torrance, CA, launched Cymbal Press to gather the voices of artists for the world to hear. Cymbal Press's first book, Life in E Flat: The Autobiography of Phil Woods, was named the 2021 Jazz Book of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association.  

1983

John G. Willis of Scottsdale, AZ, has released his first full-length album of original material, Kinda Love, which streams on all major services. The album, which was released in June, features 11 tracks composed during the COVID shutdown. Visit johngwillis.com/kinda-love.

1985

David Bondelevitch B.M. of Denver, CO, was elected to the Board of Governors of the San Francisco chapter for the Recording Academy. He has been teaching for 14 years at University of Colorado Denver, where he is an associate professor of music.

Marisa T. Déry B.M. of Somerville, MA, engineered the restoration of the audio tracks for My Life with the Chimpanzees and The Hope. Additionally, as chair of the Audio Engineering Society, she published the paper “AES Standard for Audio Forensics—Speech Collection Guidelines for Speaker Recognition: Interviewing at a Temporary Location.”

Michael J. Rivard B.M. of Waltham, MA, produced, composed, arranged, and played bass and Moroccan sintir on the Club d'Elf  album You Never Know, which features Professor David Fiuczynski, Assistant Professor Phil Grenadier, and Dean Johnston B.M.  '91. He also recorded bass for Natalie Merchant’s upcoming album. 

1986

Susan Botti B.M. of Red Hook, NY, released Mangetsu (on the New Focus label) by Della Luna, her duo with violinist Airi Yoshioka. The album features Botti’s compositions and arrangements. Botti also recently received a Fromm Commission for her theatrical chamber motet River Spirits, which premieres this fall.

1987

Annie Minogue B.M. of Weehawken, NJ, has signed to the Wolf Entertainment Group Label in Europe. Her band’s first single, “Sandbox,” topped the World Indie Music Charts. “Real Close Up,” the band's follow-up single, was also released and is garnering great reviews. Their upcoming album, Suburbia, will be released later this year.

1988

Arul Karttikeya B.M. of Princeton, NJ, was interviewed by Doug Fearn for the podcast My Take on Music Recording. Karttikeya discusses his 15 years of audio work with Music Together Worldwide; his own project, Turiya; and his musical journey, including his time at Berklee. Visit buzzsprout.com/942952/10444774. 

1989

Dmitri Matheny of Centralia, WA, released his latest album, CASCADIA (on the Origin Records label), in June. The former protégé of the legendary Art Farmer, Matheny was lauded as “one of the jazz world's most talented horn players” by the San Francisco Chronicle. He also received a 2016 Golden Ear Award.

1990

Anders Bostrom B.M. of Verona, NJ, plays 16 bamboo flutes in the premiere of the Bollywood musical Bhangin' It at La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego.

Denise Mattin of Tempe, AZ, was hired in 2017 by School of Rock to write five vocal method books. Published by Hal Leonard and edited by Lindsey Harnsberger in 2019, these books are currently required reading at all School of Rock locations nationwide. 

Paul Rogalski of Longmont, CO, released a new original album by MOJOMAMA, founded by Rogalski and his wife. They also own Mojo’s Music Academy in Longmont and plan to provide more group classes on topics ranging from vocal performance to songwriting.

1991

James T. Sale B.M. of Pasadena, CA, won a Golden Remi Award for Best Musical Score for a Feature at WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival for his score for Playing the Crease, a film about a high schooler trying to make the hockey team as a goalie. 

1992

Patrick Aldous B.M. of West Vancouver, Canada, is the senior vice president of business and legal affairs at the Nettwerk Music Group. Previously, he served as Nettwerk’s outside legal counsel, handling all artist and commercial matters. Most recently, he was a partner at Chandler Fogden Aldous Law Corporation.

1993

John Kendall B.M. of Sarasota, FL, recently celebrated 20 years as a guitar, modern band, and orchestra teacher at Sarasota Middle School. He also actively performs as a jazz guitarist in the Sarasota and Manatee county areas, sometimes as part of the Carlos Silva and John Kendall Guitar Duo. 

1994

Scott Ashley B.M. '94 released a new book, How to Write Better Songs: Songwriting Secrets from Award-Winning Songwriters. It recently hit no. 1 on the Amazon Best Sellers chart for paid Kindle books in the music reference category.

Philipp van Endert of Düsseldorf, Germany, released the album Moon Balloon, one of his biggest projects yet. It combines jazz, classical, and film music. Van Endert’s compositions were arranged by Peter Hinderthür, and the live performance at Filmstudios Babelsberg was conducted by Jörg Achim Keller.

1996

Pablo Ablanedo of Cambridge, MA, released his original album, Chistreza, on vinyl, and it became digitally available in July. It features Anat Cohen B.M. ’98, Jenny Scheinman, Ben Monder, Chris Cheek B.M. ’91, Jerome Sabbagh ’98, Diego Urcola ’90, Franco Pinna ’00, and professors Fernando Huergo and Daniel Ian Smith.

