Alumnotes
Class of 1966
Stephen Gould of Somerville, MA, attended masterclasses with djembe drum master Famoudou Konaté in the West African village of Sangbarala. Gould is the director of Ph.D. programs in Educational Leadership and Human Development and Learning at Lesley University.
Class of 1974
Woodwind player Don Davis of Manchester, NH, has recorded with the Microscopic Septet, Cecilia Zabala, and pianist Karl Berger. Visit soundcloud.com/don-davis.
Composer and drummer Jeffrey Meyer of New York City released the album Paolo for Paw Maw Music with Michael Pellera ’76 playing piano, which is available on iTunes. Meyer was recently a guest composer at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts.
Class of 1975
Guitarist Jeff Ciampa of Warwick, NY, played on Pete Levin’s Möbius and Tomas Martin Lopez’s Rhythm Rising albums.
Class of 1976
Saxophonist Robin Blakeman of Brighton, England, played his piece “Fantasía Cubana” with the group Caribbean Jazz Report in St. Petersburg, Russia, during the International Jazz Day celebration.
Laurie Cohen of Mill Valley, CA, has retired as director of the Mill Valley Philharmonic orchestra, which she founded and led for 18 years. In May, she conducted the group’s performances of Symphony No. 9 by Beethoven.
Class of 1977
Saxophonist Harrison Goldberg of Gualala, CA, released the album Live at Sea Ranch Lodge with his quintet Baku. Visit harrisongoldbergarts.com.
Drummer, composer, and bandleader Bob Holz of Fayetteville, NY, released his third album Visions: Coast to Coast Connection with MVD Audio. Visit bobholzband.com.
Class of 1978
Greg Steele of Lee’s Summit, MO, is the senior video editor at KMBC-TV Kansas City and an independent ambient artist at GPS Productions.
Pianist and composer Emil Viklicky of Prague, Czech Republic, wrote music for Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and performed his five-movement Czech Suite with the group at the Brno Jazz Festival in January.
Class of 1979
Trumpeter Jonathan Lax of Summit, NJ, recently played with bands at Neil’s Music Room in East Memphis, TN, Maria’s Cantina in Southaven, MS.
Class of 1980
Robert Harris of Sudbury, MA, is the CEO and founder of Edudexterity and was recognized by Education Week as a “leader to learn from.”
Bassist Dave Zinno of Portsmouth, RI, and his group Unisphere released the album River of January, featuring Mike Tucker ’06, Leo Genovese ’04, Rafael Barata, and Benny Bloom.
Class of 1982
Alejandro Varela of Buenos Aires, Argentina, is a drummer, teacher, and author.
Class of 1983
Saxophonist Rainer Pusch of Mannheim, Germany, has been playing in India and Thailand and teaches at the Nagaland Conservatory in Dimapur, India..
Paul Sciaba of Wakefield, MA, released the album Sound Waves, a collection of original compositions for acoustic guitar available through iTunes. Visit coolchangemusic.com.
Gina Biver of Falls Church, VA, and her electro-acoustic group Fuse Ensemble recorded the album Fuse Ensemble 3, the Music of Gina Biver. Visit www.ginabiver.com.
Trombonist and composer Mark McGrain of New Orleans, LA, released the album Love, Time, and Divination in February. It includes McGrain’s originals and standards. Visit markmcgrain.com.
Class of 1984
Composer Joel Goodman of Topanga, CA, wrote the scores for the documentaries The Gilded Age and The Bombing of Wall Street. Both aired on PBS in February. Visit joelgoodman.com.
Peter Gregory of Yardley, PA is the owner of Gregory Tech Drum Center. Visit gregorytechdrumcenter.com.
Drummer Guillermo Nojechowicz of Arlington, MA, recently released his album EL ECO. It was inspired by the childhood flight of his father from Eastern Europe to Argentina in 1933. Visit elecomusic.com.
Class of 1984
Drummer Gene Jackson of Brooklyn, NY, and his group Trio NuYorx released the album Power of Love on Whirlwind Recordings. It includes seven original jazz compositions plus tunes by Thelonious Monk and Cole Porter.
Peter S. Singer of Carver, MA, worked with producer Mike Davidson on the new album Eternal You. The album’s first single is available at https://youtu.be/MafSxlyHXjg. Visit petersingermusic.com.
