A Composer's Corner

By day, Paul Hartung is a board director and strategy advisor for medtech companies: currently including Leuko (which makes a needle-free home test kit for white blood cell levels) and Clairways (which makes a wearable sensor for monitoring respiratory health). He has a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from MIT. Paul started playing clarinet at age 9 and was classically trained....

Neely Bruce’s compositions include three full-length operas; five one-act operas; works for orchestra and band; about 300 solo songs; chamber music; documentary film scores; and a choral setting of the Bill of Rights. Recent major works include the dramatic oratorio Circular 14: The Apotheosis of Aristides, for eight soloists, two choruses and large orchestra. His performances of his complete work...

Rich Sokolow is a songwriter and musician whose music has been heard on TV, radio, streaming services, and in the movies. His work with NYC indie artist Clara Lofaro landed a number of high-profile placements, including Just Smile, which was featured in a national TV commercial for Georgia-Pacific’s Vanity Fair Napkins. Rich and cowriter Kelly Riley garnered two placements for their award-winning...

The first album 'Olivia' (Adhyâropa Records) was released recently. A collection of songs representative of the eclecticism and musical fusion that Pérez-Collellmir professes, exploring jazz, flamenco, classical music and Spanish folk traditions to create a universal sound without borders. 'Olivia' captures the native sounds of Barcelona, her hometown. Original songs composed by the Catalan artist...

Mark Kross is an American jazz pianist, composer, and highly experienced educator known for his contributions to the New York City jazz scene and jazz education. He performs regularly in venues around New York City with various groups, including the Sonny Simmons Quintet and the Michael Marcus Quartet. Kross holds a BA in Music from Rutgers, a Masters Degree in Music Education from Lehman College,...

Joe Mulholland is a professor in the Harmony department at Berklee College of Music. He teaches all the core Harmony classes, as well as the electives Harmony of Brazilian Song, Advanced Harmonic Concepts, Advanced Modal Harmony, and Reharmonization Techniques. He created and teaches the Jazz Composition course and the Music Foundations course for Berklee Online, and gives private Skype lessons in...

Ken Field is a composer, saxophonist, and flautist. He has received international public and critical acclaim for his solo work, his work with the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble (which he leads), Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, Willie Loco Alexander's Persistence of Memory Orchestra, and the Armenian/ American jazz project Musaner, as well as his commissioned compositions and performances with Bridgm...

Bob Nieske holds a bachelor's and master's of music degree with honors from New England Conservatory. He was a member of legendary saxophonist and clarinetist Jimmy Guiffre’s bands for twelve years and contributed compositions to his critically acclaimed Soul Note recordings. Bob has recorded or performed with guitarists Charlie Byrd, Duke Robillard, Atilla Zoller, and Larry Coryell, jazz vocalist...

Join interviewer Andrew Celentano for an engaging discussion with guest Bonnie MacLeod. She is a highly versatile and accomplished pianist, entertainer, singer, and composer. Bonnie combines a fascinating and eclectic array of artistic influences in her performances. Her gifts have brought her around the world including Europe, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, and North Africa. She performed regularly...

Join me to hear the soft, gentle, beautiful music of Peter Malmsjö. Peter was born on March 1, 1962 in Saltsjö-Boo, Stockholms län, Sweden. He had acting roles early on in his life and is known for Ture Sventon - Privatdetektiv (1972), Grisjakten (1970) and Niklas och figuren (1971). His father, Jan Malmsjö is a great singer and musical star in Sweden, and his mother, Lena Malmsjö, was a productio...

Michael Laster is an eclectic composer who weaves seamlessly through many genres and musical styles. He is a composer of traditional orchestral works (the Yakima Symphony Chamber Orchestra) and film (Denture Adventure, Interreflections), as well as chamber works (Quatro Puntos, and the Seasons String Quartet), and large-scale piano works for Robert Frankenberry and Craig Ketter. In addition to mus...

Music has always been a kind of magic for Dan, a portal to other realms. When he was young, he was inspired by fantasy novels such as The Lord of the Rings, and is still drawn to myths and legends. He has written works on themes ranging from the planets, the sorcery of Merlin, and the Callanish Stone Circle, to the Torngat Mountains. His aim is to write music that invites audiences into other worl...

Composer / pianist Ben Schwendener sustains a unique voice in contemporary creative music and is a leading authority on George Russell's Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization, which he assisted Russell in teaching at the New England Conservatory from 1986 to 2004. Schwendener’s latest book Organic Music Theory (Pumping Station, 2017, Heights Music International, 2020) presents a new d...

Melissa Manchester needs no introduction. Her tremendously successful solo career brought her critical and commercial acclaim. The “Midnight Blue” singer received her first Grammy nomination for Best Pop Female Vocal Performance in 1979 for the Peter Allen/Carole Bayer Sager-penned “Don’t Cry Out Loud,” winning the Grammy in that category four years later for “You Should Hear How She Talks About Y...

Composing passionately about the human experience, composer Christina Rusnak works at the intersection of place, nature, culture, history and art to integrate context into her music from the world around her. A storyteller, she seeks to convey something meaningful about the human experience to both the audience and performers. An award-winning freelance composer living in the Pacific Northwest, Ms...

Andrew Violette (1953-2021) studied at the High School of Music and Art in New York City from 1968 to 1971. He studied composition with Elliott Carter and Roger Sessions and counterpoint with Otto Luening at the Juilliard School of Music in New York from 1971 to 1975, where he earned his B.Mus. and M.Mus., as well as the Lado Prize in Composition. He has composed music for orchestra – including Da...

One of UK's most sought-after and versatile composers, pianist Will Todd is well known for his beautiful and exciting music. His anthem, The Call of Wisdom, was performed at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations with a TV audience of 45 million people. His breakthrough work, Mass in Blue (originally titled Jazz Mass), has been performed hundreds of times all over the world. His arrangement...

I had the pleasure of interviewing Pasquale Zompa. He and Bernard DeCesare were a songwriting team that wrote some great hits for Fats Domino and Tiny Tim. You will also hear some great pieces from their band Our Patch of Blue. Pasquale shares some great stories of songwriting in the 70’s and how they had the good fortune to cross paths with some of the great record producers of their time. You’ll...

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...

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. H...

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. Aft...

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...

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 c...

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. Th...

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...