A Composer's Corner

Dr. Robert Gross received his DMA in music composition at University of Southern California where he also received a graduate certificate in Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television. He also received an MA in Music for Film, Television and Theatre from the University of Bristol in England; an MM in Music Composition from Rice University; and a BM in Music Composition from Oberlin Conservatory. He has taught graduate and undergraduate level music theory at Rice University.

He was half of Blind Labyrinth, with the late Kenneth Downey, an experimental electroacoustic music duo, whose CD Blasted Light was released on the Beauport Classical label in 2014.

Robert has presented papers around the country and at both national and regional chapters of Society of Composers, Inc. His post-tonal analyses have been published in Perspectives of New Music and Journal of Schenkerian Studies.

He is a Board-Certified Music Therapist, with an MA in Music Therapy from Texas Woman’s University. His music therapy articles have been published in Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy and in Qualitative Inquiries in Music Therapy.

You can find out more at https://www.robertgrosscomposer.com/

Multi-award winning pianist, composer and producer Doug Hammer has been involved with music his whole life, starting piano at age six. He is educated in contemporary, jazz and classical styles of music.

A scholarship graduate of Berklee College of Music in Boston, Doug’s musical world continued to flourish, gaining experience in everything from record production to orchestration and arranging. After Berklee, he opened his own project studio and production company, Dreamworld Productions. His studio and skills have served the needs of many, working on projects for film, web, TV, radio and corporations. He has produced countless artists in a diversity of styles.

After many years of success with his business, Doug started releasing his own music. It has won countless awards and nominations from radio, websites and media. His music is widely popular on streaming, satellite and radio stations all over the world. It has received hundreds of millions of plays on Pandora, Spotify, Music Choice and Whisperings Solo Piano Radio. His album, Solace, is a big hit on Pandora and his double album, Travels, won Album of the Year on Whisperings Solo Piano Radio.

Find more information at https://doughammer.com/

Joseph Blanchard, a self-taught pianist and composer, is inspired by the melodies and harmonies of the Romantic 19th century classical composers. His feelings, conveyed through improvisation, eventually become completed works. He has recorded these original compositions on four albums.

​Overall, Joe’s playing style provides a pleasant background ambiance. He resides in the Greater Boston area and routinely performs at hospitals, country inns, non-profit organizations, private functions, and other local venues. On occasion, he plays at the BSO Cafe in Boston Symphony Hall when the BSO is in town.

Joe has many wonderful music videos online. Explore his music and see clips of his performances at https://www.joeblanchard.com

Greg Maroney is a contemporary pianist and composer whose emotionally rich and accessible music is played and loved around the world. Peaceful and serene or dark and passionate, his compositions reflect a life lived in harmony with nature and a profound love of the beauty surrounding him. Greg lives with his wife Linda on a small farm in south central Pennsylvania.

The message Greg would like to convey with his music is this: Walk gently on this earth, treat others as you would like to be treated. Shape your outlook to respond with love, compassion and presence. Music can open the heart and let in sunlight. If you allow this to happen it will make your day that much brighter!

He has over 20 physical CDs and over 50 Digital albums to his credit !

You can find out more about him at https://gregmaroney.com/

Robin Ritz, hailing from Willimantic, CT, is a true renaissance woman. An artist, life-coach, business woman, community activist and singer / songwriter – she does it all. Tonight, we will explore her life journey as a musician and visit some of her music. We’ll get insight into her songs and appreciate them all the more within the context she presents. Her band is called Thankful Soul Revival.

The beginning of something real, Thankful Soul Revival first embarked on their musical voyage of discovery together as a cohesive Blues Rock Band in 2019. But their origin goes back earlier to when the band members grew up listening to a variety of music genres that played an influential role in shaping their paths as musicians and ultimately led them together. As Thankful Soul Revival, they have collectively found their signature sound, and offer something different and unique to their fans by creating and sharing original music they are proud to call their own.