Class of 1986
Kevin Kastning of Groton, MA, released 17/66, his 29th album on Greydisc Records, which features solo performances of nine original pieces on 36-, 30-, and 17-string guitars. Visit kevinkastning.com
Class of 1987
Jazz guitarist Mordy Ferber of Englewood, NJ, produced two instructional videos on improvisation for his website. Visit www.mymusicmasterclass.com/premiumvideos/mordy-ferber-jazz-guitar-masterclass-musical-improvisation-1.
Stephen Kaminski of Monmouth Junction, NJ, composed and arranged the soundtrack for the Netflix film The Polka King starring Jack Black. Visit stephenkaminskimusic.com.
Class of 1989
James Christian Miller of Clayton, GA, is the owner of Double Planet, Ltd. Co., which offers music instruction, recording, and music publishing services. Visit doubleplanet.com.
Class of 1990
Guitarist and vocalist John Baldwin of Chesapeake, VA, toured America with Rockin’ Road to Dublin and played on the show’s original cast album. Baldwin also re-released his debut album Six String Slinger. Visit johnbaldwinmusic.com.
Robert Bonfiglio of Toluca Lake, CA, is a self-employed musician. Visit robbonfiglio.com.
Neil Bowman of Woburn, MA, and his band the Cast Irons performed live at radio stations at Emerson College and Tufts University. Visit thecastirons1.bandcamp.com.
Blake Morgan of New York City has performed with Tracy Bonham and Chris Barron and mastered a new single by David Poe. Visit ecrmusicgroup.com/artists/blake-morgan.
Derek Sivers of Seattle, WA, the founder and former owner of CD Baby, regularly posts advice articles about the music business at sivers.org.
Class of 1991
Brian Brodeur of Montclair, NJ, celebrated the 16th anniversary of his ACIEM Studios, the leading independent post-production company in NJ, producing 200 broadcast television episodes annually. Visit aciemstudios.com.
Class of 1991
John Alexander of Hampstead, NC, is a lead iOS developer at IBM.
Class of 1992
Drummer Stephan Chaggaris of Ipswich, MA, performs and records with a variety of artists and plays with the cover band Splash!
New music composer Jason Eckardt of Kerhonkson, NY, presented a program of his music for solo instruments at Spectrum in Brooklyn, NY. Eckardt is a faculty member at Brooklyn College and City University of New York.
Beatriz de Mello conducted the children’s choir and Newark School of the Arts Choir with the Hudson Singers at a Carnegie Hall performance in June 2017.
Class of 1994
Martin Case of Melbourne, Australia, teaches at JMC Academy and operates his production company. Visit martincasemediaproductions.com.
Producer and mixer Paul J. Falcone of New York City is the president of PJF Music Inc. He recently mixed a live performance by rapper Nas with the National Symphony Orchestra. Visit pauljfalcone.com.
Kevin Kaska of Encino, CA, arranged and conducted music for his jazz orchestra recording Artistry, which features trumpeter Arturo Sandoval and a host of top Los Angeles musicians in a program of 11 original compositions and a jazz standard. The album was released on the Denoument Records label.
Class of 1995
Zak Borovay of Silver Spring, MD, is now the video interactive designer and screens producer for Mode Studios. Borovay has served as the projection designer for a dozen Broadway shows and operates Borovay Design. Visit borovaydesign.com.
Stephan Kammerer of New York City unveiled his Origin Series saxophone mouthpieces, produced by his company SK Mouthpieces. Visit skmouthpieces.com.
Pianist and photographer Paulo Tozzi of São Paulo, Brazil, recorded the album Aerial with his jazz trio.
Class of 1996
Mike Baiardi of Encino, CA, received an ASCAP Screen Music Award for music he composed for numerous TV episodes and feature films. He is principal composer of Soundfile Music in Los Angeles. Visit soundfilemusic.com
Manfred Junker of Constance, Germany, released his 13th album, Manfred Junker Organ Trio: Look Out! with organist Elisabeth Berner and drummer Tony Renold. It features 10 original tunes by Junker. Visit manfredjunker.com.
Dana Wright of Ashland, MA, teaches privately and published the book Essential Skills for the Guitarist with Amazon. Visit http://a.co/hhUFCuK for more information.
