Tulane University’s School of Liberal Arts will once again bring professional-caliber performances to campus this summer, with the return of the New Orleans Shakespeare Festival at Tulane and Summer Lyric Theatre at Tulane as part of its annual Professional Summer Series.

Now entering its 33rd season, the New Orleans Shakespeare Festival at Tulane will present two of William Shakespeare’s most enduring tragedies — King Lear and Macbeth — along with the fan favorite Lagniappe Series, designed to complement the mainstage productions.

“Our 33rd season pairs Shakespeare’s most powerful tragedies with a lineup of playful, one-night-only lagniappe events,” said Artistic Director Graham Burk. “Together, they create a season that’s daring, unpredictable, and deeply alive, inviting audiences to experience these plays in bold and unexpected ways.”

King Lear, directed by Jana Mestecky, will run from May 22 through June 2, followed by Macbeth, directed by Burk, from June 26 through July 12. Special one-night performances include appearances by The Fools Ensemble on May 27 and The School for Wives on July 8.

Meanwhile, Summer Lyric Theatre at Tulane will celebrate its 59th season with three major musical productions staged in Dixon Hall. The 2026 lineup includes Chicago, La Cage aux Folles, and Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music.

“From the smoke and mirrors of sensational true crime in Chicago to the sequins and authenticity of La Cage aux Folles, and the farcical circus metaphor at the heart of A Little Night Music, Summer Lyric’s 2026 season promises spectacle and emotional depth,” said artistic director Leonard Raybon.

Chicago, directed by Jaune Buisson, will open the season June 18–21. La Cage aux Folles, directed by Diane Lala, follows from July 9–12, with A Little Night Music, directed by Ricky Graham, closing the season July 30 through August 2.

Tickets and More Information

Tickets for individual performances and discounted season packages for both companies are on sale now. 
 https://liberalarts.tulane.edu/performing-arts/schedule

Whether you’re a longtime theatre lover or a first‑time attendee, Tulane’s Professional Summer Series offers something unforgettable — right on campus.

2026 New Orleans Shakespeare Festival Season

King Lear
May 22 – June 7, 2026

By William Shakespeare

Directed by Jana Mesteoky

Learn more & get tickets

Macbeth
June 26 – July 12, 2026

By William Shalespeare

Directed by Graham Burk

Learn more & get tickets

A Very Important Play, Part III
May 27, 2026 at 7:30pm

A hilarious, improvised 'Shakespeare' play.

Learn more & get tickets

The School for Wives
July 13, 2026 at 7:30pm

Written by Molière
Translated, adapted and directed by Ryder Thornton

Learn more & get tickets

What does a Philosophy degree have to do with a seat in Congress? 

Five young Tulane School of Liberal Arts (SLA) alumni recently returned to Lake Village Theater to answer this question and more during the Young Alumni Perspectives Career Panel. Moderated by SLA Dean Brian T. Edwards, Meredith Galanti (SLA ’20), Amanda Krantz (SLA ’22), Kendall Pierce (SLA ’23), Akira Shelton (SLA ’24), and special guest Congressman Suhas Subramanyam (SLA ’08) shared insights about their careers on Capitol Hill, the White House, Hollywood, and beyond.

Each alumni brought a unique perspective to the foundations of their majors — Philosophy, Sociology, Africana Studies, Political Science, and Communication. They returned to campus to share how they got to where they are and why the journey itself is so worthwhile.

How to Figure Out What You Want To Do in Life?

Kicking off the discussion, Congressman Subramanyam advised: “The best way to know whether you like to do it or not is to do it first!” He encouraged students to intern broadly, try many things out, and ask people out for coffee chats to “pick their brains.”

As an undergraduate student, Representative Subramanyam worked at the “Tulane Hullabaloo” as a sports editor, where he explored journalism and made connections. Thanks to that experience and network, he landed an internship at ABC News, where he worked with producers on Capitol Hill. He deepened his interest in public service and came back to intern in New Orleans City Hall. 

Hurricane Katrina blew in while the congressman was enrolled as a student. Inspired to help rebuild the city, he found an unpaid position supporting the City Council and the mayor's office on various projects. That led him to take on a leadership role at the Tulane Green Club and get involved with CACTUS, Tulane's community service organization. The internships, the roles, and the relationships he created all guided him to determine what he wanted to do in life — and to have the resume to get him there. 

How to Find Your Way in The Industry/ Field?

