Faculty Notes: Fall 2024

Faculty Notes: Fall 2024 Recent accomplishments, releases, and events by Berklee faculty.

February 4, 2025

Professor Tomo Fujita played the John Coltrane International Jazz & Blues Festival with Nik West in September. They also opened for Joss Stone in August. He also played at the Hush! festival in Macau and played a show at the Mao Livehouse in Beijing, China.

Image courtesy of artist

Berklee BostonAssociate Professor Eleanor Aversa released a childrens album, Because He Was a Weasel, with associate professors Amy Bellamy, John Lockwood; assistant professors Nadia Washington, Matt Sharrock, and Dan Callaway; Instructor Craig Juricka; and several alumni.

Michael Bierylo

Associate Professor Sergio Bellotti toured Italy in August, playing for Vince Tempera, who wrote music for the film Kill Bill. Enrico Santarelli PDM '03 played bass on the tour.

Rhoda Bernard, managing director of the Institute for Accessible Arts Education and assistant chair of the Music Education Department, gave a keynote address at the World Alliance for Arts Education Summit in Athens, Greece, in October.

Michael Bierylo, chair emeritus of the Electronic Production and Design Department, released Life Line and Cloud Chorus on Fruit Street Records. Bierylo also served as chair for the electronic instrument design and applications track at the 2024 Audio Engineering Society's annual convention in New York City.

Associate Professor Ben Camp did interviews on the impact of AI on music, musicians, and society for several media outlets. Camp also started an AI songwriting class both for Berklee Boston and Berklee Online, and continues to explore the benefits and concerns around AI in music and society.

Assistant Professor Orlando Cela was named by Boston Globe Magazine as one of the 100 most influential Latinos in Massachusetts because of his charitable work with the Lowell Chamber Orchestra.

Professor Janet Chwalibog published two articles, Alice Munro Doesnt Get to Tell This Story and Why I'll Keep Teaching the Work of Artists Who've Done Monstrous Things, in WBUR's Cognoscenti.

Associate Professor Ady Cohen's first opera, Kind of Monster, a one-act opera for children, premiered in Tel Aviv, Israel, in April, with subsequent performances in June. The opera's libretto was written by Shira Patchornik. A leading role was performed by Cohen's 17-year-old daughter, Noot Cohen.

Instructor Gaby Cotter's new album, Cantora, is a minimalist and emotive collaboration with renowned Cuban pianist Harold Charon, showcasing their emotional storytelling through minimalist vocals and piano.

Associate Professor Marko Djordjevic's group Sveti was filmed for Voice of Americas new series, Harmony New York. Djordjevic toured extensively in Europe this summer with several different musical projects.

Nacho Gonzalez

Associate Professor Florencia Gabriele has been presenting AI in education workshops in Latin America and the US, earning significant media coverage.

Professor Laszlo Gardony's trio, which includes Associate Professor John Lockwood and Yoron Israel, chair of the Percussion Department, held a sold-out concert at the Regattabar jazz club in June. The trio is featured on Christian Artmanns latest album, The Middle of Life.

Assistant Professor Eva Gertz released Worth the Drive, her self-produced sophomore album in an eclectic singer-songwriter genre, inspired by a transformative chapter of traveling alone across the country for five months.

Matt Glaser, artistic director of the American Roots Music Program, gave a talk this fall as part of the Veena David B. Reck Lecture series of the Five College Ethnomusicology Program.

Assistant Professor Nacho Gonzalez scored Kingdom Rush Vengeance-Pirate Kings, a new DLC from the acclaimed franchise, one of the most popular tower-defense games in the industry.

Akram Haddad

Assistant Professor Akram Haddad's arrangement and orchestration of Arabic Singers Medley was performed live by the Boston Landmarks Orchestra in August at the Hatch Memorial Shell in Boston as part of the orchestra's 2024 season, conducted by Christopher Wilkins.

Professor Darla Hanley was the keynote speaker and a featured clinician at the Association for Music in International Schools (AIMS) conference in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in November. Her keynote, TEACH, Love, Inspire included a tribute to the late Jarritt Sheel, assistant professor of music education.

Professor Suzanne Hanser was copresident of the Future of Music and Arts in Medicine and Health, the joint congress of the International Association for Music & Medicine and the International Society for Arts and Medicine. The congress took place in September in Berlin, Germany, and was live-streamed and translated into over 50 languages.

Darla Hanley

Assistant Professor Alonzo Harris was the first person of color to arrange and perform The Star-Bangled Banner for the closing ceremony of the Olympics in Paris alongside his longtime artist and colleague, H.E.R. He also joined the Pitbull team as musical director, arranger, and programmer for his summer tour.

Alonzo Harris and H.E.R.

Associate Professor Patrice J gou-Oyelese was selected by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences/JUNO Awards to serve a two-year term on the Music Advisory Committee in the jazz divisions. She was also a guest lecturer via Zoom at the 2024 Simposio Internacional de Universitarias at Universidad Veracruzana in Mexico.

Professor Hey Rim Jeon played the eighth annual Solo Jazz Piano Festival at the Vermont Jazz Center as one of four headliners. She also had an interview on Brattleboro Radio and played at the WGBH Jazz Nights in Boston Public Library and at the Queens Public Library in New York City.

Patrice J gou-Oyelese

Associate Professor Manuel Kaufmann's 17-piece jazz orc

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