LEARN FROM THE BEST

Stephen is an Emmy-winning composer and the founder of Berklee's DJ and turntablism classes, which are considered to be the first to be offered by a college of music.

He is currently the Executive Director of BerkleeNYC, where he’s overseen the iconic Power Station recording studios since 2017, hosting sessions for the likes of John Legend, Mick Jagger, Disney's Mary Poppins and Frozen. Alongside this, he is the Dean of Strategic Initiatives for Berklee College of Music at large, and an A&R consultant for the Universal Music Group.

Stephen has produced and engineered albums for a wide range of artists. He is the composer and turntable soloist of the Stylus Symphony, a groundbreaking work that combines a full orchestra with hip-hop, trip-hop and dub step. He is an award-winning educator, whose Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) The Art of Music Production has over 30,000 students. He is also the author Turntable Technique: The Art of the DJ, the first book to teach the turntable as a musical instrument, and DJ Skills: the Ultimate Guide to Mixing and Scratching.

An acclaimed Palestinian multi-style cellist and composer, Naseem is a striking example of a unique musical voice from the Middle East. He is a classically trained musician and improviser, with a reputation for blending Arabic, jazz and classical western music into his performances.

After studying at the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music in Palestine, he was awarded a full scholarship to attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston where he received his Bachelor and Master’s degrees for cello performance.

Naseem is a soloist, recording musician, chamber musician, and teacher, currently serving directing the Arab Music Ensemble at Tufts University. He is a global performer, touring with Danilo Perez’s Global Messengers and Amir Elsaffar’s Rivers of Sound Orchestra. He has also performed at many international festivals and performance venues such as the Detroit Jazz Festival, Lebanon’s Beit Aldeen Festival and the Royal Albert Hall.

Ruka is an award-winning contemporary ballet artist and commercial dance instructor who has appeared alongside such artists as Maya Angelou, Shirley Murdock, and Missy Elliott.

He joined Boston Conservatory at Berklee in 2016 as an instructor of ballet and Graham-based modern and is currently the Director of the Commercial Dance Intensive, Program Director of the Berklee Summer Initiative, and Assistant Professor of Dance at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee.

Ruka began his dance training as a scholarship student with the Miami City Ballet, where he danced for eight years. He received a B.F.A. and M.F.A. in dance from Florida State University and Hollins University, respectively. He has danced professionally with the Ballethnic Contemporary Ballet, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company (DCDC) and Philadanco (the Philadelphia Dance Company), among others.

Emilien is a music business expert, and the Director of the Global Entertainment and Music Business Graduate Program at Berklee College of Music in Valencia, Spain. He is also the founder of Berklee Valencia's first music festival (Musaico Fest) and first music label (Disrupción Records), as well as TEDxBerkleeValencia.

He holds a PhD in Strategy for which he received the 2012 award for the best PhD dissertation in this field in France. His research focuses on Creative Entrepreneurship, Business Model Innovation and Strategies of Change in music and entertainment, and his academic work has been published in top academic journals and presented at international academic and music conferences.

Emilien also co-founded of the Business Model Community, an academic community of more than 250 global researchers. Outside of academia, he has been involved in many technology start-ups and has also worked in marketing for French football team RC Lens.

Richard is an A-List mixer and engineer who is known for crafting chart-topping mixes with exceptional sonics out of his legendary mixHaus studios in Los Angeles.

Having pioneered online music mixing with his company eMixing, he now teaches a new generation of recording and mix engineers, through masterclasses delivered online and in person at Berklee, SAE Institute, and many institutions across US, Germany and China.

During his career, Richard has worked with world-renowned artists including Prince, Jay-Z and Whitney Houston, and has credits on 6 Grammy-winning albums out of 23 nominations as well as international award nominations. He has worked on over 300 albums, two of which went diamond, as well as multiple Number 1 albums and songs.

Rich is a Grammy-winning composer, producer and songwriter with over 20 years’ experience in the music industry, across everything from creative to business.

He works with beginner musicians right through to world-class artists, and his passion is finding the creative spark and expression unique to each performer.

Rich has a long list of over 300 song credits that have been placed in film and TV, ranging from blockbuster franchises to commercials for global brands such as Honda and Xbox. In 2020, Rich released his new Album “Joy follows like a shadow that never leaves”.

Kyler is an award-winning songwriter and artist who’s an expert at creating tracks where heart and head meet, as well as helping other artists tell their stories through song.

She is best known for her dance hit with Tiesto, “Take Me”, which topped the Billboard dance charts. She co-wrote 5 songs on Lisa Loeb’s Grammy-winning children’s album, “Feel What U Feel”. She has also had more than a hundred songs placed in TV and film including on Grey’s Anatomy, Vampire Diaries and advertising spots for McDonalds.

Kyler is one third of beloved LA band The Rescues, who are signed to Universal. After the birth of her daughter, she started writing children’s songs as part of the acclaimed duo, Freckleland, and she is currently developing song-driven TV shows for children.

Layth is an international award-winning violinist, vocalist, composer and educator who has toured the world and performed with major artists such as Simon Shaheen, Danilo Perez, Javier Limon, Jack Dejohnette and many others.

He is the Director of both the Arab Music Ensemble at Tufts University and the Center for Arabic Culture’s Youth Orchestra program in Boston, as well as being a faculty member at Simon Shaheen's annual Arabic Music Retreat.

Layth is featured on multiple award-winning albums and his first record “Son of Tigris” was premiered at the Montreal Jazz Festival in 2016.

