A Composer's Corner

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 you...

Sharon Chen studied violin at the Eastman School of Music and graduated from Harvard with degrees in both Music and East Asian Languages and Civilizations. Along the way, she became an accomplished pianist as well - and does a lot of composing. Her songs depict nostalgia and themes of darkness evolving into light. Sharon blends her classical background with different genres including electronic an...

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...

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 ban...

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,...

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...

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 earn...

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...

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...

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 p...

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 div...

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,...

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...

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 classi...

Bill Lipner aka William Edge, was born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida. He was surrounded from a young age by the roots sounds of the Deep South. First studying classical piano at the tender age of six and switching to jazz upon entering his teens, his muses included such legendary influences as Dave Brubeck, Ramsey Lewis and Stevie Wonder. After receiving an MBA from Florida State University,...

Ever wonder how composers approach writing music? Join interviewer Andrew Celentano for an interesting discussion with guest Nathan Asher Sherman who is the guitarist of Floral, a math rock band originally from the Bay Area. Nathan Asher Sherman graduated from the Berklee College of Music for Electronic Production and Sound Design and now lives in Los Angeles. His music is high energy and multi-rh...

Deborah Offenhauser is a world renowned pianist and composer with more than thirty years as a professional entertainer and recording artist. She has performed on stage with artists such as Isola Jones, The Four Lads, The Moody Blues, The Diamonds, Frankie Laine, and many more. Deborah has released over a dozen album/CDs worth of originalsolo piano and music orchestrations ranging from movie themes...

To say that Schmidt is simply a performer with a talent to entertain would be a miscarriage of understatement. Schmidt takes her audiences into her world as easily as the child who discovers the endless universes that exist in a cardboard box. Schmidt weaves her way through her concert in much the same manner as a jester. Interwoven anecdotes, revealing her past and present, bring people to expect...

Simon Hester was born in Sheffield and studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Geoffrey Pratley and Jean Harvey winning many prizes for his performances both as a soloist and accompanist. His career has covered a wide range of musical worlds, and his versatility is much admired in both classical and jazz repertoire. He gives recitals throughout Great Britain and has appeared at the Bath, Edinbu...

Dan Pallotta hailed from Malden Massachusetts and inherited a love of music from both sides of his family. As a young man, he went to Los Angeles and tried his luck at country music song writing. He impressed Clive Davis and ended up writing a song for Edgar Winter called “Stranger to Love”. But things didn’t work out - and instead he created a non-profit spanning 16 states and employing 400 peopl...

Composer & cellist Barry Phillips has been performing folk, new, classical and Indian classical/crossover music for many years. As a cellist, Barry has toured worldwide with Ravi Shankar's daughter's group - The Anoushka Shankar Project. Venues have included the Hollywood Bowl, The Royal Albert Hall-London, The Music Academy-Budapest, Sydney Opera House, Bangalore Palace Grounds, Londo...

James Cooke, AKA CaptC, is a Massachusetts based singer / songwriter who composes indie rock-pop and flannel country songs. Many of his songs are accompanied with videos and some of the more recent ones take advantage of AI based design technology which gives them an interesting edge. His videos are on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, and you can find his songs on Spotify, Pandora, and other platfor...

Join host Andrew Celentano, a talented New England pianist and composer himself, for an interesting interview with Robert Dale Klein. Klein’s songs and compositions have been performed on radio and TV, in films, musical theater, and on stages across the USA and foreign countries in both hemispheres. They’ve also garnered recognition from Country Music Television (CMT), the Nashville Songwriters As...

Vivian Fang Liu, Award-winning Pianist, Singer, Songwriter, Grammy voting member and Educator. Ms. Liu holds two master's degrees in Music Education from Teachers College Columbia University and Classical Piano Performance from New York University. Her performance venues include Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Hammerstein Hall in New York, St. John Smith Hall in London, and Mozart Hall in Vienna. M...

Kathy is a writer, singer and activist who believes that all life is permeated with the sacred. She is passionate about writing music that fosters hope and healing for our world. Kathy is deeply committed to working for non-violence, racial justice and advocating for the protection and healing of our planet, especially through songwriting. She has published music over five decades that is cherishe...