"It is a hard truth, but in some fields, it is not about what you know but who you know," Shelton said. But getting to know people, she added, is easier than it sounds. Stay curious, start casually, and don't be afraid to ask for a professional chat. She quoted Dean Edward’s earlier words: “The network is sitting next to you right now.” She emphasized that it could be friends, professors, or even roommates who help students pivot into careers. They might not directly help with getting a job, but they can help lay the foundation to discover your sense of self and believe in it. That belief, she said, is what actually helps you secure the job.

Krantz's approach was just as direct. At the start of her career, she cold-emailed Tulane alums, hopped on phone calls, or met for coffee chats. "Even though sometimes they did not know who I was, my Tulane credentials made them trust me, and they flagged my application." Making these contacts can help students stand out, especially in the current climate of the job market.

Krantz suggested the Tulane network is a resource, but only if you use it.

How a Liberal Arts Degree Launched You into Your Career?

Speaking from her own experience, Pierce shared that the most valuable thing a liberal arts degree gave her is how to think, how to ask the right questions, how to tackle problems, and which actions to take.

"Having been a School of Liberal Arts student helps me understand how to care deeply and how to live with care and curiosity,” she said. Pierce explained that recruiters like to see the connection between the job itself and the critical thinking skills developed in other arenas, even if you don’t have the exact experience. Kendall’s work at a nonprofit called BEAR allowed her to apply problem-solving and project management — skills she learned during her undergraduate studies — to build programs and kinship between foster children and families in Houston.

In discussing why she took the chance on building her own program within the community organization, she explained: "Sometimes, what it takes is to stay true to yourself and what truly motivates you."

Congressman Suhas Subramanyam (SLA’ 08) shared his experience on networking with alums.

Highlighting Young Alumni’s Journeys

The panel showcased the varied trajectories, demonstrating how a liberal arts degree often opens unexpected doors across industries.

• Congressman Suhas Subramanyam (SLA ’08) graduated with a degree in Philosophy. Living in New Orleans before and after Katrina in 2005 shaped everything. He found his calling in public service and never looked back, eventually earning a seat in Congress.
• Meredith Galanti (SLA ’20) graduated with a degree in Political Science, worked on the 2020 presidential campaign cycle, then joined the White House Transition Team with appointments at the U.S. Department of Education and the White House during the Biden-Harris Administration. She now works as an associate at Gates Ventures in New York City.
• Amanda Krantz (SLA ’22) graduated a semester early with a double major in Environmental Studies and Political Science. After working as a Regulatory and Equity Analyst for the Energy Division of the California Public Utilities Commission, she is now finishing her master's degree in Environmental and Sustainability Policy in Washington, D.C., while working as a Research Fellow for the Solar and Storage Industries Institute (SI2).
• Kendall Pierce (SLA ’23) graduated with a degree in Communications and Sociology and found her passion in public service. Now the Community Partnership Coordinator at BEAR (Be A Resource), she works closely with partner organizations to support foster, kinship, and adoptive placements for children and families in the greater Houston area.
• Akira Shelton (SLA ’24) is perhaps the panel's most cinematic story. A Posse Foundation Scholar who graduated with a degree in Political Science and Africana Studies, she started in the mailroom at United Talent Agency, worked her way up to the agency side with prominent content creators and influencers, and is now transitioning into production in Hollywood.

What if you could spend one weekend for a total of 15 hours to get direction for the rest of your life? Oh, and you could get academic credit, too? 

The newly launched Tulane School of Liberal Arts Fast 15 program offers credit, networking, and real-world exposure. The two courses, “Inside the Beltway” and “Making the Star,” were designed as a career-jumpstart, offering 1-credit in 15 hours over the span of a weekend. Though each course is taught by a School of Liberal Arts professor, guest lecturers from each industry are invited to provide an inside look into the field and help students build connections with working professionals.

For students in the Political Science department and its various pathways, Washington, D.C., can seem like an unattainable "white whale." Seniors Emmy Hernandez (SLA ’26) and Lindsey Tanenholz (SSE ’26) are constantly on the hunt for new and uncommon opportunities and methodologies for understanding the political scope. Looking at “Inside the Beltway” on paper, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for them to gain insight into possible next steps — even if it meant missing Kenny Chesney at Book Fest. 