Class of 1997
Patric Skog of Sundyberg, Sweden, is the assistant manager and head of the guitar department at the Stockholm School of the Arts.
Piano technician Christopher Pacewicz of Waialua, HI, designed a music education video game called “8 Bit Conservatory” for phones and tablets to introduce musical concepts in a playful environment. Visit 8bitconservatory.com.
Composer and music editor Shie Rozow of Santa Clarita, CA, received his 16th Golden Reel nomination in the Best Achievement in Sound Editing: Episodic Long Form category for his work on John Singleton’s Rebel. Visit shierozow.com.
Class of 1998
Composer Ben Goldberg of Brooklyn, NY, was named as the composer-in-residence for Symphony Number One, a chamber orchestra in Baltimore, MD. Goldberg has won composition competitions with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the Allentown Symphony Orchestra. Visit bengoldbergmusic.com.
Class of 1999
Trevor and Anne Jones of Plymouth, MA, fell in love during the fall of 1997 at Berklee. Now married, they have two daughters and look forward to spending the rest of their lives together.
In 2017, composer George Kallis of Los Angeles, CA, was named Breakthrough Composer of the Year caegory for his scores for the features Albion: The Enchanted Stallion, The Black Prince, and Posledniy Bogatyr (The Last Warrior). Visit georgekallis.com.
Drummer, composer, and storyteller Sean Noonan of Easton, MA, received positive reviews for his album Man No Longer Me. In May 2018, he premiered his Zappanation Rock Opera in Germany. Visit seannoonanmusic.com.
Class of 2000
Pascal Kaeser of Bolligen, Switzerland, released the album Loud with the r&b, soul, hip-hop, and funk band the Next Movement. Visit thenextmovement.ch.
Class of 2001
Matt Chase of Scituate, MA, released the album One Last Try, which features Tim Paul Weiner, Mauricio Zottarelli ’02, and Fernando Mainer ’02. Visit mattchasemusic.com.
Paulo Perfeito of Porto, Portugal, is the professor of jazz studies at Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espetáculo.
Class of 2002
Fiddler Nicky Sanders of Asheville, NC, and the Steep Canyon Rangers released the album Out in the Open in January. In addition to its own gigs, the group has recorded and toured with comedian Steve Martin.
Class of 2003
Composer and pianist JooWan Kim of Oakland, CA, was commissioned by National Geographic to compose Symphony for Our World for a tour by the National Geographic Symphony. Kim is the founder of Ensemble Mik Nawooj. Visit ensemblemiknawooj.com.
David Mundy of Vero Beach, FL, is the director of jazz studies at Indian River Charter High School.
Class of 2004
Heather Briere of Woodside, NY, is the manager of school programs at the New York Philharmonic.
Class of 2005
Stefano Switala of Rome, Italy, scored the motion picture Sconnessi. Visit stefanoswitala.com.
Gregory Tripi of Valley Glen, CA, composed the score for the series Manhunt: Unabomber. The soundtrack was released worldwide in February. Visit greg-tripi.com.
Class of 2006
David Reffett of Dracut, MA, is teaching music for Nanwai King’s College School in Wuxi, China.
Class of 2007
Bassist Laurent Salzard of Paris, France, released his debut album, Time Keeper, with instrumental backing from Anthony Jambon, Martin Wangermée, Fred Dupont, and Christophe Panzani. Visit laurentsalzard.com.
Class of 2008
Jen Hodges of Atlanta, GA, is the education and outreach specialist for Notes for Notes, a non-profit that designs and equips after-school recording studios. Visit notesfornotes.org.
Saxophonist and singer Grace Kelly of Astoria, NY, successfully funded her album GO TiME: Brooklyn through PledgeMusic. Visit gracekellymusic.com.
Drummer and bandleader Dan Pugach of Brooklyn, NY, released the album Plus One on Unit Records. It includes six original compositions and pieces by Chick Corea, Ivan Lins, and Dolly Parton. Performers include trumpeter Ingrid Jensen ’89 and bassist Tamir Shmerling ’11. Visit danpugach.com.
Hector Rodriguez Jr. of New Hyde Park, NY, is a sales and customer service representative for D’Addario & Company, Inc. Rodriguez is also the director of worship for Third Christian Church.
