A Composer's Corner

Mark was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He began composing solo piano music the moment he sat down at the piano at the age of 7. His first piece was called The Cat and the Rain. Mark's music reflects his love for nature, love and relationships, moods, travel and his quest for peace and tranquility. Mark's music plays around the world on new age radio stations, online internet programs, and satellite programs. His album Feeling Right At Home won the award for Best Original Solo Piano Album at the EPR music awards held in September 2017 at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. In July 2021 Mark reached #1 on the Canadian National Music Spiritual Chart on Reverbnation.com And most recently (in August 2024) along with co-producer Luc Gilber, Mark recorded his 19th Album, also a collection of 20 new compositions. To be released this coming autumn. In early October Mark will become a certified Qi Gong instructor/teacher. You can find out more at https://markpinkus.com/

Dr. Robert Gross received his DMA in music composition at University of Southern California where he also received a graduate certificate in Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television. He also received an MA in Music for Film, Television and Theatre from the University of Bristol in England; an MM in Music Composition from Rice University; and a BM in Music Composition from Oberlin Conservatory. He has taught graduate and undergraduate level music theory at Rice University. He was half of Blind Labyrinth, with the late Kenneth Downey, an experimental electroacoustic music duo, whose CD Blasted Light was released on the Beauport Classical label in 2014. Robert has presented papers around the country and at both national and regional chapters of Society of Composers, Inc. His post-tonal analyses have been published in Perspectives of New Music and Journal of Schenkerian Studies. He is a Board-Certified Music Therapist, with an MA in Music Therapy from Texas Woman’s University. His music therapy articles have been published in Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy and in Qualitative Inquiries in Music Therapy.You can find out more at https://www.robertgrosscomposer.com/

Multi-award winning pianist, composer and producer Doug Hammer has been involved with music his whole life, starting piano at age six. He is educated in contemporary, jazz and classical styles of music.A scholarship graduate of Berklee College of Music in Boston, Doug’s musical world continued to flourish, gaining experience in everything from record production to orchestration and arranging. After Berklee, he opened his own project studio and production company, Dreamworld Productions. His studio and skills have served the needs of many, working on projects for film, web, TV, radio and corporations. He has produced countless artists in a diversity of styles.After many years of success with his business, Doug started releasing his own music. It has won countless awards and nominations from radio, websites and media. His music is widely popular on streaming, satellite and radio stations all over the world. It has received hundreds of millions of plays on Pandora, Spotify, Music Choice and Whisperings Solo Piano Radio. His album, Solace, is a big hit on Pandora and his double album, Travels, won Album of the Year on Whisperings Solo Piano Radio.Find more information at https://doughammer.com/

Joseph Blanchard, a self-taught pianist and composer, is inspired by the melodies and harmonies of the Romantic 19th century classical composers. His feelings, conveyed through improvisation, eventually become completed works. He has recorded these original compositions on four albums. ​Overall, Joe’s playing style provides a pleasant background ambiance. He resides in the Greater Boston area and routinely performs at hospitals, country inns, non-profit organizations, private functions, and other local venues. On occasion, he plays at the BSO Cafe in Boston Symphony Hall when the BSO is in town.Joe has many wonderful music videos online. Explore his music and see clips of his performances at https://www.joeblanchard.com

Greg Maroney is a contemporary pianist and composer whose emotionally rich and accessible music is played and loved around the world. Peaceful and serene or dark and passionate, his compositions reflect a life lived in harmony with nature and a profound love of the beauty surrounding him. Greg lives with his wife Linda on a small farm in south central Pennsylvania. The message Greg would like to convey with his music is this: Walk gently on this earth, treat others as you would like to be treated. Shape your outlook to respond with love, compassion and presence. Music can open the heart and let in sunlight. If you allow this to happen it will make your day that much brighter!He has over 20 physical CDs and over 50 Digital albums to his credit !You can find out more about him at https://gregmaroney.com/

Robin Ritz, hailing from Willimantic, CT, is a true renaissance woman. An artist, life-coach, business woman, community activist and singer / songwriter – she does it all. Tonight, we will explore her life journey as a musician and visit some of her music. We’ll get insight into her songs and appreciate them all the more within the context she presents. Her band is called Thankful Soul Revival.The beginning of something real, Thankful Soul Revival first embarked on their musical voyage of discovery together as a cohesive Blues Rock Band in 2019. But their origin goes back earlier to when the band members grew up listening to a variety of music genres that played an influential role in shaping their paths as musicians and ultimately led them together. As Thankful Soul Revival, they have collectively found their signature sound, and offer something different and unique to their fans by creating and sharing original music they are proud to call their own.

