CELEBRITY VOCAL COACHES
BORIS BURHON BURIEV
summit #3, #4
Boris Burhon Buriev was born in Uzbekistan , graduated special music school in Tashkent , and from the age of 4 was singing , and cast as the lead in a few Russian musical movies .
NATASHA CORRIGAN
summit #3, #4
Natascha is a native New Yorker. She has been performing professionally on both the east and west coasts in numerous musical theatre productions for over a decade. A talented vocalist and songwriter with many years experience performing popular music in a variety of bands including leading her own original pop/rock group, The Natascha Corrigan Band. Her voice can also be heard on the radio in commercial jingles.
SETH RIGGS & MARGARETA SVENSSON RIGGS
Legendary Grammy Winning And Celebrity Vocal Coaching Seth Riggs and International Award winning Singer-Songwriter, Pianist, Actor, and vocal coach Margareta Svensson Riggs will conduct one on one coaching each day. With an average of 200 performances a year, Margareta is increasingly recognized as an original pop singer, pianist, performer and songwriter.
SPECIAL GUEST VOCALIST / ARTIST
NAZAN NIHAL
International Vocalist, guest vocalist
Nazan Nihal started her music career as a songwriter and electric guitar player. She had been on stage in Turkey, The Netherlands, Canada and The States. In Holland Nazan performed during the festivities of 400 years relationships between Turkey and The Netherlands in 2012.
RIFFAT SULTANA
International Aclaimed and award Winning Vocalist
Riffat Sultana (daughter of legendary Pakistani classical singer, the late Ustad Salamat Ali Khan) channels the musical wisdom of 500 years and eleven generations of master musicians in her family in India and Pakistan.
KARINA PASIAN
EMMY- Award winning Frederik Wiedmann is one of the most diverse and professional composers in motion pictures today. With over 40 titles to his name in all realms and genres, Wiedmann has established himself as insightful artist with an enduring passion for film composition.
NETOLIA
Music is a universal language, spanning across all of space and time. Today, Nazan Nihal and Utar Artun are taking music into a new dimension, bringing the old sounds of Turkish Folk Songs (Turku) to life in their new project, Neotolia. Nazan is a remarkable singer/songwriter and Utar possesses unlimited potential as a composer, conductor, ?lm scorer and arranger.
CELEBRITY PRODUCERS/SONGWRITERS/MUSICIANS
DAWN ELDER
Summit #1, #2, #3, #4,
Dawn has developed, managed, recorded, toured and produced special projects with Stevie Wonder, Sting, Don Was, Beach Boys, Fela Kuti, Santana, Woody Harrelson, Wynton Marsalis, Cheb Khaled, and countless icons including Quincy Jones and Phil Ramone.
BOB MALONE
Composer, Pianist, Singer-Songwriter, Musical Director
Bob Malone has toured the world as a solo artist for two decades and has played keyboards with rock legend John Fogerty since 2011.
TARIQH AKONI
Musical Director, Producer, Songwriter, Guitarist
Tariqh Akoni is composer, arranger, virtuoso guitarist based in Santa Barbara California. He is currently the Musical Director for multi-platinum recording artist, Josh Groban and the former Chair of the Guitar Department at the L.A. Music Academy.
MICHAEL JAY
Summit #1, #2 #3 & #4
Michael Jay’s 30 years of experience include songwriting, radio, promotion, marketing and A&R. His songs have sold more than 75 million copies.
KENNY ARONOFF
Summit #2, #4
Five-times consecutive Drummer of the Year, Kenny has recorded on over 40 Grammy-winning albums and toured with John Mellencamp, The Rolling Stones, The Smashing Pumpkins, Bruce Springsteen, Ringo Starr…
RAMI JAFFEE
Summit #2, #4
Multi-Grammy winning pianist, composer, producer Rami is co-founder of the multi- platinum selling band the Wallflowers along with Jakob Dylan. For 10 years, Rami has been recording and touring with the Foo Fighters.
