Musicians Among Us: Part 2
It’s common knowledge that Emerson attracts not only creative students and faculty, but staff as well. Learn more about just a few of our musically talented colleagues:
Bruno Caruso (Media Technologies and Production) plays piano/keyboard, bass, guitar, and also sings. He currently performs Latin gospel and traditional worship at different churches in the area. He also directs, arranges, and composes music for the churches. He has professional training in music and has been an active musician for 30 years.
He loves the message and emotions that music can convey across cultures, languages, and generations. His music production experience informs his process of designing spaces and installing equipment for a specific need at Emerson. “Music, sound, and visual art are all intrinsically interwoven,” he said.
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John-Albert Moseley (VMA) is a classical singer and currently sings professionally at Grace Church in Providence. He started singing in a church choir at 11 years old. In high school, he studied multiple instruments and marched in Drum Corps (DCI: Drum Corps International) during his high school and college years. He has a double Bachelor of Arts in history and music, a Master of Music, and a Master of Arts in Religion.
Moseley loves to be a part of the creative process as a singing musician, actor, and communicator. He explained that it allows him to have a dialogue with the composer, the poet, and the audience all at the same time. “Being a musician means steady discipline and practice. These are qualities I try to bring to my ‘desk’ job every day,” he said.
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Peter Owens (HR) is a member of Cantata Singers, a classical chorus that has a subscription series at Jordan Hall. He is also tenor soloist at First Congregational Church in Winchester. He has weekly rehearsals for both organizations and has been performing with them for more than 30 years. He sang in a glee club and choir during college.
Owens played brass instruments in high school. As an adult, he transitioned to playing woodwind instruments and occasionally plays oboe, English horn, and saxophone at the church. He said that performing music provides a creative outlet for him, and he enjoys the common bond he shares with other performers and creative employees at Emerson.
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Carol Smolinsky (Student Success) sings in musicals and cabaret shows around Massachusetts. Most recently, she sang in a pop-up concert version of Sweeney Todd with Theater Uncorked in Cambridge. In a couple of months, she will don some Victorian garb and start one of her favorite yearly gigs: Victorian holiday caroling all around New England with Big Smile Entertainment.
She has been performing professionally since the age of 10. She sang in choirs throughout high school and college, and she has an undergraduate degree in theater and a master’s in Theatre Education from Emerson. She loves to work with other musicians to tell stories using sound. Having a student-facing role at Emerson, she is able to use personal experiences to inform her financial counseling work with students.
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Charna Westervelt (Marketing) sings alto with the Zamir Chorale of Boston, a group of about 60 singers dedicated to perpetuating Jewish music. The group’s repertoire is diverse: a cappella madrigals from the 1500s to 20th-century pieces with orchestra, to contemporary Israeli pop, and everything in between. The group sings in Hebrew, English, and Yiddish, among other languages, and performs three to four times per semester.
Westervelt comes from a very musical family—her parents are both musicians. She started playing piano when she was 4 years old and has sung in choruses since high school. In college, she minored in music performance (piano). She finds practicing music to be calming and enjoys being able to exercise “the other side of my brain.” She feels at home at Emerson, saying, “I absolutely love being part of a community that values music, performance, creativity, and expression.”
Nancy Howell (Marketing)