Singer/Songwriter Krisanthi Pappas performs classic soft rock, jazz, swing and her original adult contemporary music throughout New England, New York City, the Caribbean and most recently in Greece. She has been in the top 10 of the World Indie Charts as well as having placed on the Cashbox Top 100. Krisanthi is in the 2022-23 Sony Pictures film Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody playing the role of Rickey Minor’s keyboard player in Whitney’s band.Krisanthi Pappas, has been compared to Norah Jones and Diana Krall by JazzTimes Magazine and to Karen Carpenter and Carole King by All Music Guide. Her jazz songwriting style has been compared to Randy Newman by Cadence Magazine, while her pop songwriting has been compared to Carole King by All Music Guide. As well as her vocal gentleness, she has the husky-voiced passion of Bonnie Raitt and the swinging playfulness of Ella Fitzgerald.Based in the Boston-area, Krisanthi is a full-time entertainer playing an average of 200 performances a year at theaters, concert venues, singer-songwriter series, festivals, resorts, clubs and private events throughout New England and New York City. She has also performed throughout the U.S., Caribbean and parts of Europe.In the retro-pop scene she has performed the Pre-Shows for Sheryl Crow, Heart, Queen with Adam Lambert, Hall & Oates, Squeeze, The B-52s, The Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, Chicago and REO Speedwagon. In the jazz and cabaret scene she has opened for or shared the stage with such jazz greats as Branford Marsalis, Chuck Mangione, The Yellowjackets, Manhattan Transfer's Cheryl Bentyne, Kevin Mahogany, Billy Stritch, Gary Burton and Makoto Ozone. In the musical theatre scene, Krisanthi has been composer, lyricist, writer, director, and musical director as well as having held lead and supporting roles in several productions.Krisanthi also plays piano and drums on some of her songs as well as writing her band's musical arrangements. She is fortunate to have spent many winters performing solo in the Caribbean.Krisanthi has been the musical director and/or a performer for many prestigious events such as Governor Deval Patrick's Inaugural Celebration as well as benefits including the Faulkner Hospital Breast Center in Boston, Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, The Relay For Life and others. Her Sister Friends For Life Concert featured herself with other acclaimed singers and many Boston radio personalities from WMJX and KISS 108.Since COVID, Krisanthi has been performing a popular weekly virtual piano bar concert on her station Krisanthi5 on YouTube Live.https://www.youtube.com/Krisanthi5

I met Linda Marks at a BACA (Boston Association of Cabaret Artists) Showcase in 2013 and was impressed. A decade later, I ran into her performing at the Club Cafe in downtown Boston. She has a great stage presence and, at that time, had 14 CDs on the market. A prolific songwriter, her songs often explore powerful emotions and thought provocative themes. Linda experienced a traumatic event as a young woman, and this shaped her life in a positive way. She has since dedicated herself to healing people and shares some of her stories in this video. Linda has performed at Ryles, Skipjack's, Amazing Things Arts Center, Scullers Jazz Club, The Java Room, Club Passim, L’Aroma Cafe, Club Cafe, the Hearing Room, Grill 37, The Burren, City Winery and The Dedham Square Coffeehouse. Linda holds degrees from Yale and MIT and is the author of Living With Vision (Knowledge Systems, 1988), and Healing the War Between The Genders (Heart Power Press, 2004).You can find out more about her here:https://www.lindamarksmusic.com/about.html

David Ibbett, Ph.D. is a composer, educator and musical advocate for science. Based in Boston, he directs the Multiverse Concert Series, a project that combines music and science in live performance. In 2020, David was the first Guest Composer at Fermilab, the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. He is now resident composer at Mindmics biotech.David is Assistant Professor at Berklee College of Music and Visiting Professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.Dr. Ibbett composes electrosymphonic music: a fusion of classical and electronic styles that interweaves influences from songs, symphonies, pop, rock and electronica. His Black Hole Symphony, an orchestral journey to the heart of a black hole galaxy, has been recently featured a the Charles Hayden Planetarium, Museum of Science, Boston.