Class of 2009
Singer/songwriter Zoë Evans of Santa Fe, NM, released a music video for her new single “These Dreams.” For more information, visit smarturl.it/Thesedreams.
Guitarist Julian Lage of New York City released the album Modern Lore, a trio outing with bassist Scott Colley and drummer Kenny Wollesen.
Film composer James Roberson of Los Angeles, CA, is writing for the DreamWorks TV series Spirit Riding Free. In 2016, Roberson released the album Inspiring Indie Scores. Visit robersonsound.com.
Class of 2010
Producer and songwriter Jason Strong of Senderwood, South Africa, recently coproduced Naïka’s single “Ride,” which has surpassed 3.5 million streams on Spotify.
Class of 2011
Danielle Deckard of Elizabeth Bay, Australia, released her latest single and music video “Honey.” Visit danielledeckard.com.
Lydia Liebman of Boston, MA, operates Lydia Liebman Promotions.
Bassist Louis de Mieulle of Brooklyn, NY, and drummer Matt Garstka released the EP Dual that blends math-rock grooves and classical polyphony. David Potaux-Razel ’06, Aki Ishiguro ’06, and Jussi Reijonen ’11 appear on the EP.
Songwriter and healer Jourdan Rystrom of Los Angeles, CA, launched her music and healing business Awaken the Glow. Visit awakentheglow.com.
Preston Shinall of Woodstock, GA, is a guitar instructor at Jennings Music. Visit reverbnation.com/prestonshinall.
Class of 2012
Bassist and composer Junichi Arima of Brooklyn, NY, is working with hip-hop, r&b, and West African musicians. Visit junichiarima.com.
Class of 2013
Television composer Oguz Can Ozcanli, of Izmir, Turkey, wrote the music for the TV movie Billy the Kid: New Evidence, starring Kevin Costner. Visit soundcloud.com/oguz-can-ozcanli.
Lithuanian jazz vocalist and composer Viktorija Pilatovic of Valencia, Spain, is a member of the voice faculty at Berklee Valencia. Her latest album release is titled Stories. Visit viktorijapilatovic.com.
Trumpeter and bandleader Jeremy Turgeon of Springfield, MA, released the album What Matters Most with the Jeremy Turgeon Quintet. He teaches at the Community Music School of Springfield. Visit jeremyturgeon.com.
Multi-percussionist, composer, and educator Fran Vielma of Salem, MA, released the album Tendencias with the Venezuelan Jazz Collective. Visit franvielma.com.
Paul Hatfield of Irvine, CA, was promoted to audio producer at Blizzard Entertainment.
Chelsea McKinney of Ann Arbor, MI, earned her MBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Visit her on LinkedIn.
Class of 2014
Alexey León Reyes of Valencia, Spain, won First Prize at the Young Jazz Musicians Competition in Havana, Cuba, and released the album Cuban Connection. Visit alexeyleonreyes.com.
Chris Uribe of Mexico City, Mexico, released an EP titled Vuelve, which is available on Spotify, Deezer, Amazon, and Apple Music.
Class of 2015
Guido Arcella Diez of Merida, México, is the founder of 4 Mayan Seasons, a production company promoting concerts by young Mayan artists. Visit 4mayanseasons.com.
Thorvaldur Halldorsson of Gardur, Iceland, is a freelance percussionist and teacher at the Reykjanesbaer Music School.
Stephanie Hernandez of Miami Beach, FL, is the marketing coordinator for the Miami Music Project.
Composer and orchestrator Zuzana Michlerová of Mostkovice, Czech Republic, has had her orchestral arrangements recorded by FILMharmonic Orchestra Prague, Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra, and with the Budapest Art Orchestra. Visit zuzanamichlerova.com.
David Milazzo of Brooklyn, NY, won the Vandoren Emerging Artist first prize in jazz saxophone. In May he earned a master of music degree in jazz performance from Juilliard.
Jakob Rabitsch of North Hollywood, CA, did keyboard and production work for the Grammy-nominated album Free 6lack.
Belén Vivero of Chico, Ecuador, won an award in the Best Vocal Song category from an International Film at the 2017 Garden State Film Festival for her song “Don’t Show You Cried.” Two of her other songs were finalists in the UK Songwriting Contest in 2017. Visit belenvivero.com.