RANDY WALDMAN
Summit #2, #4
Randy started playing the piano at the old age of 5 years old, and began playing professionally at the age of 12. By the age of 21, Randy was hired to go on tour as the pianist for Frank Sinatra. Shortly after that Randy began touring with the group The Letterman and that brought him from his home of Chicago out to the west coast.
PAUL HEFTI
Singer-Songwriter, Arranger, Guitarist, band leader
As CEO & President of Neal Hefti Music, Paul Hefti is directing the musical business of his father; ASCAP Hall of Fame composer Neal Hefti.
MICHAEL FISH HERRING
Summit #1,#2
Guitarist ‘Fish’ has recorded and toured with Prince, Celine Dion, Stanley Clark, and Christina Aguilera.
MUSICIANS & ACCOMPANIST
UTAR ARTUN
Arranger, songwriter musician
Utar Artun is graduated from Percussion Department of Hacettepe Conservatory. After graduation, he enrolled to Berklee College of Music and graduated in 2.5 years with summa cum laude degree.
ETHAN FARMER
Summit #1, #2, #3
A native of Chicago, Illinois, Ethan Farmer has established himself as an incredible talent amongst bass players in the industry today.
His first musical influences came from his family who had a well-known gospel group, THE AMAZING FARMER SINGERS. Upon moving to Los Angeles, Ethan’s first big break as a professional was playing with Jody Watley on BET’s Planet Groove.
HERMAN JACKSON
Summit #2
Herman Jackson is a Grammy nominated producer, composer, arranger and musician. He has toured, recorded and performed on the Grammys with Whitney Houston, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Aretha Franklin, and countless others.
NICK MILO
Summit #2
Toured with Joe Cocker extensively in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, United States, Canada and South America, 2001-2013 as keyboardist and since 2007 as musical director. Keyboards for Tower of Power, 1988 to 1999, recording seven albums, touring and writing (recorded eight songs). 1986 and 87 in the illustrious Bonnie Hayes band, opening for Huey Lewis and the News in their heyday. (Bonnie is now chair of the songwriting department, Berklee School of Music.)
MICHAEL FARRELL
Summit #1
Michael has written with indie rock legend Morrissey, Grammy winning soul artist Macy Gray (with will.i.am producing), and recently toured as keyboardist with Sarah McLachlan and Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi.
TEDDY CAMPBELL
Summit #1
Teddy’s drums can be heard on recordings with Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, Rod Stewart, Al Jarreau, Kirk Whalum, and Kelly Clarkson.
NORIKO OLLING
Summit #2, #3
Born & raised in Japan, Noriko Olling started playing piano at the age of five (5) years-old, studying everything from classical to jazz to R&B. She attended Jinai College in Fukui, Japan majoring in music performance. In 1988, she moved to Los Angeles to sharpen her skills to be a force in America’s music scene.
CELEBRITY GUESTS
ROBERT DAVI
Summit #2
Robert Davi is an award-winning actor, screenwriter, director, producer, and what many are finding out, an extraordinary jazz vocalist, as stated by many, including Quincy Jones: “As FS would say, ‘Koo, Koo.’ Wow! I have never heard anyone come this close to Sinatra’s sound – and still be himself. Many try, but Robert Davi has the voice, tone, the flavor and the swagger. What a surprise.”
ANNE CECERE
Summit #2
In 2012, Broadcast Musica Inc.’s Anne Cecere was nominated for Billboard Magazine’s “40 Power Players under 40″ by BMI’s CEO Del Bryant. Her current duties as BMI’s Director of Film & TV Relations include signing new songwriters, composers and publishers while maintaining relationships with existing BMI affiliates.
CHRISS CASWELL
Summit #2 & #4
Versatile, gifted, generous, creative and multi-faceted, these are a few of the adjectives attributed to Chris Caswell’s musical abilities. All were on display at the 2014 Grammys as Chris took the stage as Musical Director with Stevie Wonder, Pharrell Williams, Nile Rodgers and Daft Punk for their performance of “Get Lucky” (Record of the Year, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance) from Random Access Memories.