Singer/Songwriter Krisanthi Pappas performs classic soft rock, jazz, swing and her original adult contemporary music throughout New England, New York City, the Caribbean and most recently in Greece. She has been in the top 10 of the World Indie Charts as well as having placed on the Cashbox Top 100. Krisanthi is in the 2022-23 Sony Pictures film Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody playing the role of Rickey Minor’s keyboard player in Whitney’s band.

Krisanthi Pappas, has been compared to Norah Jones and Diana Krall by JazzTimes Magazine and to Karen Carpenter and Carole King by All Music Guide. Her jazz songwriting style has been compared to Randy Newman by Cadence Magazine, while her pop songwriting has been compared to Carole King by All Music Guide. As well as her vocal gentleness, she has the husky-voiced passion of Bonnie Raitt and the swinging playfulness of Ella Fitzgerald.

Based in the Boston-area, Krisanthi is a full-time entertainer playing an average of 200 performances a year at theaters, concert venues, singer-songwriter series, festivals, resorts, clubs and private events throughout New England and New York City. She has also performed throughout the U.S., Caribbean and parts of Europe.

In the retro-pop scene she has performed the Pre-Shows for Sheryl Crow, Heart, Queen with Adam Lambert, Hall & Oates, Squeeze, The B-52s, The Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, Chicago and REO Speedwagon.

In the jazz and cabaret scene she has opened for or shared the stage with such jazz greats as Branford Marsalis, Chuck Mangione, The Yellowjackets, Manhattan Transfer's Cheryl Bentyne, Kevin Mahogany, Billy Stritch, Gary Burton and Makoto Ozone.

In the musical theatre scene, Krisanthi has been composer, lyricist, writer, director, and musical director as well as having held lead and supporting roles in several productions.

Krisanthi also plays piano and drums on some of her songs as well as writing her band's musical arrangements. She is fortunate to have spent many winters performing solo in the Caribbean.

Krisanthi has been the musical director and/or a performer for many prestigious events such as Governor Deval Patrick's Inaugural Celebration as well as benefits including the Faulkner Hospital Breast Center in Boston, Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, The Relay For Life and others. Her Sister Friends For Life Concert featured herself with other acclaimed singers and many Boston radio personalities from WMJX and KISS 108.

Since COVID, Krisanthi has been performing a popular weekly virtual piano bar concert on her station Krisanthi5 on YouTube Live.

https://www.youtube.com/Krisanthi5

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 young woman, and this shaped her life in a positive way. She has since dedicated herself to healing people and shares some of her stories in this video.

Linda has performed at Ryles, Skipjack's, Amazing Things Arts Center, Scullers Jazz Club, The Java Room, Club Passim, L’Aroma Cafe, Club Cafe, the Hearing Room, Grill 37, The Burren, City Winery and The Dedham Square Coffeehouse. Linda holds degrees from Yale and MIT and is the author of Living With Vision (Knowledge Systems, 1988), and Healing the War Between The Genders (Heart Power Press, 2004).

You can find out more about her here:https://www.lindamarksmusic.com/about.html

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 and jazz. You can find her works on my Bandcamp, One World Music Radio, Soundcloud, Spotify Twitter and YouTube.

Ms. Chen had serious health problems along the way and survived delicate brain surgery where she could have potentially lost some of her hearing, but she has thankfully persevered.

You can find many videos on Facebook featuring her playing. She has over 2.7 million Spotify streams to date.

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 Music and Visiting Professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Dr. Ibbett composes electrosymphonic music: a fusion of classical and electronic styles that interweaves influences from songs, symphonies, pop, rock and electronica. His Black Hole Symphony, an orchestral journey to the heart of a black hole galaxy, has been recently featured a the Charles Hayden Planetarium, Museum of Science, Boston.

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 band, Lifeline, and went on to become a popular fixture on the national scene there.

Returning to the States four years later, she gave birth to her daughter. Sometime after that, she began gigging again, this time with The Persuaders who performed covers of artists such as Stevie Ray Vaughn and Bonnie Raitt, as well as some of Luanne’s originals. In the summer of 1999, she began working on her first CD.

Check out her website: https://www.luannecrosby.com