Led by Political Science Professor Philip de Mahy and undergraduate Lily Koziol (SLA ’26), the course featured guest lecturers Darcy Schleifstein (SLA ’24), staff assistant for Congressman Jimmy Panetta (CA-19); Rebecca Walldorff, chief of staff for Congresswoman Lucy McBath (GA-06); Matt Fisher (SLA ’23), deputy chief of staff for Congressman Suhas Subramanyam (VA-10) (SLA ’08); Tim Miller, political commentator and host of The Bulwark, Daniel Petri of the Catholic University of America’s Internship for Credit program; Henry Mali (SLA ’26), a fellow senior at Tulane, majoring in Political Science & International Relations; and Natalie Jennings, veteran journalist and co-founder at Down from DC.

“Beyond just the more mechanical interview tips and cover letter writing advice that we envisioned going into this program, the weekend offered an unexpected but much-appreciated opportunity for questions, genuine self-reflection, and introspection,” Emmy and Lindsey noted.

While one group looked toward Washington, another explored the business of music and branding. Donor funding allowed not only Tulane students to join this class, but also community members from around New Orleans and the region.

Musical entrepreneur, local singer, and owner of the boutique music marketing firm Hemenway Relations, Marigny Hemenway returned to the classroom to refresh and expand her industry knowledge with “Making the Star.” 

“I discovered 'Making the Star' through social media, and knowing Tulane’s strong reputation in both business and the arts, I immediately felt it was the right fit for me,” Marigny explained. “The course, structured as an intensive weekend class, worked perfectly with my schedule as both an artist and a business owner.” 

Senior Advisor to the Dean and Communication Professor Vicky Mayer and Academy Award-winning producer Robert Fyvolent (A&S ’84) led the course, with guest speakers from United Talent Agency, Universal Music Group, and Top Dawg Entertainment. 

During the class, students were assigned an artist case study. Marigny’s group worked with Mo Sabri, a country singer-songwriter based in Nashville, Tennessee, seeking a complete rebrand of his artistic identity. His background — being of Pakistani origin and Muslim faith — added a unique and meaningful dimension to the project. Her group’s challenge was to position him as an emerging country artist while honoring his story. With guidance from the instructors and guest speakers, Marigny and her peers felt supported throughout the process and approached the project with a fresh and thoughtful perspective. 

“Taking this course has significantly expanded my understanding of branding and business strategy within the music industry,” she concluded. “I am confident that the knowledge I gained will benefit not only my career as a singer but also my work as a business owner.”

In just one weekend, Fast 15 doesn’t answer every question — but it gives students something just as valuable: direction.
 

"Fast 15: Making A Star" course presentation.

The Tulane chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, an elite national honors society for history students, recently traveled to Lafayette, LA, to attend a conference in partnership with the Louisiana Historic Association. The convening brought together students, professors, and public history professionals from around the region to present research on a wide range of topics, ranging from European history to local stories of Louisiana.

As secretary and one of the cofounders for Tulane’s chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, I presented my research on Romani prosecution during the Spanish Inquisition. Romani is a term to describe an ethnic group who migrated from India to Europe during the 12^th century. While migrating across Europe, Romani would adopt the local culture and blend it with their own culture and religion. During the Inquisition, the Spanish government wished to create a unified Catholic religion. Because Romani did not adhere to Spain’s strict guidelines, the Spanish government labeled Roma as atheists, idolaters, and witches. Throughout the paper, I debunked these myths and accusations, proving that Romani were, in fact, Catholics. I focused my evidence using primary resources, such as Inquisitional court transcripts, hagiographies, and Romani voices to conduct my research.

Sophia Quintana, a freshman and one of the newest members of Tulane’s Phi Alpha Theta, was excited to attend her first academic conference and present her paper “Jamaica’s Blue Mountains: The Maroons of Queen Nanny and Cudjoe.” Sophia presented on the Maroon communities of Jamaica, because “it’s important to understand the broader scope of African rebellion,” she said. The complexities of Caribbean history and thinking deeply about how to hear the perspective of enslaved people, she explained, are vital when analyzing historical documents primarily written by white Europeans.

Zoe Sibert, a senior history major, presented her year-long research project on New Orleans’ sex education legislation during the 1970s, which will be published in the Tulane digital library. She consulted documents at the Newcomb Institute archives, the Orleans Parish school records at the University of New Orleans, and oral histories to create her digital independent study. Zoe’s presentation highlighted the cooperative efforts from members of the New Orleans community to document local history. The personal stories and testimonies by New Orleanians demonstrate how history is a collaborative effort, especially local histories.