RICKEY MINOR
Summit #1 Keynote Speaker
Rickey Minor is the Emmy-nominated music director of American Idol. His distinguished resume also includes the Grammys and the Super Bowl, and he has collaborated with major recording artists including Whitney Houston, Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys, Ray Charles, Beyoncé Knowles, and many more.
GREG PHILIGANES
Summit #1
Music director, session musician and keyboardist Greg toured with Lionel Richie, George Benson, Aretha Franklin, Paul McCartney, Toto, Eric Clapton, and Quincy Jones, and served as musical director for Michael Jackson on the “Bad” and “Dangerous” tours.
MICHAEL BEARDEN
Summit #1
Currently Lady Gaga’s musical director, Michael has served as musical director for many including Madonna, Rod Stewart and Michael Jackson.
FERNANDO GIACCARDI
Guest Speaker Summit #2
Fernando Giaccardi began his career in the music industry at Televisa/Mexico in 1990 where he held several positions in their radio, concert and label divisions. Fernando was the product manager for Enrique Iglesias’ debut release in 1995 at Fonovia and ended his career there as the Senior VP of Marketing and Promotion for the label after also running their international division.
JASPER RANDALL
Guest Speaker Summit #1
Jasper has contracted, conducted and performed for choruses on over 100 films including Avatar, Frozen, Godzilla, Tangled, Pitch Perfect 1 & 2, Big Hero 6, Minions, X-Men: Days of Futures Past and Despicable Me 2.
CELEBRITY VOCAL HEALTH GUEST SPEAKERS
DAVID AARON KATZ & JAN ALAN SCHWARTZ
Guest Speaker Summit #1
Superior Vocal Health has made it a life’s mission, to be dedicated to helping voice professionals keep their voices and bodies strong, healthy, vibrant, and at peak levels naturally without the use of harmful chemicals and drugs.
CHOREOGRAPHERS
JASON RODGERS
Jason Rodgers is a tap dancer, choreographer, actor, and musician. His performance credits include ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars”, The Disney Channel’s “The Coppertop Flop Show”, and the new dance series “DS2DIO” from Jon M. Chu (director of Justin Bieber: Believe, Step Up 3D, G.I. Joe Retaliation).
CELEBRITY STYLISTS
JASON GRIFFIN
Summit #1, #3, #4
As a stylist, Jason Griffin has worked with an assortment of celebrities in both film and television. Griffin is currently the personal stylist for actor/rapper Bryshere Y.Gray from the hit show Empire and recently costumed designed Queen Latifah’s produced film Brotherly Love starring Keke Palmer.
JAMALLIE BRADLEY
Summit #1, #2, #3, #4
Jamallie Bradley is an accomplished and creative makeup artist with experience in all aspects of media makeup: fashion, video and print. Having worked for many major international music artists and leading faces of film & TV, such as, Serena Williams, Jhene Aiko, Taraji P. Henson, and Kenneth ‘Babyface’ Edmonds, along with countless others, Jamallie has been able to fully grow and establish herself as a distinguished make-up artist.
SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERTS
DUNCAN WESTLEY
Guest Speaker Summit #2
Duncan Westley is President & CEO of Social Stardom, a boutique digital/social media marketing & management company. Social Stardom will manage your digital presence. We create and manage your social media channels, and develop integrated digital strategies that resonate with your audience, drive and manage engagement, and build relationships with your social community that creates active advocates for you and your brand.
KC PORTER
Guest Speaker Summit #2 & #4
When it comes to fluently translating the universal language of music, KC Porter is the master of the medium. In addition to his chart-topping work with superstars including Carlos Santana and Ricky Martin, GRAMMY-winning music producer KC Porter has long been widely renowned for crossing over many of the biggest stars in the Latin music firmament to English-speaking audiences.