Faculty Notes
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| Kaye Kelly |
In December 2011, a faculty ensemble that includes Professor of Piano Joanne Brackeen, Assistant Chair of Percussion Yoron Israel, Professor of Electronic Production and Design Neil Leonard, and Associate Professor of Bass John Lockwood performed in Cuba at the Jazz Plaza, International Jazz Festival, and the Instituto Superior de Arte.
Assistant Professor of Contemporary Writing and Production Lee Abe published four vocal arrangements with UNC Jazz Press. The 18-piece jazz choir Boston Jazz Voices recorded Abe's versions of "Every Breath You Take" and "Let's Fall in Love," which are available through Amazon.com and iTunes.
Assistant Professor of Percussion Sergio Bellotti played drums on the CD Sweet Temptation by Rocco Ventrella. The album also features Everett Harp (sax) and Gerri Brown (drums). Bellotti also recorded a new CD for Croatian national television music director Igor Gerzina '95.
Professor of Music Education Peter Cokkinias will produce Berklee's production of the musical Chicago in the spring. He has conducted the Metrowest Symphony Orchestra in Hopkinton, MA, for 31 seasons and the Nutcracker ballet at the Franklin School for the Performing Arts for seven seasons.
Dean of Institutional Assessment and Graduate Studies Camille Colatosti penned the book To Be an Artist: Musicians, Visual Artists, Writers, and Dancers Speak, published by E.L. Kurdyla Publishing.
Associate Professor Kaye Kelly has released her second album, Wide Open Road. The disc features 10 original pop/country tracks. Kelly is featured on keyboards and vocals and is joined by faculty members Brad Hatfield (piano), Steve Kirby (guitars), and Casey Scheuerell (drums) as well as Mark Hardt (guitars, bass, drums) and Richard Gates (bass).
Professor of Composition Julius Williams has been elected to the board of directors of the Conductors Guild, an international organization that represents 1,600 professional symphonic band conductors.
Professor of Guitar Jon Damian will be a visiting scholar at the Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE in Australia. He will present his "Creative Workshop" and "Guitar Workshop" and give lectures on publication.
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| Hey Rim Jeon |
Professor of Liberal Arts Peter Gardner recently conducted a workshop at the annual symposium of the Swiss Association for Intercultural Education in Fribourg, Switzerland. His topic was the practice and theory of teaching intercultural education.
Professor Stephen Webber cowrote, orchestrated, conducted, and coproduced a recording for hip-hop artists DJ Premier and Nas that will be featured in the film Re: Generations. The film will be released in February and shows Webber giving DJ Premier a conducting lesson at New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall and recording a 58-piece orchestra at WGBH's Fraser Recording Studio.
Professor of Piano Laszlo Gardony and his quartet played at the Birdland Jazz Club in New York City on December 8, 2011. The event celebrated the release of Gardony's CD Signature Time.
Associate Professor Gaye Tolan Hatfield, collaborated with producer and engineer Crit Harmon on the ear-training audio learning series Ear Training on the Run. Visit www.eartrainingontherun.com(Opens in a new window).
In October 2011, Assistant Professor of Film Scoring Ben Houge did a sound installation at the Axiom Center for New and Experimental Media. He is currently an artist in residence at MIT working with the Responsiveness Environments Group at the Media Lab on sonification for real-time sensor networks.
Associate Professor Fernando Huergo released a new album titled Suite en celeste y blanco. The recording was made in Paris with a grant from Chamber Music America and the French American Cultural Exchange. The 50-minute suite blends Argentinean folkloric styles, tango, and jazz, and the piece features Yulia Musayelyan, Javier Girotto '91, Pierre de Bethmann '91, and Minino Garay.
Assistant Professor of Piano Hey Rim Jeon will release the album Introducing Hey Rim Jeon in February. It will be distributed by Sony/Red, and features Jeon (piano), Professor Terri Lyne Carrington (drums), Dave Liebman (saxophones), Richie Barshay (percussion), and James Genus (bass). A CD release event at Birdland in New York City is planned for March 29.
Professor of Percussion Bob Kaufman leads the Bob Kaufman Six-Tet featuring Lomar Brown (alto sax), Doug Johnson (piano), Greg Feingold (bass) and trumpeters Phil Grenadier and Keaon Brown.
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| From the left: Yoron Israel, John Lockwood, Joanne Brackeen, and Neil Leonard |
Professor of Woodwinds Barbara LaFitte is principal oboist for the Boston Ballet Orchestra, and played in 11 performances of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet and in 23 performances of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker. LaFitte also performed with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra for 19 holiday concerts.
Professor Pat Pattison wrote the book Songwriting without Boundaries: Lyric Writing Exercises for Finding Your Voice. Published by Writer's Digest, the book has been charting on Amazon.com.
In the summer of 2011, Woodwind Professor Wendy Rolfe performed at international flute festivals in Lima, Peru, and in Quito, Ecuador, and at the U.S. National Flute Association convention. She recently recorded with or performed with Boston Baroque, the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra, and the Simon Sinfonietta. She presented a recital and master classes at Louisiana State University and participated in a 90th birthday tribute concert at Oberlin College's Conservatory of Music for her former flute professor Robert Willoughby.
Professor of Ear Training Mitch Seidman produced I'm Having A Good Time, a CD by the late jazz guitarist Jack Fragomeni on Kyran music. Seidman also wrote the album's liner notes.
Associate Professor of Percussion Jerry Leake has released the CDs Cubist Live, which features Berklee faculty members Randy Roos, Steve Hunt, Brad Hatfield, and Stan Strickland. The second disc, Mobeus, features Rakalam Bob Moses. Also, Leake recently gave a presentation at the TEDx seminar in Cambridge.
In November 2011, Assistant Professor of Piano Yoko Miwa released her fifth CD, Live at Scullers Jazz Club. Miwa also performed with her trio in the Coca-Cola Generations Jazz Festival at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola in New York City for a special edition of Marian McPartland's NPR show "Piano Jazz." Pianists Kenny Barron, Mulgrew Miller, Bill Charlap, and McPartland were also featured.
In November 2011, Associate Professor Ivan Sever and Emerson College's scholar in residence Cathryn Cushner Edelstein collaborated on the project "Is This Art? What Turns Noise into Music." The effort brought together students from Berklee's "Artistry, Creativity, and Inquiry" seminar with students from Emerson's "Fundamentals of Speech Communication" class.
The Turkish magazine Drums & Bass published a transcription of music by bassist John Patitucci and a tutorial on professional sound check procedures in concert venues by Professor of Professional Music Tom Stein. Additionally, Stein wrote an article about artist development for emerging market economies for the British publication Chemical Magazine. Additionally, Stein conducted several workshops in Istanbul, Turkey, at Robert College and Modern Müzik Akademisi.
The song "Bring Them Home," which was cowritten by Berklee music facilitator Brad Hatfield, was performed by Broadway star Montego Glover and the Houston and Atlanta symphony orchestras in December 2011. Also in December, actor Jim Belushi performed Hatfield's arrangement of "Santa Claus Is Back in Town" with the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and Rockapella.