Lauren Alexander, a junior English major, presented her paper, “The Radical Life of Johnnie Lacy: Black Feminist Disability Rights Advocate.” She shared that she wanted to do a biographical analysis, which is innately historical. Rather than focusing on historiography, she viewed her research paper through the lens of storytelling, a skill she said she uses often for creative writing and poetry in her major.

Some presentations hit closer to home — Tulane’s anyway. Adrian Serieyssol, a Junior Tulane history major, offered his research on a New Orleans folk hero. “Allan Jaffe, The Jazz Man, How New Orleans Jazz Was Saved” outlined Jaffe’s migration from Pottsville, Pennsylvania, by way of a honeymoon in Mexico to land in New Orleans with his new bride. The story of Preservation Hall and its jazz band is widely known in the local music community, but Serieyssol documented it for the archives, adding new biographical details from interviews with musicians and family members.

The conference awarded Tulane’s students' work significant acclaim. Senior Camille Lowery’s paper, “Places of Separation as Spatial Archive in the WPA Slave Narratives of the U.S. South,” won the Kimberly S. Hanger Prize for the Best Undergraduate-Level Paper. Caroline Mehno’s presentation, “Post-War Urban Transformation through the Poetry of Allen Ginsberg,” received one of two Honorable Mentions by the Hanger Prize Committee.

Between presentations, I asked Professor Rosanne Adderley, who is celebrating her 30^th year with Tulane, about her relationship with Phi Alpha Theta. She shared that during the 2000s, Tulane’s Chapter of Phi Alpha Theta sponsored several local events. By the 2010s, the chapter had lost energy and declined. Over the last three years, students have shown increased levels of engagement with the History Department and Phi Alpha Theta. 2025 marked the first time Tulane’s chapter of Phi Alpha Theta attended a history conference. Although initially a small group, Phi Alpha Theta’s involvement skyrocketed for this year’s regional conference. In total, 12 Tulanians attended this year’s conference, a sixfold increase from last year. 

Senior Ruby Loeffler, Tulane’s Phi Alpha Theta Advisor and History Professor Karissa Haugeberg, and Professor Adderley all put in tremendous effort to make this opportunity a reality.

Adrian Serieyssol, a Junior Tulane history major, during his presentation titled “Allan Jaffe, The Jazz Man, How New Orleans Jazz Was Saved.”

Innovations in the way we teach language reflect a quickly changing world

From designing games to integrating AI, Tulane language professors are embracing new methodologies and technologies to update how students learn languages and decrease anxiety. More essential than any one tool or platform are the shifts in language learning philosophy that underpin these innovations. In a world where translation tools are readily available, these approaches emphasize the true values of language learning: taking risks, cultural exchange, competent communication, and the many ways learning a language teaches students how to learn anything at all.

“There are a million [digital] translators out there,” says Senior Professor of Practice in the Department of Spanish & Portuguese Brittany Kennedy, who sees recent updates to the Spanish curriculum as a paradigm shift in language learning in the age of AI. Through an emphasis on metacognition, she says, instructors are showing students that “learning a language doesn't just teach you a language, but it teaches you how you learn things.”

“This lesson is so important for students as they transition to college-level work,” Kennedy adds, noting that her students consistently report how strategies around language processing and higher order thinking carry over into their other classes.

“For me, it comes down to the value of learning how to think and perform, not just learning discrete tools,” says Megwen Loveless, Senior Professor of Practice and Director of the Portuguese Basic Language Program. As in other liberal arts disciplines, she believes that learning how to work creatively and efficiently with what’s at hand matters more than mastering any single resource. At the same time, she designs a curriculum that equips students with a wide range of tools and techniques. Still, she emphasizes: “It’s about learning how to use a toolkit, not just memorizing the tools themselves.”

Megwen Loveless, Senior Professor of Practice and Director of the Portuguese Basic Language Program.

AI, Telecollaboration, and the Art of Conversation

Anyone who has tried to speak a foreign language knows that perfect grammar means little if you are too anxious to open your mouth. Loveless builds her curriculum around this reality, as well as the broader pressures students face. To create the foundation for confident communication, language instructors are placing renewed emphasis on one-on-one conversation practice — sometimes with people, sometimes with AI.