Luanne Crosby has performed her original music for many years, beginning as a young teen, solo on acoustic guitar, and later, belting out her blues/rock originals in local bars. She writes in many different styles and genres.With her group, The Luanne Crosby Band, Luanne entertained in popular Boston area rock clubs throughout the early eighties; and in 1984 moved to Germany, formed a 5-piece band, Lifeline, and went on to become a popular fixture on the national scene there. Returning to the States four years later, she gave birth to her daughter. Sometime after that, she began gigging again, this time with The Persuaders who performed covers of artists such as Stevie Ray Vaughn and Bonnie Raitt, as well as some of Luanne’s originals. In the summer of 1999, she began working on her first CD.Check out her website: https://www.luannecrosby.com

Sally began her career as a full-time touring musician in 1979, after encouragement from Stan Rogers, the legendary Canadian singer-songwriter. That was followed by an invitation from Garrison Keillor to appear on A Prairie Home Companion. She appeared more than a dozen times on that show, which launched her performing career. Her travels have since taken her to Europe, China, Hungary and Poland, England and Scotland and all across the United States.At the heart of Sally’s work is traditional and contemporary folk music. Her music is like a quilt, made up of soul-stirring ballads, messages of hope, knee-slapping dance tunes and gentle lullabies.With fellow songwriter Claudia Schmidt, they have recorded four albums together including Closing the Distance, While We Live, and Evidence of Happiness. In 2016, Sally and Claudia released their fourth collaborative album, We are Welcomed.

Born into a musical family in Ukraine, Marina Baranova began playing the piano when she was five years old. Just two years later, she was accepted into a music school for talented children in her home town of Kharkov. At age 11, Marina won first prize at the International Competition for Young Pianists in Ukraine, which preceded her first international concert tour in Finland.In the late 90's she moved to Germany to begin studying with Professor Vladimir Krainev at the University for Music, Theatre and Media in Hannover. Throughout her studies in Hannover, she won at least one internationally renowned competition every year. Marina still resides in Hannover, her base with which she returns from international tours across famous concert halls in Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Spain, Benelux, Poland, Israel, Latin America and Thailand.You can see more of her here: https://www.marinabaranova.com/

Santiago Bosch, born and raised in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, was inspired by his father, saxophonist Jaime Bosch, and began studying piano at the age of 9. By age 15, he started composing music and playing professional gigs, participating in album/recordings with diverse artists around the country. He graduated from UPEL-IPB University with a professor's degree in Music Education. Santiago earned a Bachelor's degree in Piano Performance Magna Cum Laude from the Berklee College of Music, and a Master's Degree in Contemporary Jazz Performance from the Berklee Global Jazz Institute. Santiago has been featured in live performances, master classes and recordings with artists such as Tucker Antell, Dave Santoro, Jack DeJohnette, Antonio Sanchez, Jacques Schwarz-Bart, Elliot Mason, just to name a few. See his full bio here: https://www.santiagobosch.com/bio.

Join our host Andrew Celentano, a pianist and composer himself, for an interesting interview with Tom Beveridge, Music Director of the National Men’s Chorus. Mr. Beveridge is a prolific composer and arranger with over 450 compositions. He has been recognized for his multi-faceted abilities: singer, oboist, keyboard player, composer, arranger, teacher, and conductor. His works have been recorded on numerous labels, including Turnabout/Vox, Centaur, RCA, and Crystal. He attended Harvard College, studying composition with Randall Thompson and Walter Piston, and choral conducting with G. Wallace Woodworth.

