Artists

Nina Feric, born in Zagreb, Croatia, began her musical studies at the age of six. She obtained her Master of Music Degree in Piano Performance and Piano Pedagogy from the Music Academy of the University of Zagreb (Croatia) in the class of Prof. Veljko Glodic, and continued her studies at Postgraduate Course in Music Disciplines at DAMS Bologna (Italy). 

Elaine Managõ was born Elaine Freeman in Dublin, Ireland, where very early on her introduction to music was her Nana’s old piano. She started to play it when she was high enough to reach the keys, and hasn’t stopped playing since. Elaine started her formal music education some years after around the age of 11 where she studied piano for a number of years and took her exams at the Royal Irish Academy Of Music, in Dublin. This helped her to make the most of her natural ability and spontaneity; as her music teacher once said, ‘’she listens to her heart, and she pours out what she hears.”

Steve Gadd was born in Rochester, NY in 1945. At the age of seven, Gadd began drum lessons. Just four years later, he sat in with Dizzy Gillespie. By the early 1980s, he had recorded and toured internationally with an extensive roster of artists, including Chuck Mangioni, Aretha Franklin, Bonnie Raitt, Herbie Mann, Paul Simon, Wayne Shorter, Jaco Pastorius, Steely Dan, James Brown, Dr. John, and Eric Clapton. Frequent collaborator Chick Corea has called Gadd's drumming "perfect," and the notoriously hard to please Buddy Rich said that "out of all the drummers I've heard, Gadd has the most class behind the drums." Gadd continues to be one of the most sought after session musicians in popular music, performing recently with BB King, Al DiMeola, and James Taylor. When not recording and touring, he resides in Arizona with his wife Carol.

Garrett Gleason is an American guitarist and composer. As a bandleader and composer, Gleason has released 13 studio albums through American labels TAR and Akar Music as well as independently through Head Cannon Records. Gleason writes music that embraces ethereal textures, harmonic exploration, off-kilter improvisation, and often aggressive energy. His releases are frequently collaborative; regarding their duo guitar record titled Duets, classical guitarist Sanjay Mishra of Jerry Garcia fame noted, “when I first heard Garrett I knew I was hearing something special. The rest just flowed naturally” (2020).

Double bassist Eddie Gomez was born in Puerto Rico and grew up in New York, where he attended Julliard. Upon graduating, Gomez had stints with Rufus Jones, Marian McPartland, and Gerry Mulligan before joining the Bill Evans Trio. Gomez and Evans played together for a total of eleven years, winning two Grammy awards in the process. Additionally, Gomez has performed with Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, and Chick Corea. Today, he continues to record, tour, and produce his own music.

Joel Goodfellow has been studying piano for 18 years, has his ARCT in piano performance and is working towards a Bachelor of Music at the University of Lethbridge. He has performed as a soloist with the Youth Symphony of the Okanagan, the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra, and the Kamloops Symphony Orchestra, with critics praising his musical sensitivity and fresh interpretation. Additionally, he has received many awards as both a soloist and chamber musician in music festivals throughout BC and Alberta. Joel is currently based in Lethbridge, where he is much in demand as an accompanist and teaches for the Lethbridge Music Conservatory.

Clarinetist Paul Green began his musical studies at an early age, and by age 12 he was already studying with the noted clarinet pedagogue Leon Russianoff.  A year later, he was recommended to Leonard Bernstein and performed and recorded Saint-Saens’ “Carnival of the Animals” in a Young People’s Concert with the New York Philharmonic.  Invited by composer Gian-Carlo Menotti in 1965 to perform at the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto Italy, he performed with such artists as Jacqueline DuPre, Richard Goode, and Charles Wadsworth.

Jean-Philippe Grégoire began his classical studies at the Conservatory of Marseille, under Régis Campo, receiving top awards there including the Henri Tomasi's Composition prize and the SACEM prize. In 2008, he went to the Paris Conservatory to study Jazz Performance. Breaking onto the Paris jazz scene, Grégoire began performing in groups including the Julian Getreau 4tet at some of the finest clubs and festivals in Paris, including Duc des Lombards, Le Basier Salé, and Jazz Festival of Flavors.

Rohan Gregory, violinist, has cultivated a wide-ranging expertise in chamber music, new music, and world music. His travels have taken him to Europe and Brazil with the Klezmatics, to Panama with flamenco guitarist Juanito Pascual, to Thailand with multi-ethnic flute player Abbie Rabinowitz, to India with Natraj, to Russia and the Netherlands with the Arden String Quartet, and across the United States with his Greek folk band Revma.