Class of 2016
Nitish Kulkarni of Fort Wayne, IN, released his second album, Listen, which showcases instruments from around the world. Visit nitishkulkarni.com.
Guitarist Eduardo Mercuri of Medford, MA, released an album of jazz standards titled Prelude to a Kiss with backing from Patrick Simard ’13, Hayden Ferrar, Gustavo D’Amico, and a woodwind quartet. Visit eduardomercurimusic.com.
Composer Pietro Milanesi of Los Angeles, CA, wrote music for the Netflix documentary Icarus, which won several awards, including the 2018 Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category. Visit pietromilanesi.com.
Misaki Nakamichi of Osaka, Japan, is a professional drummer. Visit misaki-beat.info.
Educator, arranger, and composer Eleftherios Papadakis of Chania, Greece, has performed in concert and in the studio with renowned Greek musical artists. Find Papadakis on YouTube at http://bit.ly/2r44Tiv.
Trumpeter and pianist Mao Soné of Nagareyama, Chiba, Japan, released the double album Infinite Creature for the Pony Canyon label. Misaki Nakamichi ’16, Ren Yamamoto ’14, Hiro Kimura ’13 , Mei Inoue ’13, and Nori Shiota ’13 contributed to the album. Visit maosone.com.
Drummer Gregory Szaro of Linden, NJ, is the principal orchestra drummer for Royal Caribbean International. Visit gregszaro.com.
Kyle Tesalona of Port Saint Lucie, FL, is the audio supervisor and orchestral recordist for the upcoming indie film How the Moon Fell from the Sky and No One Even Noticed. Visit kyletesalona.com.
Michael Weberman, Anthony Quirk, and Adam Discipio of Nashville, TN, perform with Ben Sparaco and the New Effect. The three alumni recently performed at a Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School benefit concert in Fort Lauderdale, FL.
Guitarist Julian Harris of Palmetto Bay, FL, and singer Julia Camayd ’16 of Soulpax, released the single “Inside Outside” on YouTube. Visit youtube.com/watch?v=ZkZB4mbIkHk&feature=youtu.be.
Rapper and lyricist Iltaek Hong of Seoul, South Korea, is a music editor and content specialist on the YouTube/Google Play team for Google Korea. Visit staggermusic.com.
Caroline Kim of Seoul, South Korea, is managing PONY, Asia’s leading celebritymakeup artist.
Class of 2017
John Varkados of Brighton, MA, is a manager at GFP Productions LLC. The company recently released its first original short film, Wonderful. Varkados also cofounded the record label, Vision Records Music Group, with Gianni DiFusco. Visit jvarkados.wixiste.com/johnv.
Film composer and sound artist Lu Wang of Long Island, NY, created sound-visual installations that were presented at 3LD Art & Technology Center in New York City. Visit Wang on Instagram @daisykh92.
Drummer, pianist, composer, and arranger Joshua Wheatley of Valencia, Spain, is an instructor at Berklee Valencia and directs the Contemporary Instrumental Gospel Ensemble. Visit facebook.com/JWheatleyMusic.
Jose Carlos Campos Alejos of Allston, MA, is a music producer at his startup Your Tracks Online. The company outsources instrumental recordings to Venezuela and records with the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra. Visit yourtracksonline.com.
Composer and arranger King Hen Leung of Hong Kong, China, is doing MIDI programming and score preparation for film, TV, and jingles, for Dome Production Ltd. Visit leungkingheng.com.
Ross Hodgkinson of North Hollywood, CA, tours with Ethan Bortnick and recorded three live videos with pop artist Katelyn Tarver. Hodgkinson’s band, Munro the Band, has released the single “Longer Than a Day without You.” Visit www.rosshodgkinson.com.
Singer-songwriter Erin Jarvis of Nashville, TN, is working with noted songwriter Jeff Cohen and will release her debut record later this year. Visit erinjarvismusic.com.
Marcelo Fernandes Maccagnan of New York City released the album Looking Ahead, which is available on Spotify, iTunes, and SoundCloud.
Majou of Santa Monica, CA, is working as an assistant to two-time Grammy Award–winning composer Christopher Tin.
Hudson Stanton of La Mirada, CA, is writing and producing songs. Visit hudsonstanton.com.