May 8, 2014 | Rob Hochschild

Singer-songwriter Arielle Vakni, from Santa Cruz, California is one of more 900 musicians graduating from Berklee in May 2014. She's demonstrated great talent as a composer and performer in acoustic and electronic genres, and many of her originals fuse those disparate influences.

Vakni came to Berklee after receiving a Fullerton Heritage Festival Award for vocal jazz in 2009. Acoustic guitarist and songwriter Patty Larkin recently produced a recording of one of Vakni's tunes, "Save Your Best." This podcast features Vakni's "Backwards," a track recorded live at Berklee's Cafe 939—you can watch a Vakni video at Berklee's YouTube channel. Visit Vakni's website to learn more and to hear her most recent recordings, which include Tryptich (with Skycranes) and her debut solo release, Facets & Resonance.

On the same day Vakni receives her bachelor's in songwriting, she'll witness Berklee granting honorary doctor of music degrees to four greats: guitarist Jimmy Page, vocalist and songwriter Valerie Simpson, composer and pianist Geri Allen, and educator and trumpeter Thara Memory.