Meet the Music Mavens / Career Highlights

Taiko Drummer and Instructor

• Founder and lead percussionist  of GOCOO
• Pioneered a free-spirited approach to taiko  that blends tradition and innovation
• Performs for the world's biggest music festivals, including Europe's SZIGET
• Provided music to major motion picture  soundtracks
• Founder of TAWOO Taiko Dojo, Tokyo
• Teaches for kaDON online

Born in Tokyo

Record Producer, Mixer, Audio Engineer

• Grammy Award Nominee
• Latin Grammy Winner and Multiple Nominee
• Songwriter
• "Leading Lady of Entertainment"
• Host, HBO Latino’s A Tiny Audience
• Recording Academy Producers and  Engineers Wing Steering Committee 
• Founder of independent label South Mountain Music
• Artists include Laura Pausini, Paula Arenas, Mau y Ricky, Petrona Martinez, Juannita, & more

Born in Colombia

Rock Photographer and Documentarian

• Photographer for  Guns 'N' Roses, KISS, Aerosmith, Courtney Love, Def Leppard, Sebastian Bach, Jane's Addiction, Motley Crue,  Van Halen, The Rolling Stones, Motorhead, Alice In Chains, KORN, Thin Lizzy, and more.
• Published in: Rolling Stone, Vogue, Classic Rock, SPIN, LA Times, Metal Hammer, NY Times, USA Today
• Founder of Mission11

Born in Slovakia

Violinist

• 2023 National Endowment of the Arts Jazz Master Fellow
• McArthur ("Genius ") Fellow
• Doris Duke Fellow
• Grammy Nominee
• First jazz artist to play Paganini's violin
• 3-time Jurist for the Pulitzer Prize  for Music
• Artistic Director, Geri Allen Jazz Camp
• Faculty, Manhattan School of Music
• Performs many styles —jazz, R&B, Latin, classical, blues, country, pop, African, and more

Born in Michigan

Broadway Musical Star

• New York, New York: Sofia Diaz (Original Broadway Cast)
• Drama Desk Award Winner for In The Heights (Off-Broadway)
• In the Heights: Carla (Original Off-Broadway and Broadway Casts); Nina (Broadway Cast)
• Wonderland: Alice (Original Broadway Cast)
• Prince of Broadway: Eva Perón - Evita, Aurora - Kiss of the Spider Woman, Young Sally - Follies, and Sydney - It’s a Bird... It’s a Plane...It’s Superman (Orig. Broadway Cast)
• The Band's Visit: Dina (Nat'l Tour)
• Teaches voice & acting

Born in California

Record Producer, Mixer, & Audio Engineer

• Multi-time Grammy Award Nominee
• Multi-platinum record producer
• Artists include: Prince, Tool, Geto Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny Cash, System of a Down, Econoline Crush, Taylor Hawkins (solo album),  and many more
• Author of Recording Unhinged: Creative and Unconventional Music Recording Techniques
• Sound Production Educator
• Curator of the world’s largest collection of vintage microphones (2,500-plus)

Born in Colorado

Film Composer

• Winner 2023 David Raskin Award for Emerging Talent (for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds)
• Nominated for IFMCA Breakthrough Composer of the Year and won IFMCA Best Original Score for a Video Game in 2020
• Films: Thor: Love & Thunder, An American Pickle, The Woman in the House Across the Street From the Girl in the Window, Disney's Far From The Tree, Colette (Oscar winner), and 100+ other projects
• Television: Star Trek: Prodigy, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Absentia
• Video Game: Medal of Honor: Above & Beyond

Born in Israel

Multidisciplinary Artist  and Instrument Designer

• 2021 Oram Award-winner for innovation in sound, music, and related technologies
• Recording artist
• Film soundtrack composer
• Advocate for accessible  instrument design and creator of the One-Handed Violin
• Designer of large-scale digital musical instruments, including Prism Bell and Chaos Bells
• Founder and curator of Electrolights AV
• Academic writer

Born in Australia

Two-time World Champion 

Beatboxer

• Member of Tony-winning Broadway cast of Lin Manuel Miranda’s Freestyle Love Supreme
• 2015 and 2018 World Beatbox Champion
• 3-time Loop Station Champion 
• 3-time Beatrhyme Champion
• Public speaker 
• Beatboxing Instructor
• Multi-instrumentalist
• Designed a beatboxing speech therapy curriculum 
• Co-founder, Academy of Noise 

Born in New York

Songwriting and Producing Duo

Denisia ("Blu June") Andrews 

& Brittany ("Chi") Coney

• Grammy Award Winners with three 2023 Nominations (Winner, 2023 Best R&B song for Beyonce's "Cuff It")
• 2020 ASCAP Women Behind the Music Honorees
• Among Billboard’s 2018 R&B/Hip-Hop 100 Power Players
• Genres: Hip-Hop, R&B, Pop
• Artists include Beyoncé, Jay-Z, DJ Khaled, H.E.R., Kehlani, Nicki Minaj, Mary J. Blige, Monica, Rhianna,  Britney Spears, Jazmine Sullivan, Teyana Taylor, and more
• 8 tracks on Beyoncé's Renaissance
• She Is The Music mentors

Born in Florida

Artistic Director and Conductor

• Celebrating her 10th year with the San Francisco Girls Chorus
• Choral Director of Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale
• Conductor of San Francisco Symphony Chorus (2022-23 season)
• Conductor for Michael Abels  "At War with Ourselves," performed with Kronos Quartet (2021-22 season)
• Debuted at Carnegie Hall with the Philip Glass Ensemble
• Recorded with the Montpellier National Orchestra and The Radio France Festival
• Classical Pianist

Born in Martinique

Orchestrator, Music Director, and Producer, 

• Founder/CEO, The Broadway Sinfonietta
• 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30 List - Music
• Co-Producer, Parade (Broadway, 2023)
• Orchestrator, Millennials Are Killing Musicals (Off-Broadway, 2023)
• Wrote additional orchestrations for Kimberly Akimbo (Broadway, 2022)
• Orchestrator for RIDE: The Musical (London's West End, 2022)
• Orchestrator for Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical 
• Music Assistant for Tina: The Tina Turner Musical (Broadway)
• Faculty: Manhattan School of Music, Cap21 Conservatory, Pace University 

Born in California

Singer, Songwriter, and Guitarist

• Writes and performs jazz, pop, and Americana
• Guitarist 
• Pianist
• Recording Artist
• John Lennon Songwriting Contest Winner in Jazz
• 4-time ASCAP Plus Award Winner in Jazz Composition
• Included in New Standards: 101 Lead Sheets By Women Composers (song: "The Spring That Felt Like Fall")
• TEDX Speaker: "Grief Casserole"

Born in Connecticut

Singer, Songwriters, Instrumentalist, and Activist

• 1 Grammy Award 
• 14 Nammy Awards
• American Indian Society Lifetime Legend
• Discography of nearly 500 songs
• Actor and narrator
• Performed at the White House for 5 inaugurations
• Performed at the Vatican for the canonization of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha
• Founder, Hiawatha Institute for Indigenous Knowledge

Oneida Iroquois of the Wolf Clan

Born in New York

  Composer and Multiinstrumentalist 

• Virtuoso player of the 16-string Đàn Tranh
• Recording artist
• Emmy-winning film composer
• First Vietnamese American to perform at the White House
• Founder of Blood Moon Orchestra
• Vietnam National Đàn Tranh Championship Winner
•  Artist Laureate under Obama Administration

Born in Vietnam