About Michael Rendish

Michael Rendish is the Former Assistant Chair of Berklee College of Music's Film Scoring Department. A gifted performer and award-winning writer, he has composed, orchestrated, and conducted some thirty film scores, including Faces of Freedom, A Place of Dreams, and Yorktown, and the five-part PBS series America by Design. He was the composer for Academy Award nominee, The Klan: A Legacy of Hate in America, and arranger and guest conductor of the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra of the 50th Jubilee Concert in honor of the King of Thailand. In his more than thirty-five years at Berklee, he has been continually active in developing much of the world's finest talent in contemporary popular music. He was the founding chair of Berklee's Harmony Department, and has authored and taught courses at all levels of traditional, contemporary, and jazz arranging/composition. He was also the founding chair of the electronic music program, the major that introduced music synthesis to Berklee. Michael's passion for harmony in contemporary music is the driving force behind the course "Getting Inside Harmony."

About Alizon Lissance

An assistant professor in Berklee's Harmony department since 1997, Alizon Lissance is a well-rounded musician with decades of experience as a multi-keyboard player, vocalist, songwriter, and arranger. She has earned regional and national accolades, ranging from critical acclaim in Musician Magazine to receiving a Boston Music Award as "Outstanding Keyboardist" in 1991.

In 2005 Lissance released the CD So What About You, an eclectic collection of original material. She is a founding member of The Love Dogs, an established jump/swing rhythm & blues band that has released four CDs and has been touring in North America and Europe since 1994. She also keeps busy with freelance recording and performing engagements.

As an alumnus and faculty member of the Berklee College of Music, Lissance is thrilled to be a part of the extension school providing the "Berklee Experience" to people who might not otherwise have that opportunity.

To learn more about Lissance, including her performance schedule, visit www.alizonmusic.com

About Joseph Mulholland

Joe Mulholland is an associate professor and chair of the Harmony department at Berklee College of Music, where he has taught since 1994. He is passionate about performing and teaching great popular music from the 1930s to the present. He served as music director for Didi Stewart and Friends, an award-winning concert and event ensemble from 1985-1998. The group performed the music of Great American Songbook composers, as well as that of the next wave of great rock and pop singers and songwriters from the 60s and 70s. Mulholland continues to have an active freelance career as a jazz instrumentalist, composer, and vocal accompanist, performing 90 nights a year with his Trio, as well as with singers and other ensembles in the Boston area.

As an ensemble coach at Brown University, Mulholland found a forum for his interest in the variety of styles that jazz embraces. The challenge of finding appropriate repertoire for his three-horn group led him to follow Duke Ellington's practice of writing for the strengths and weakness of the individuals at hand. The particular capabilities of the players imposed creative limitations that were paradoxically liberating; a year later, the first of three highly-regarded albums of original compositions for the Joe Mulholland Sextet was ready to record. He continued to listen hard to his band members for inspiration and technical advice, and continues to compose, now mostly for his Trio.

Mulholland received a Master of Music degree from New England Conservatory in 1986. He has a special interest in the popular music of Brazil, and teaches a class at Berklee in the Harmony of Brazilian Song. He is currently working his way gingerly through the Beethoven piano sonatas (up to #17 so far!).

About Steve Rochinski

Steve Rochinski is a Professor in the Harmony Department at Berklee College of Music. An accomplished guitarist, recording artist, and internationally known performer and clinician, Steve has received numerous grants and awards including a 1993 Jazz Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts for private study with Tal Farlow.

Before coming to Berklee, Steve toured for many years, and in his travels has worked with the Candoli Brothers, Tal Farlow, Attila Zoller, Jimmy Raney, Tim Hagans, Pat Harbison, Gary Foster, Hank Marr, Brad Goode, Scott Lee, Joe Hunt, Chuck Redd, Richard Evans, and Tony Tillman. In 1995, Steve released his critically acclaimed debut CD Until Further Notice (LineOut Music/North Country Dist.). He currently records for Jardis Records, Germany's leading jazz guitar label. His releases include A Bird in the Hand (JRCD9922) and Otherwise (JRCD20033) (www.jardis.de).

He is the author of the award-winning The Jazz Style of Tal Farlow: The Elements of Bebop Guitar and The Motivic Basis for Jazz Guitar Improvisation (Hal Leonard Corp.). In November 2001, Steve's life and career was featured in the 7th anniversary issue of the internationally renowned magazine for jazz guitar fans, Just Jazz Guitar (No. 29, November 2001). Steve will be profiled in the next edition of the book The Jazz Guitar: Its Evolution, Players, and Personalities Since 1900 by Maurice Summerfield (Ashley Mark Publishing) and the 2005 Edition of Who's Who in America (Marquis Publishing).