David Haney studied composition with Czech-American composer Tomas Svoboda and piano with jazz pianist Eddie Wied. The following artists have worked and recorded with David: Roswell Rudd, Julian Priester, John Tchicai, Steve Swell, Roy Campbell, Bud Shank, Wolter Weirbos, Han Bennink, Andrew Cyrille, Bernard Purdie, Marvin Bugulu Smith, Gerry Hemingway, Dylan Van de Schiff, Buell Neidlinger, Dominic Duval, Adam Lane, Michael Bisio, Paul Blaney, Perry Robinson, Matt Lavelle, Daniel Carter, Reggie Sylvester, Johannes Bauer.

David Harris was born and raised in Kalamazoo MI to parents who loved the arts. He began listening to his father’s record collection, falling in love with the Romantic composers at age 3. After much begging, his parents acceded to piano lessons for Harris starting in first grade. Initially, he had to walk to the college where his father taught to use their piano for practice until his parents were sure that he wasn’t going to quit lessons and leave them stuck with a piano.

Margaret Herlehy was born into a musical family in New Rochelle, NY in 1959. Growing up, she recalls an attic filled with her grandfather’s instruments as her experimental playground where she would spend hours figuring out popular tunes on them. At the suggestion of her middle school band director, she started playing the oboe and began playing professionally alongside her teacher Lois Wann at the age of 16.

Peggo in Love ñ singer Peggo Hodes' debut solo recording ñ is a striking collection of timeless love songs picked from the Great American Songbook. Peggo, whose previous outings include her work with award-winning childrenís music group Peggosus and folk duo Peggo and Paul (featuring her husband Paul Hodes), looked to her past for inspiration on Peggo in Love.

Joe Hume (b 1985) is a pianist and composer from Glasgow, Scotland. He attended the Royal Scottish Academy of Music at the age of 17 where he studied the piano under professor Fali Pavri. He was hugely inspired by Romantic and 20th-century composers such as Chopin, Rachmaninov, Debussy, Faure, and Satie.

Andy Jaffe is the Lyell B. Clay Artist in Residence and Director of Jazz Activities at Williams College, as well as Artistic Director of the Williamstown Jazz Festival. An active jazz composer, performer, and recording artist, Jaffe has been a leader in jazz pedagogy for over twenty-five years, having taught at the Berklee College of Music (1977-81), The University of Massachusetts Amherst graduate program in Afro-American Music and Jazz (1994-98), the Institut Musical deformation Professionelle in Nimes, France (1984), Amherst College (1987-99), Tufts University(1992-93), Smith College(1997-99), and Williams (since 1989). He runs the jazz ensembles and teaches courses in jazz theory and improvisation, jazz arranging and composition, and on the music of Duke Ellington and John Coltrane.

Lela Kaplowitz gives something artistic to the world, making people look at ordinary things in a new way and inspiring them to see with a new perspective. Kaplowitz’s flood of creativity changes people’s lives for the better and raises beauty out of ordinary daily life. Her mission is to stimulate, entertain, and show beauty. She is a success because she loves her calling.

At the age of 47 and on the cusp of the breakthrough that is every artistis dream, the comedian John Kawie suffered a devastating stroke which he thought would derail his career, and life. With the sardonic wit that landed him gigs as a writer/contributor for comedians such as Bill Maher, Dennis Miller, and David Brenner, John focused on his experiences with the stroke and created BRAIN FREEZE, a hysterical, poignant, and affirmative journey through the bumpy road to recovery and beyond.

Miguel Kertsman’s compositions organically reach beyond genres and boundaries. They encompass classical symphonic, chamber, and vocal music for the Concert Stage, as well as experimental, progressive rock, jazz, and film/game scores.

His classical works have been commissioned, performed, and recorded by international artists such as conductor Dennis Russell Davies, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bruckner Orchestra Linz, Saint Paul’s Chamber Orchestra, São Paulo State Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of the Vienna Symphony, mezzo-soprano Angelika Kirchschlager, guitarist John Williams, and others.

Kenneth A. Kuhn (Ken) (B. 1954) is an electrical engineer specializing in electronic circuit design who had the privilege of growing up with a great appreciation of classical music. His favorite composers include Anton Bruckner and Gustav Mahler. Over the years classical music enhanced mental skills valuable for his engineering career.  Composing music and designing electronic circuits are very interrelated as each enhances the other.

Jerry Leake is a Professor of World Percussion at Berklee College of Music, the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, and the New England Conservatory (Jazz and CMA). He leads the world-rock-fusion band Cubist whose albums feature his skill as a composer, arranger, and performer. He is a co-founder of the Indo/Jazz band Natraj and the dub/trance/groove collective Club d’Elf.