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Timeflies, A11

Cal Shapiro, A11, and Rob Resnick, A11

The internet has been good to singer/rapper Cal Shapiro, A11, and producer Rob “Rez” Resnick, A11, because they’ve been good to the internet—and more importantly, they’re not afraid to showcase their talent and ingenuity...read more.

Stephie Coplan, A09

The first gig Stephie Coplan, A09, of indie rock band Stephie Coplan and the Pedestrians, landed was at the Midway Café in Jamaica Plain just weeks after graduation. Still a solo artist, Coplan had seven, soulful songs that first set—none of which revolved around romance...read more.

"The Son of Man: VI. A Man From Lebanon Nineteen Centuries Afterward"

Kareem Roustom, AG06

Kareem Roustom, AG06, is a composer and a lecturer in the Tufts University Department of Music. He composed a score for the PBS documentary “The Mosque in Morgantown,” which combined Arabic, North Indian, West Virginia Bluegrass, and electronica styles, and earned him an Emmy nomination in 2010. He also recently scored a documentary, "The Iran Job", about an American basketball player hired to play in a professional Iranian league. “They hired me because they wanted a composer who knew music of the region but as it turned out I hardly wrote anything that sounded remotely Persian. The score was mostly ambient and 'indie' band style writing.” Roustom is currently composing music for a big budget video game, and a piece for the Kronos Quartet.

Felipe Lara, AG05

Felipe Lara, AG05, an instructor and PhD candidate at NYU, is currently composing a number of pieces, most notably a 20-minute work for the Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra and Choir. He recently recorded a string quartet, Tran(slate), for an album featuring new Latin-American string quartet music by members of àltaVoz, a composer collective he co-founded during his studies at Tufts. “My time at Tufts was absolutely crucial for my development as a composer, particularly due to my studies and collaborations with Professor John McDonald. He made sure that every work composed by his students was performed publicly by world class musicians and ensemble.”

David Coleman, AG01

Thanks to the gifts of “education and lessons” and a home filled with R&B, David Coleman’s, AG01, blood runs music. Now the director of choral music at the Dana Hall School in Wellesley, Mass., he has also directed the gospel choir at Tufts since 2006. His work spans multiple genres. Recently, he was asked by Academy Award nominee Ryan Gosling to form a children’s choir to perform with Gosling’s band Dead Man’s Bones, and this past year he served as the rehearsal pianist for the Gershwins’ Porgy & Bess, which won a Tony for Best Revival of a Musical.

Lee Todd Lacks, AG94

A composer, performer, music therapist, and mental health counselor, Lee Todd Lacks, AG94, discovered the healing power of music through his own experience living with vision and hearing deficits. “When I develop a new performance piece, I may be responding to a broad social or political concern, or I may be responding to a life event that seems potentially transformative.” In 2010 he released an album called Reassembled in which he dug up his own archived writings and recorded music and combined them to create finished pieces. This fall, he will be performing a concert of experimental music with two Tufts music alumni, Tom Swafford (see above) and Alex Chechile, which will include a performance piece exploring the psychoacoustic phenomenon of hearing loss. Lacks currently resides in South Portland, Maine, “where I am blessed to share my life with my wonderful wife, Heather, and our amazing little boy, Dominick.”

Guster rocks Spring Fling 2012

Guster, A95

Adam Gardner, A95, Ryan Miller, A95, and Brian Rosenworcel, A95

If the members of Guster ever had any pretensions about the band, they were all lost in the basement of Lewis Hall freshman year. “One of our strangest stalkers, he came to like 200 shows,” lead singer Ryan Miller, A95, says with a laid-back laugh. “He was this weird teenager who turned into this weird old guy, and he’s like a really good friend of ours now”...read more.

Tom Swafford, A95

Calling all Jumbo commuters in New York City: next time you hear a violin filling the subway station, stop and listen. It could be Tom Swafford, A95. A composer, violinist, and pianist living in Brooklyn Swafford has been professionally busking for years, while also focusing on compositions that incorporate autobiographical and theatrical elements. “My most recent concert was called Becoming Human; it is about finding a genuine sense of self-worth and how this manifests itself in the way we interact.” This past summer, Swafford was the house musician at the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone National Park. During his time at Tufts, he arranged strings for Tufts band Papas Fritas played violin for Guster’s track “Window” on their debut album. Says Swafford, “I definitely would not be doing what I am doing if it weren't for Tufts and my great, inspiring teacher John McDonald.” He hopes to provide similar inspiration to future students.

Tom Hauck, A76

“Upon graduation in 1976 with a degree in Art History, I embarked on a 15-year career as a guitar player and songwriter in Boston-area punk-pop bands including The Atlantics and Ball and Pivot,” writes Tom Hauck, A76. Hauck got his musical start in an Ex-College class on rock ‘n roll taught by Erik Lindgren, A76...read more.