Join our host Andrew Celentano, a pianist and composer himself, for a enlightening review of the works of the talented Eva Gertz, a multi-faceted musician, born and raised in a Boston suburb. Eva has been making and recording original music for 12 years. Her background lies in classical and jazz piano training, which later developed into arranging, directing, composition, and production at Berklee College of Music. Following school, she worked in New York as a music educator, accompanist, and composer’s assistant for Broadway level professionals. She also delved heavily into entertainment as a dueling pianist onboard cruise ships and in Manhattan, and as a wedding band singer and keyboardist with Silver Arrow Band. Currently Eva is working on her next album which is crowd-funded and inspired by a big road trip she undertook in 2021. Eva works at Berklee teaching arranging, and lives in Massachusetts.

With over 37 years of design and manufacturing experience, Michael Bourque is a Boston-based inventor driven by a passion for turning bold ideas into reality. We crossed paths online and have never actually met, even though we worked for the same company for a short period of time.Unable to afford college, he embarked on a journey through trade school, emerging as a skilled machinist. Diligence propelled him to swiftly ascend the ranks, ultimately achieving a prominent programming position at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory.Shifting into software leadership, he became a Vice President at PTC, a distinguished $1.3 billion high-tech software enterprise based in Boston. Along the way he also founded a product company, raised $7.5 million, and negotiated a profitable exit.I consider Michael to truly be a renaissance man. He excels at everything he touches, and has a wide variety of interests. When not working, he channels his creativity into painting, music composition, filmmaking, and artistry. In my interview, we will touch on his many pursuits, but focus primarily on his songwriting skills. Although his musicianship is largely unknown to the world, it is my hope that this hour interview will give viewers an appreciation for his artistry.

Michael Bierylo is an electronic musician, guitarist, composer, and sound designer. He was a faculty member at Berklee College of Music since 1995 and is chair emeritus of the Electronic Production and Design Department. He is also active with Berklee Online, Berklee’s online school, where he coauthors and teaches music technology courses.Bierylo has performed throughout the U.S. at venues as diverse as the Knitting Factory, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Duke and Emory universities, and Dartmouth College as a member of Birdsongs of the Mesozoic. Bierylo's compositions are featured on the releases Dancing on A'A, Petrophonics, The Iridium Controversy, and Extreme Spirituals, all on Cuneiform Records. As a solo electronic artist, Bierylo has performed with a laptop computer and modular synthesizers in the U.S., Germany, China, and Poland, including at the DAT Festival, the Shanghai Electronic Music Festival, the Krakow Audio Art Festival, and at concerts with Grammy-nominated electronic musician BT and Terence Blanchard. His composition “Koralate" appeared on The $100 Guitar Project.Bierylo's commercial work includes music and audio production for Hasbro Interactive, the Smithsonian, Nickelodeon, and the Oxygen Network, as well as music and sound design for the Incredible Hulk attraction at Universal's Islands of Adventure. As a commercial composer, Bierylo's work has been featured on A&E's Biography, the Learning Channel, and Martha Stewart Living. Recent projects include work on the films Granito, The Reckoning, and Traces of the Trade, all featured at the Sundance Film Festival.