A graduate of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute Master’s program, Layth is an in-demand artist around the world.

Jerome is an expert vocal coach and instrumentalist, with a background in classical opera, jazz, and musical theater, as well as inspirational and gospel music.

When teaching vocal techniques and improvisation, he believes in a balanced approach that allows students to learn both the fundamentals of singing as well as the intricacies that make a voice stand out.

Jerome says: “After we're done learning all we can, technically, about a piece, we can't forget to sing, to get up there, have a great time, and perform it. I tell my students, to take every opportunity to share, and possibly to change people's ideas about life through their voice."

A saxophonist and composer, Alex is an international touring musician and educator, who has been a guest teacher and lecturer in prestigious schools such as London Royal Academy, Florida International University, as well as Berklee College in Boston.

Born in Paris, France, but now based in New York, he is a member of the Grammy-winning Mingus Big Band, and has recorded with luminaries including Kenny Barron, George Garzone and Tommy Campbell.

He is labelled by JazzTimes magazine as ‘a first-rate composer’. Music journalist Matt Marshall lauds his instrumentalism: "Alex Terrier’s sound on saxophone – be it soprano, alto or tenor – is one to sear and move the soul". And historian Ashley Kahn says Alex’s latest album Camina Tu with his Franco Cuban Project ‘is marking his continuing progress as a player, composer, and project-creator of vision’.

As an artist, educator, speaker and vocal production specialist, Chantel’s vision is to mentor, empower and influence young people and aspiring musicians, to live signature lives.

As a child, she was the youngest member of a 50-voice youth choir in Boston, and later received a full-tuition scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music where she graduated with a B.A in Music Business & Management.

Since graduating, she has released an album, won the VH1 songwriting competition twice, written, produced and charted on the Billboard Chart, worked as a vocalist, recording engineer and vocal arranger for RCA Music Group's, Charlie Wilson, and acted as vocal producer, arranger and background vocalist for Sting, Jennifer Lopez, Ciara and more.

Since 2013, Chantel has been an Assistant Professor at Berklee College of Music where she has trained over 2,000 aspiring musicians in show development, music business, songwriting and professional skills.

Award-winning percussionist Massimo is one of the world’s most highly sought live and session drummers, ready to share his mastery of drums and beat making with you here at Berklee Abu Dhabi.

He began playing drums at the age of 13 in his native Switzerland and was soon considered to be one of the best drummers emerging from Switzerland. By 16, he was already in demand as session musician in southern Europe and won many international awards for his talent. He later attended New York’s famous Drummer’s Collective school and graduated from Berklee College of Music.

Massimo’s career achievements to date include more than 250 recordings, and he has collaborated with A-List artists across the spectrum of music, including John Mayer, Alain Clark, and Marc Broussard.

Jeanine is a freelance composer, music producer and sound designer with extensive musical training in classical, jazz, and contemporary genres and credits spanning the film, television, music and games industries.

A classically trained percussionist, she pursued dual majors in Music Performance and Computer Science from Northwestern University, degrees in Film Scoring, and Music Production and Engineering from Berklee College of Music, as well as a Master’s in Interactive Design and Game Development from SCAD.

She now teaches music composition and technology for film and video games, both in on-campus and online environments. She’s a frequent guest lecturer and speaks at numerous industry events around the world. Along with her freelance work, she is also a partner in a media production company that focuses on AR/VR content development.

Fabio is an Italian drummer, multi-percussionist and singer who performs in virtually any genre of music from jazz, to world music, to rock

He started his career as a folk percussionist, playing Italian frame drums tamburello and tammorra in one of the most famous folk groups from his hometown of Terracina. He toured Europe playing concerts with the band and giving lectures on regional Italian frame drum techniques. He has also taught masterclasses at Berklee, Harvard and Tufts University.

Fabio is the co-founder of the world music ensembles Sawaari and Grand Fatilla, and Italian folk music ensemble Newpoli, where he sings and plays percussion. He’s the percussionist for Revma Greek Ensemble and the world-jazz group Musaner, as well as being the drummer for the award-winning children’s music group Vanessa Trien and The Jumping Monkeys. He has also drummed for international stars including Herb Reed’s Platters, Mario Frangoulis and George Perris.

Interesting fact: Fabio also authors the drum transcriptions for Skip Hadden’s books "Profiles in Jazz Drumming" and "Broken Eight’s Time Feel".

Pablo is a master of music production and engineering, currently serving as the Program Director for the Master of Music in Music Production, Technology, and Innovation Program at Berklee’s campus in Valencia, Spain.

A Berklee alumnus, he moved to LA after graduation, where he worked with renowned producers and engineers including Quincy Jones, Jimmy Jam and Randy Jackson, as well as artists such as Sting, Celine Dion and Mariah Carey. As a freelance engineer, he also worked with NSYNC and Britney Spears on two multi-platinum releases, along with The Who, Lionel Richie, Justin Timberlake and many more A-List artists.

He‘s won 5 Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Variety Series or Special. He has worked with the audio teams responsible for the Super Bowl halftime show, The American Music Awards, the MTV Video Music Awards, The Billboard Awards, and the BET Awards. Credits include American Idol, X-Factor, and the opening ceremonies of the Special Olympics in China.

Daily experience of programming and digital systems throughout his career has given Pablo a unique command of the leading platforms in the music industry, and he established himself as one LA’s top Pro Tools gurus.