Stephanie Borgani is currently a junior studying Russian and Jazz Studies. She’s from São Paulo, Brazil, where she studied piano and voice at the Souza Lima Conservatory (a Berklee International Network partner school) and played in the Tom Jobim Youth Orchestra. At Columbia, she takes private lessons with Christine Correa and Bruce Barth, as well as participating in a variety of ensembles within the MPP. She enjoys listening to jazz and Brazilian music, scoring student discounts for shows, and discovering interesting new musicians to play on her WKCR rotation. Jesse Thorson is a MN native studying Sustainable Development at Columbia University in NYC. On campus, he participates in Christian Union at Columbia, the Veritas Forum, and the Student Union for Sustainable Development. Thorson loves to eat pancakes and other breakfast foods. He has studied with Mike Stefan, Nate Babbs, and Tony Moreno, and other influences include Elvin Jones and Dave King. John Melendez is a jazz pianist. At age 8, He started playing piano. At 12, he began studying jazz and music theory at the Rutgers Mason Gross Extension School. He has studied with Oscar Macchioni, Andy Michalec Stanley Cowell, Marc Stasio and Bill O’Connell. His favorite keyboard players are Brad Mehldau and Herbie Hancock. At Columbia he studies with renowned jazz artist Bruce Barth and performs in various ensembles as part of the Music Performance Program. He recently finished an album, it is titled Ghost Towns and is available on Bandcamp. Gabriel Soileau is a senior from Spokane, WA studying composition in Columbia college. Gabe is an active member of the Columbia music community having performed with the Columbia symphony orchestra, as well as the Columbia Klezmer, Bluegrass, middle eastern, and jazz ensembles. Gabriel plays bass, piano and accordion and while he enjoys a variety of music his main musical love is Balkan and eastern European dance. Gabriel is currently studying with Ugonna Okegwo, Reiko Uchida, Zosha di Castri and George Friedrich Haas.
New York City, NY; NYC