Thomas Hojnacki has had an unusually varied musical career. As a keyboard player, he has worked with the national touring productions of A Chorus Line, Altar Boyz, and the Big Apple Circus. He has appeared with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Claflin Hill Symphony Orchestra, and the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra; and as a chamber musician in performances of the music of Brahms, Schubert, Bartók, Messiaen, and Shostakovich. As a jazz pianist, Hojnacki has appeared with Billy Pierce, Joe Lovano, Jimmy Giuffre, George Garzone, and many others. As a conductor, he has led numerous performances of ballet, opera, musical theater, and symphonic repertoire.Hojnacki has written more than 50 compositions, including works for musical theater, orchestra, band, chorus, and various chamber ensembles. He has made a number of recordings, most notably "Symphony No. 1" with the Dvorák Symphony Orchestra (Prague) and Julius Williams, conductor. He has taught at Dean College and the New England Conservatory of Music. He is currently the assistant chair of the Harmony Department at Berklee, where he teaches theory, composition, piano, and conducting. Hojnacki is coauthor, with Joe Mulholland, of The Berklee Book of Jazz Harmony."I've had some astonishing teachers over the years. One of them, trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, who worked with Ray Charles, was a formative influence when I was a teenager in Detroit. He really explained swing articulation to me one night so that I got it, and that made all the difference to me. He was also very encouraging, and to be encouraged as a young person by someone that legendary gives you the courage to pursue music.""My whole career as a professional musician has been about playing diverse styles of music. I've been fortunate enough to have the kind of training that lets me move pretty easily from one kind of style and performing group to another. So when I teach harmony, I try to show how much of the harmonic structure of music is the same from one style to another. The things that differentiate styles are often superficial.""I often give my students the form of a tune and a specific chord progression and ask them to pick a key and write their own piece—to choose a style and create a rhythmic motif that will serve as a basis for the melody. It always astonishes students to hear all the stylistic diversity that comes back into class from the same chord progression. Students get three things from this project. First, they're working hands-on with the material in creating their own piece; second, by hearing the same chord progression over and over again, and having worked with it themselves, they learn to hear it and recognize it in other music; and third, they begin to appreciate the stylistic diversity that's possible from the same harmonic font of possibilities."

Rami Bar-Niv is one of Israel’s most acclaimed and sought after pianists.He travels extensively and has become an international citizen, concertizing all over the world. Born in Tel-Aviv, he graduated with honors from the Rubin Academy of Music, and was the recipient of many prizes and scholarships. He won the America-Israel Cultural Foundation Competition and was awarded a scholarship to further his studies in the United States.After graduating from Mannes College of Music in New York, where he studied with the renowned Mme. Nadia Reisenberg, he won numerous competitions and embarked on a highly successful concert career. He performs regularly in North, Central and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and of course Israel, where he received the “Best Performer Award” from the Israeli government. He appears on TV and radio, in chamber ensembles, solo recitals, and as soloist with orchestras. He is always received with great enthusiasm. Often sent abroad by the Foreign Ministry to represent Israel in concerts, he has become an ambassador of goodwill for Israel. Rami Bar-Niv made history by being the first, and so far the only, Israeli artist to perform in Egypt following the Begin/Sadat Peace Treaty. Rami’s recordings for CBS and other labels in Israel and abroad have met with praise and popularity. His recordings and videos have also been very successful on the Internet and he has often been at the top of the charts. His compositions are published, recorded and performed all over the world. Rami Bar-Niv offers music of great variety and contrast in style, and is an extremely versatile performer. Rami’s master classes, workshops, and private teaching are loved worldwide and he is constantly invited to teach in five continents.You can see more here: https://rami.ybarniv.com/And you can see other Composer Corner interviews here:https://www.acomposerscorner.com/

Lisa Swerdlow is an accomplished pianist and composer who lives in the Sierra Foothills of Northern California. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she grew up in a progressive Jewish family. Her mother was an elementary schoolteacher and her father worked in the garment industry. Her childhood home was full of music thanks to her father's piano, accordion and mandolin playing.Lisa studied classical piano from the age of six playing Fur Elise by Beethoven for her first piano recital at seven. She began writing and performing songs on piano and guitar at sixteen and went on to study music theory and composition at Humboldt State University and College of the Redwoods.In the 1970’s Lisa performed in coffeehouses on Fairfax Avenue in L.A. and went on to play piano in a rock 'n' roll band in San Francisco. In the 1980's she performed at the West Coast Women's Music Festival and for three years, she toured Northern California with a ten-piece all women salsa band called Las Malandras.Lisa's earliest musical influences range from Laura Nyro and Carole King to Harry Belafonte and Burt Bacharach. Later in life, she was drawn to the piano music of Keith Jarrett, David Lanz, Eddy Palmiery, Antonio Carlos Jobin, Barbara Higbie and Mary Watkins. After an extended hiatus from composing and performing, she returned to the piano and produced her debut album, Equus Rising in 2017.go to Lisa's website here:https://www.lisaswerdlow.com/See other Composer Corner Interviews here:https://www.acomposerscorner.com/