Shilpa Ananth is an Indian vocalist, songwriter, composer and producer based in Brooklyn, New York, United States of America. She has a unique sound that fuses the dreamy landscapes of South India with soul, jazz, and electronic music. Shilpa creates art that transcends borders and cultures, blending three of the oldest Indian languages — Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi — with English. "After graduating with honours from Berklee College of Music, Shilpa released her debut EP Indian Soul and went on to record and perform Grammy Award-winning composers A. R. Rahman, Bobby McFerrin, Bill Whalen and Javier Limon's Original Quartet." She has also toured extensively with the Serbian female vocal group ROSA, the Berklee Indian Ensemble, Women of the World and with the Bollywood Boulevard musical production, performing at US venues such as Boston Symphony Hall, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Apollo Theatre, NJPAC, Wolf Trap and The John F. Kennedy Center.

Cecil Adderley, Ph.D., Chair of Berklee’s Music Education Department, has over 35 years of teaching experience at the junior/senior high school (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Schools), and college levels. He has performed professionally in the Charlotte Community Band (NC) as a clarinetist, and the Asheville Symphony Orchestra (NC) as a vioinist. He has served as a US Congressional Intern on Capital Hill, Chair of the Northborough School Committee, member of the Northborough Cultural Council, New Jersey Music Educators Association as the Higher Education Representative, and as an adjudicator for Drum Corps International (DCI).

Dr. Adderley has written and published in the Journal of Research in Music Education, Choral Journal, Contributions to Music Education, Journal of Band Research, Southeastern Journal of Music Education, and Strategies for Teaching: Technology. Cecil Adderley is also one of the contributing authors to, Musical Experience in Our Lives: Expanding the Boundaries of Music Education, Chapter 13, Music in Motion: An Overture to the Student Experience in the Outdoor Music Ensemble. Dr. Adderley holds a B.S. from Western Carolina University, an M.M. from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and a Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina. In addition, he is the Past-President to Massachusetts Music Educators Association (MMEA) Board, and serves on the NAfME (National Association for Music Education) Equity Committee, NAfME Teacher Preparation Initiative Committee, and ISME (International Society for Music Education) Advocacy Committee.

Jarritt Sheel is an assistant professor of music education at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. He is also a doctoral candidate at Teachers College, Columbia University in the Music and Music Education Department. As a professional musician, he has toured internationally, worked with hundreds of students in high school band programs throughout the great states of Illinois, Florida and New York. He has been fortunate to have taught music courses at the Aspen Award winning Valencia College, New York University (NYU), and has taught collegiate level courses, based on Critical Theory, Art History, and Democracy, in the CUNY system. He is a past Ensemble Director for the Youth Workshop Band in the Youth Programs as part of the Education department at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. He has recently joined the faculty at the Berklee College of Music in music education program. His research foci center around the hip-hop movement (music, culture, and pedagogies) in music Education and teacher training. He is passionate advocate for arts education, a member of The National Association for Music Education’s (NAFME) Massachusetts chapter MMEA’s - on the editorial board of the MMEA’s journal. He is a co-founder of the music resource website hiphopmusiced.com, and leader of a social media dialogue around #hiphopmusiced. He is proud to be a son, husband, and father, and when he is not working enjoys time with family and friends.

Jeffrey Leonard is a Summa Cum Laude graduate of the Berklee College of Music, having majored in Music Education and Jazz Composition and Arranging. He holds a Master’s Degree in Music Education from Boston University. Jeff was the director of bands and the jazz program at Lexington High School starting in 1983, and the Performing Arts Coordinator for the Lexington Public Schools from 2008 until his retirement at the end of the 2017 school year. He is the recipient of the Mass. Music Educators' Distinguished Service Award, the Mass. Jazz Educators' Lifetime Achievement Award, the Mass. Instrumental and Choral Conductors Association’s Hall of Fame Award, the Lexington Public School's “Teacher of the Year Award” and the Dr. Michael Fiveash Teaching Award. He is currently an Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music, and Adjunct Professor at Boston University, and is the co-director of the Youth Jazz Orchestra in the New England Conservatory Preparatory Division. Jeff is a multi-reed player who is found in theatre pit orchestras all around the Boston metropolitan area. He is an in-demand clinician, adjudicator and conductor for regional, state and national music festivals, having conducted All-State Concert and Jazz Bands throughout New England.

Samvel Gasparyan is an award-winning Armenian pianist, composer and educator. He has performed at prestigious events and festivals such as the Montreux, Dubai, Kavkaz and Yerevan jazz festivals; Jazz Across Borders, Saint Petersburg; Musikmesse Moscow; the Dubai World Cup; Mother of the Nation Festival in Abu Dhabi; and RedFestDXB. Throughout his career, Samvel has collaborated with and opened for world-renowned and Grammy Award-winning artists, such as Jamiroquai, Diana Krall, Kool & The Gang, Kasabian, Elvis Castello, Robin Thicke and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. He has also performed with American jazz singers Deborah Davis and Eddie Cole, and with saxophonist Korey Riker (of John Legend’s band) and French harmonica musician Frederic Yonnet. His recent solo album was released by Universal Music Group MENA and he has contributed to11 studio albums as a sideman, toured in more than 40 countries and performed at prestigious concert halls around the world (the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Kremlin Palace auditorium, Emirates Palace and at MGM Grand Arena).