Steve Garbade B.M. of Sunland-Tujunga, CA, won his second Emmy Award (Pacific Southwest Chapter) in the Musical Composition/Arrangement category for his score for the broadcast of the 7th Annual San Diego Film Awards.

Justo Morao of Caracas, Venezuela, arranged and produced the album Tonada, by trumpeter Morris Northcutt. The album contains a mixture of musical rhythms from Latin and North America, combining traditional music with symphonic elements. 

Simone Waddell  released her fifth studio album, The Art of Collaboration, which features some of the biggest names in Australian jazz and pays homage to five iconic Australian hits: “Beds Are Burning,” “Burn for You,” “Fall at Your Feet,” “The Horses,” and “Mystify.” It also includes Waddell’s own original music. 

1997

Damon Hope B.M. of San Francisco, CA, currently leads his band, the Nomad Band, and owns a drum rental and teaching studio called Nomad Drum Studios. Visit nomaddrumstudios.com and nomadband.org.

Amy Ward-Wurst of Overland Park, KS, is a singer-songwriter, pianist, and coproducer at Amy Ward Music. She has placed hundreds of songs on television and in films; performed at Madison Square Garden; and opened for Dave Matthews Band. Her album INVICTUS is available on all streaming platforms. Visit amyward.hearnow.com. 

1998

Zacarías Martínez de la Riva Antigas B.M. of Alcobendas, Spain, just finished composing an animation feature called Tad the Lost Explorer and the Emerald Tablet, and he composed for a Google commercial. He is currently working on the music for a series for Disney+ called La Chica Invisible. 

Soren Sorensen B.M. of Cranston, RI, is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. His recent short film, With Dad, chronicles the work of Massachusetts photographer Stephen DiRado during his father's 20-year decline and eventual death from Alzheimer's disease. The film is available at wgbh.org/program/with-dad/with-dad.

1999

Oscar Peñas B.M. of New York City released his fifth album, Almadraba, in February. It features Ron Carter, Harlem Quartet, Marta Sánchez, Pablo Aslan, and Richie Barshaym. Jason Olaine produced the album, and Ashley Khan wrote the liner notes. Visit oscarpenas.com.

2000

John J. Campbell B.M. of Murrieta, CA, has been the front-of-house engineer and post-production mixer for the Hour of Power TV show for 11 years. A recent graduate from Arizona State University with a B.S. in software engineering, he is the journeyman sound technician for the IBEW 569 union.

Clement Fung B.M. of Hong Kong, China, is a member of RubberBand, which sold out the Hong Kong Coliseum in April 2021. 

Haddon Kime B.M. of Edinburgh, Scotland, wrote the original musical comedy LAG: A Zoomsical, which will be among the digital offerings at the 2022 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The piece is the first original musical to be written for, and performed completely over, videoconferencing software. 

2001

Andre del Amo B.M. of Etna, PA, released four instrumental guitar records accompanied by videos on YouTube under the name the Mother Tiger.

2004

Eren Gümrükçüoğlu B.M. of Durham, NC, accepted a tenure-track position at the Florida State University College of Music as assistant professor of composition. Gümrükçüoğlu is also in the process of making a new album with music for instruments and electronics.

Marco Pacassoni B.M. of Fano, Italy, released his new trio album, LIFE, with Antonio Sanchez ’97 (drums) and faculty member John Patitucci (bass). Additionally, to promote the 100th anniversary of the vibraphone, Pacassoni did a European tour with Horacio “El Negro” Hernández.

2008

Courtney Elizabeth B.M. of Ventura, CA, portrayed Mrs. Dolan in Jordan Peele’s movie Nope. 

Maximo Flint-Morgan B.M. of Tully, NY, joined the staff of Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY. He and his team provide aid for 3,000 undergraduate students and nearly 1,000 graduate students.

Monnikue Marie McCall B.M. of Boston is the executive director of Harvard's Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History and the director of administration and operations of the American Studies Program. She is also the founder of McCall Leadership, an executive coaching firm.

Sarah M. Williams B.M. of Jackson, NJ, is the managing coordinator for Mingus Dynasty, Mingus Orchestra, and the Grammy-winning Mingus Big Band. She is also director of the Charles Mingus Institute and was responsible for programming the Charles Mingus Centennial Celebrations in 2022. 

2009

Istvan Cseh of Érd, Hungary, orchestrated the Szeklers anthem for its 100-year anniversary. The anthem was performed by the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra in Budapest.

2010

Victor Kennedy of Maribor, Slovenia, is a professor of English and American studies at the University of Maribor. He is the author of Strange Brew: Metaphors of Magic and Science in Rock Music (2013) as well as several articles about literature and music. He is also the co-editor of several books. 

Michelle Zalabak B.M. of Sherman Oaks, CA, completed her M.B.A. with an emphasis in finance and entrepreneurship. In school, she was inducted into an international honors society and was the chief financial officer for the graduate student body. She is currently interning for a private equity firm.

