Faculty Notes
Professor Barbara LaFitte toured with the Boston Pops in Florida in February, and in Texas in March, performing the music of John Williams ’80H. On New Year’s Eve, she performed with Seth MacFarlane at Symphony Hall in Boston.
Associate Professor Ady Cohen’s latest feature-film score, for the Israeli-Hungarian animated film The Legend of King Solomon, can be heard on online platforms where the film is available for streaming and purchase.
Professor David Scott’s Vintage Vocal Quartet was the featured ensemble with the Cape Symphony for six sold-out Holiday Pops concerts. Scott leads the quartet, which also includes Assistant Professor Taylor O'Donnell, Associate Professor Paul Pampinella, and Adam Gautille.
Professor Laszlo Gardony was the featured pianist for the 41st Annual John Coltrane Memorial Concert. He will perform with his trio, which includes Associate Professor John Lockwood on bass and Assistant Chair of the Percussion Department Yoron Israel on drums, at Mezzrow Jazz Club in New York City on May 16.
Assistant Professor Sean McLaughlin won Producer of the Year at the 2018 New England Music Awards, becoming the first producer to receive the honor twice.
Professor Beth Denisch was the Carolina Chamber Music Festival composer in residence. Her original composition “Factor Fiction” was commissioned and premiered by the Calyx Piano Trio at CCMF in January 2019 at the Bank of the Arts, New Bern, North Carolina.
Managing Director for the Berklee Global Jazz Institute Marco Pignataro’s album Almas Antiguas was released September 9. It has been presented on CNN en Español, featured on the Jazz at Lincoln Center website, and DownBeat gave it four and a half stars.
Professor Lauren Passarelli recorded, mixed, and mastered the albums Sophisticated Lady, from Professor Suzanna Sifter and The Moon Jig and Other Dances by Harvard scholar Kate Chadbourne. Both were baby grand solo piano performances recorded on location.
Yoko Miwa was promoted to associate professor in the Piano Department. The Yoko Miwa Trio performed to capacity audiences in the 2018 Atlanta Jazz Festival, Litchfield Jazz Festival, Regattabar, and Scullers Jazz Club.
Conservatory Professor Kevin Siegfried’s choral arrangement of the Shaker song “Lay Me Low” was performed by the Joint Armed Forces Chorus at the state funeral of President George H. W. Bush, on December 5, 2018.
Associate Professor Patricia Peknik’s book French Louisiana Music and its Patrons: The Popularization and Transformation of a Regional Sound was published in September by Palgrave MacMillan. It covers the development and marketing of Cajun and zydeco music from the 1920s through the folk revival, civil rights, and ethnic revival movements.
The composition “Hambre” (Hunger), with music by Assistant Chair of the Contemporary Writing and Production Department Amparo Edo Biol, premiered in Zaragoza, Spain, and Toulouse, France. Her composition “Snapan” was commissioned to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Federation of Music Societies in Valencia.
In January, Yellow Sound Label released All the Possibilities: Broadway Sings Wartofsky, featuring 11 originals by Professor Michael Wartofsky, lead vocals by 12 Broadway stars, and abundant contributions from Berklee faculty, student, and alumni musicians.
Instructor Lydia Harrell performed in the musical Open Mic Night at Mookie’s Place at the Greater Boston Stage Company in Stoneham, MA, in January, and at the 10th Annual Jazz and Chocolate event at the United Church of Christ in Burlington, MA, in February. Visit lovelysinger.com.
Professor Bruno Råberg’s album Tailwind, featuring Bruce Barth on piano and Adam Cruz on drums, was included in the lists of best jazz albums of 2018 at Rhythm Plant, UKVibe, and the Patriot Ledger.
Assistant Professor Annette Whitehead-Pleaux was awarded the Alumni Recognition Award from Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, where she received her master’s degree after studying music therapy.
Assistant Professor Victoria Large had a flash fiction story, "Motion Sick," published in Blink Ink magazine.
Conservatory Assistant Professor Bryn Austin served as dialect coach for Lyric Stage Company of Boston’s The Little Foxes, the world premiere of Festival Theater’s bare stage, and New Repertory Theatre’s Cardboard Piano.
Assistant Professor Liz Lamour joined the Cambridge office of Acentech as an audiovisual consultant. She will assist Acentech’s systems group with the design of higher education, performing arts, corporate interior, and sports arena projects.
Associate Professor Scarlet Keys’s book The Craft of Songwriting: Music, Meaning & Emotion was published in October by Berklee Press. The book focuses on how chords and melodies affect a song’s emotional resonance.
Conservatory Associate Professor Candice Brown performed in The Roommate at Lyric Stage Boston in November. She was also the voice and dialect coach for the Center Stage production of Cabaret; The Night Watch and Night of the Iguana at Gamm Theatre; and Pride and Prejudice at Trinity Repertory Company.
Conservatory Professor Josh Rosen released three albums in 2018: The Music of Paul Motian and Spontaneous Compositions with John Voigt; Three Moments with Associate Professor Stan Strickland and drummer Ra Kalam Bob Moses; and Seasons with Strickland, Professor Bruno Råberg, and Dave Fox. Visit zigglezagglemusic.com
Music by Composition Department Chair Richard Carrick was performed at Miller Theatre in New York City multiple times this winter. He also had five new scores published by Project Schott New York, and his composition “Harmonixity” was released on New Focus Recordings.
Professor Rekha Menon was invited to Vilnius University in Lithuania in October to present on Indian art and perform Indian classical dance. She also conducted a dance workshop at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. In December, she was invited by IEFL and Central University, Hyderabad, India, to conduct seminars for Ph.D. students on postcolonial India.
Conservatory Assistant Professor Elina G. Hamilton had a chapter titled "And in England, There Are Singers: Grafting Oneself into the Origins of Music" published in March in Music, Myth and Story in Medieval and Early Modern Culture, an edited volume of essays by Boydell & Brewer Press.
Conservatory Professor Jim Dalton contributed the chapter "The Changing Intonational Practice of Mid-Nineteenth Century Banjo" to the book Banjo Roots and Branches, published by University of Illinois Press. In November, he presented his paper "Size Does Matter: Microtonal Harmonic Distance As a Structural Determinant in Just Intonation" at the Nova Contemporary Music Meeting in Lisbon, Portugal.
In April, Notefornote Music released the album Love is on the Line by Associate Professor Ana Guigui. She will have a CD release performance at the Cutting Room in New York City in May, featuring players from the original Blues Brothers Band.