In the Spanish program, the shift to digital learning includes integrating language coaches through a service called LinguaMeeting. Native-speaking coaches from around the world meet with students throughout the semester, offering feedback and tailoring conversations to course content.

To build students’ confidence to engage in these real interactions, instructors incorporate AI tools such as Speakology and TalkPal. After practicing with AI, students in Portuguese courses participate in monthly telecollaboration calls with partners in Brazil. The semester often culminates in interviews with native speakers on campus — an experience Loveless sees as the final step in a carefully scaffolded process.

While human interaction remains the ultimate goal, AI plays a meaningful supporting role. Charles Mignot, Senior Professor of Practice in the French & Italian Department, uses Speakology to provide students “tutors at hand,” even if they cannot fully replicate the nuance of real cultural exchange. He also appreciates the immediate feedback that AI exercises can provide, noting that timely correction is an essential component of the language classroom. “It is not perfect,” says Mignot, “but it’s a solid alternative.” 

Last semester, Abeer Al-Mohsen, assistant director of Language Education at the Language Learning Center (LLC), integrated TalkPal into an intermediate Arabic course and conducted a study on its impact. Students who completed the personalized, interactive exercises created by the AI-powered platform reported increased confidence in speaking, along with moderate to high gains in pronunciation, listening, and overall engagement. At the same time, students identified areas for improvement, including topic shifts, speech recognition, and feedback accuracy — insights that will help refine future use. 

These tools often accompany curricula that have moved to fully digital platforms. Both the Spanish and Portuguese programs use an Open Educational Resource (OER) model, which allows students to access course materials for free and on-demand. In a digital environment, students can complete exercises independently, repeat them as needed, and receive immediate feedback through built-in answer keys.

In the Portuguese program, Loveless collaborated with graduate students from the Stone Center for Latin American Studies to develop and build a digital curriculum. In the process, those students gained valuable experience in HTML and course design — skills that translate directly to the academic and non-academic job market.

Accessibility is also central to the School of Liberal Arts’ Language Learning Center (LLC), which serves as both a support system and an evolving archive of pedagogical resources. Projects like Français à la Nouvelle-Orléans, developed through the French department and the LLC, extend this accessibility even further, offering a beginner-level digital French curriculum that is available not only to Tulane students, but to the public.

Analog For the Win

While AI tools are rapidly advancing, unplugged methods continue to work, as long as they capture students’ imagination. “I really believe in ludic learning, where the joy of the activity — the game — overpowers the anxiety about ‘getting it right,’” says Loveless, who incorporates music and gameplay into her teaching wherever possible.

Graduate students from the Stone Center also worked with Loveless to develop professionally produced, Taboo-style card games that reinforce vocabulary and concepts. As students play, they often become so focused on the task that they forget they are practicing Portuguese.

The goal is to build what Loveless calls “strategic competence:” the ability to communicate even when you don’t know the exact word.

In many of her Portuguese and Spanish classes, a single song anchors an entire lesson. Students begin by learning about the artist and their country of origin, then move into close reading of lyrics, followed by grammar-based and communicative activities. Within one lesson, they practice listening, speaking, reading, and writing — all within a framework that feels engaging and memorable.

“The music is the gimmick; the language is the gift,” Loveless says.

Similarly, the Spanish program offers flexible, topic-driven courses that allow students to learn language through specific interests. Kennedy teaches a course titled “Witches, Bad Bitches, and Femme Fatales,” while Senior Professor of Practice Amy George offers “Contemporary Indigenous Voices.”

“When you’re learning a language, you will inevitably forget the word you need. If you can use circumlocution — talking around the word — that’s often more valuable than raw memorization.”
 

The “Ungrading” Method

Loveless has also innovated how she marks progress. Her “Ungrading method” doesn’t eliminate grades entirely, but reframes them around growth over time. A student might take an open-book quiz, review the correct answers, and later revisit the same material in a closed setting. In more advanced courses, Loveless often uses the “Not Yet” approach: an answer may not be correct — yet — but there is time to improve.

Rather than aiming for perfection, her rubric emphasizes 80 percent proficiency as a meaningful benchmark. This, she explains, not only relieves anxiety but more closely reflects real-world communication.

“I tell students: if you can communicate 80 percent correctly with a native speaker, that speaker will usually understand you based on content, body language, facial expression, and context. If I say, ‘Yesterday I buy cereals at market,’ you still understand I bought cereal yesterday at a market, even though the grammar isn’t perfect. That’s the benchmark we’re aiming for.”