2011

Michaela Rose Kaser B.M. of Los Angeles, who is known as Miki Rose, released a single with El Train, “Be My Lover.” TMRW magazine calls her “one of the British nu soul revolution’s most interesting young artists.” She has over 100,000 TikTok followers and over 5 million streams. Visit mikirosemusic.com.

Louis de Mieulle of Paris, France, relocated from the United States to France and was artistically reborn as Louison. His first fully electronic prog album, Magnetic Feel, synthesizes his European classical upbringing with shameless American exuberance. 

2012

Luiz Augusto Buff de Souza e Silva B.M. of Valencia, CA, was recently hired as the senior director of music business and legal affairs at NBCUniversal. 

Ada Pasternak B.M. won first prize in the Best Female Artist category at the 18th Annual International Acoustic Music Awards (IAMA) for her original song "Grow Older.”

Angel Jacinto Velez of Oxnard, CA, is a music director and concert producer who is directing the live concert performance of the HBO film For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story. Velez also served as music director for Miss World 2021 and as guest conductor for the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra. 

2014

Alexander Baboian B.M. of Belmont, MA, is pursuing his master’s degree in the Jazz Department of the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp in Belgium. Baboian recently performed a program of Chris Potter’s tunes with the Antwerp Jazz Orchestra and Bert Joris that was arranged by Baboian and students in the ensemble. 

Antoine Fatout of Dublin, OH, opened his music school, Fa2 Drum Studio, in Columbus, OH, in 2014. His first album, Trio Fa2, was released this year and features Stan Smith and Roger Hines. 

India Thomson B.M. of St. Petersburg, FL, was promoted to assistant vice president at Citi Private Bank Law Firm Group. She received her Series 31 securities license, which entitles her to sell managed futures funds or supervise those activities. 

2015

Tracy Yang of Elmhurst, NY, winner of the Charlie Parker Jazz Composition Prize and Manny Albam Commission in 2021, premiered her commissioned piece "Sea Swell" at Dizzy's Club in New York City. Yang is also a recipient of a 2022 NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music, and Theatre grant.

2016

Chelcie Gette B.M. of Brentwood, TN, is a pop and soul artist who released her first album in August.

Elizabeth Turner B.M., M.M. of Miami Lakes, FL, received her Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in leadership and innovation from St. Thomas University in Miami, Florida, where she is serving as the director of choir and musical theater.

 

2017

Tancredi Lo Cigno of Florence, Italy, is a drummer and teacher whose video course on rhythmic illusions, Time Trip, was published by Hudson Music. It was published as an ebook in 2020, making Lo Cigno the first Italian author on Hudson Music’s roster. Visit hudsonmusic.com/product/time-trip.

Nychelle Winters B.M. of Duncanville, TX, is an Irma P. Hall Black Theater Award–winning actress who has performed in many off-Broadway productions. After becoming a certified music teacher, she now serves as the general music and choir director for grades K–8 at Harry Stone Montessori Academy in Dallas.

2018

Matias Bahamondes of Santiago, Chile, is a member of the death-metal band Overtoun and won the 2022 Pulsar Award in the Best Metal Artist category for his work on the band’s new album, This Darkness Feels Alive, produced by Pancho Arenas and mastered by the legendary Metallica producer Flemming Rasmussen.

Seth D. Mills B.M. of Englewood, NJ, founded Topaz Music Consulting, a music consulting business dedicated to protecting digital rights of independent music.

Gabrielle Liriano B.M. of Montvale, NJ, completed a commission for Apollo5, a chamber choir of the VOCES8 Foundation, based in the United Kingdom. Apollo5 will be performing the piece as well as recording it for its new album. Liriano will also be featured in Choir & Organ magazine. 

2019

Aliya Cycon B.M., M.M. and her band, the Aliya Cycon Project, performed as the central event in a community festival this June in Valencia, Spain, that sought to raise awareness of refugees. The festival was organized in recognition of World Refugee Day.

Pablo Mirete Godoy B.M. of Los Angeles composed and produced the music for the film Umbrellas, which is nominated for a Goya Award, and for which he received the Fugaz Award for Best Original Score. Godoy also produces for several artists around the world. 

2021

Ella Solana García B.M. released her first album, A Butterfly in Dappled Shade, in July. It features performances by Carl-Isaac Krulewitch B.M. ’21, Colin Jenkins B.M. ’19, and Rhiannon Ramsey-Brimberg B.M. ’20, and can be found on YouTube and all streaming platforms.

2022

Dorothea Marchell Jackson of New York City is a jazz performer and songwriter, and a private instructor at the New York Jazz Academy. Her new album, Strong Black Women, was released in July, and she performed at the Jazz Museum of Harlem. Visit bit.ly/3AcTy10.

This article appeared in the fall/winter 2022 issue of Berklee Today.