“What matters is that they learn the content by the end of the semester. If it’s hard the first time, they can study again and take another quiz during office hours. We celebrate mistakes; that’s how learning happens.”

The message is clear: reach the threshold for meaningful communication, and build from there. Students revise and resubmit — sometimes multiple times — until they meet that benchmark.

In the Spanish program, Kennedy and her colleagues incorporate similar ideas through ungraded projects that emphasize reflection. In courses like “Advanced Spanish in Context,” students complete one or two projects where they receive credit for documenting their process — how they gather information, think through language, and present their ideas.

“I think reflection is going to be a big part of our program moving forward,” Kennedy says.

Looking Ahead

The LLC offers outreach to language faculty in order to integrate new practices into their classrooms and consider others. Al-Mohsen sees efforts like the TalkPal beta-testing in her Arabic class as part of a broader commitment to innovation in language pedagogy. 

“The pilot reflects the LLC’s commitment to leveraging emerging technologies to enrich language learning experiences,” she says. “The findings will guide future decisions on integrating AI-based tools into asynchronous components across language programs.”

Recently the Center for Engaged Learning & Teaching and the Innovative Learning Center hosted a training session focused on AI in language teaching, offering faculty practical strategies for incorporating these tools into their classrooms.

Like Al-Mohsen, Loveless sees the Portuguese program as a testing ground for new ideas — an environment where approaches can be piloted, refined, and eventually expanded.

More than anything, she emphasizes, the most meaningful transformation is philosophical.

“I often say: What good is a liberal arts education if you don’t have the flexibility, creativity, and wherewithal to use it in different contexts?” she says. “We apply that idea to many disciplines; it makes just as much sense in language learning as it does in writing or other fields.”

Poster presenters and panelists representing the School of Liberal Arts at TRICS 2026

SLA students and faculty will be sharing their research at the Tulane Research, Innovation and Creativity Summit (TRICS) on April 15 & 16, 2026.

The complete 2026 TRICS schedule can be found on the TRICS 2026 Event Website.

Wednesday, April 15, 1:30 pm

Tulane Thought Leaders Lightning Talks

Amanda Kruger Hill, Cowen Institute
Nicholas Mattei, School of Science and Engineering
Susann Lusnia, School of Liberal Arts
Alexis Culotta, School of Liberal Arts

Nationally recognized Tulane faculty, including Nicholas Mattei, a renowned AI researcher, and Susann Lusnia, whose research on a Roman artifact found in Uptown New Orleans made international headlines.

Thursday, April 16, 10:30 am – 1:00 pm

Poster Session C

Music Industries and SLAM Professor Taku Hirano Wins Berklee’s Alumni Achievement Award, releases solo album, and more 

Taku Hirano has a lot to celebrate: In just a few weeks, the rock star percussionist — and Professor of Practice in Music Industry Studies and the Strategy, Leadership, and Analytics Minor (SLAM) — accepted an alumni achievement award at his alma mater, performed at the MLB world games, released the 15th anniversary edition of his signature Hand-Bale instrument, and dropped a new album, Crystal Forest. We caught up with him to reflect on these milestones, his work with traditional taiko drums, composing ambient music with intention, and how it all feeds back into his teaching. 

1. How does it feel to have so many major milestones converge at once?

It’s a convergence that took a long time to build. The album, the award, the World Baseball Classic performance, the Hand-Bale release — none of these happened overnight, and none of them are unrelated. They each connect back to decades of work across different areas of the music industry.

What feels most satisfying is that the breadth of the career is being recognized, not just one piece of it. I've never had a single-lane career, and for a long time that wasn't always understood as a strength. Moments like this suggest it is.

2. You graduated from Berklee School of Music in 1995 and then returned more recently to earn a master’s in Music Business. From being Berklee’s first-hand percussion principal to earning a master’s nearly 30 years later — and now receiving the Alumni Achievement Award — how do you reflect on that full-circle journey?

Honestly, it caught me off guard. To receive this recognition alongside the alumni legacy of GRAMMY-winning artists like Branford Marsalis, Lalah Hathaway, and Charlie Puth — and for work that spans performance, recording, education, music business, and my graduate research — was genuinely heartening. It felt like an acknowledgment that a career doesn't have to follow one lane to matter.

Berklee truly equipped me to be a modern working musician. Beyond private lessons in jazz drumming and hand percussion traditions from Cuba, Brazil, West Africa, India, and North Africa, I was essentially thrown into the working world before I ever left campus — playing on-call for other students' recitals, recording sessions, and arranging projects, and performing in major college productions alongside visiting artists. It was an immersive, real-world training ground.

3. You’ve performed on some of the world’s biggest stages — what made the MLB World Games performance unique?

Every major televised event I've been part of, whether it's the GRAMMYs, the White House, or network TV, comes with its own set of unique pressures. But the World Baseball Classic final was a different level of complexity. The performance was live for 36,000-plus fans inside the stadium, broadcast to over 10 million viewers in the U.S., and simulcast to 172 countries across six continents. That didn't leave much room for error.

Most of the cast had two days of rehearsals. I had about 12 hours’ notice to get to Miami. That same night, I recorded an asynchronous lecture for my Intro to Music Business class from my hotel room.

It was one of those productions where every department is counting on every other department, and there's no second take. For my segment, a drone launched from home plate at high speed, rising all the way up to eye level just as I was playing, and it had to hit that mark precisely for the live broadcast. Everything had to lock together at exactly the right moment.

4. At the MLB performance, you represented Tokyo (one of four host cities), donned in traditional Japanese costume and playing the taiko drums. What was your previous experience with the instrument?

A while ago, I spent a summer in Tokyo training with a world-class taiko dojo. Since then, taiko has shown up in some unexpected places in my career. I performed and toured with A.R. Rahman's Oscar-winning score for Slumdog Millionaire, which included a state dinner at the White House honoring the Prime Minister of India during the Obama Administration. I've also played taiko on television with John Legend, and brought it into my work touring with Fleetwood Mac and Cirque du Soleil's collaboration with the Michael Jackson Estate. It's an instrument I'd like to go deeper with, as it connects directly to my Japanese heritage and there's still a lot more to learn.

5. Your new album Crystal Forest grew out of your master’s research at Berklee — what is the project about?

Crystal Forest is functional ambient music, designed specifically to support focus, relaxation, and intentional routines. The key word for me is "intentional." This isn't background music in the passive sense. It's music with a purpose, where the listener engages with it as a tool for mindfulness.

My master's thesis at Berklee College of Music, Music As Medicine, explored the history, science, and market viability of functional music across wellness, medicine, and technology. By the time I finished that research, I had a framework for making compositional choices grounded in something deeper than personal aesthetic preference. Every decision about instrumentation, tempo, texture, and track sequencing was informed by what the research said about how music affects the listener physiologically and psychologically. Crystal Forest is the direct creative output of that work.

I was also influenced by my participation in the Mandala Lab at the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, an experiential installation inspired by Buddhist principles. That experience, combined with years of composing functional music under my pseudonym Akai Masa, including over 300 tracks for wellness platforms, gave me both a research foundation and a practical one. By the time I made Crystal Forest under my own name, I wasn't guessing what works. I had the data and the experience to back it up.

6. On top of everything, Meinl Percussion recently released your Signature Hand-Bale 15th Anniversary Edition. What makes this instrument distinct?

The timbale is traditionally played as a pair of drums with sticks, known for its crisp, ringing sound. But I wanted to be able to play timbale-style riffs and fills within the context of drumming on congas or bongos, without stopping to pick up sticks and without tearing up my hands on a standard rim. The half-recessed rim design of the Hand-Bale makes that possible, while still delivering the bright tone, projection, and articulation that makes the timbale sound so distinctive. This limited gold edition marks its 15th anniversary on the market, and also includes a snare throw-off, allowing the drum to function as a hand-played snare drum and adding even more sonic possibilities for the modern hand percussionist.

For me, it represents another dimension of what it means to be a working musician today: not just performing and recording, but contributing to the actual tools of the craft.

7. How do these experiences translate into your teaching?

Very directly. I teach music business and creative industries to undergraduate students, and a big part of what I try to convey is that a sustainable career in this industry requires you to think like an entrepreneur across multiple areas simultaneously. The World Baseball Classic performance is a case study in professional readiness and logistics under pressure. The album is a case study in artist branding, functional music markets, and the intersection of research and creative output. The Hand-Bale is a case study in artist-brand partnerships and product development. The Berklee award is a conversation about long-term career identity. I don't have to reach for hypothetical examples in the classroom. The work brings the curriculum to life in real time.