Bengisu Gökçe, born and raised in Türkiye, is a multi-genre violinist, composer and singer known for combining her Turkish roots with Eastern European and Middle Eastern traditions. As a professionally renowned performer, Gökçe's versatile playing has led her to share the stage with several music icons, including Mark O’Connor, Tigran Hamasyan, Grace Kelly, Jaques Morelenbaum, Toninho Horta, Aynur Doğan, Shreya Ghoshal, Shankar Mahadevan, Simon Shaheen, Amal Murkus, and Pablo Ziegler.

Throughout her career, she has performed in various distinguished venues, such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Boston Symphony Hall, Rockport Music-Shalin Liu Performance Center, Goethe-Institut Boston, American Repertory Theater, MFA Boston, Roulette Intermedium (NYC), Shapeshifter Lab (NYC), Kongress Palais (Kassel, Germany), Ithra Theatre (Saudi Arabia), and Monte Carlo Salle Garnier (Monaco).

She has also been featured on albums and recording projects with Indian tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain, sitar virtuoso Purbayan Chatterjee, drummer Antonio Sánchez (Pat Metheny Group), clarinetist Ismail Lumanovski (NY Gypsy All Stars), and many more.

In addition to her performance career, she has been presented as a composer, arranger, and educator at distinguished venues and festivals including the Grand Canyon Music Festival, Boston Turkish Festival, Interlochen Arts Academy, Symphony Space (New York City), as well as in Mexico, Türkiye, and other international stages.

Bengisu Gökçe was one of the featured artists on the Berklee Indian Ensemble’s debut album, Shuruaat, which was nominated for the Best Global Music Album at the 65th Annual GrammyⓇ Awards.

A multi-award winner, she is a classically trained violinist and a performance alumna of Mersin University State Conservatory in Turkey, Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin, Germany, and Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Bengisu Gökçe currently serves as an assistant professor at Berklee College of Music, artistic director of the Boston Arabic Music Ensemble, and violin instructor, orchestra director, and administrative director of the Center for Arabic Culture Youth Orchestra Program in Boston. In addition, she holds the position of concertmaster of the New Manhattan Sinfonietta (NYC) and the Orchestra on the Hill in Ipswich, Massachusetts. she is a member of the Recording Academy, also serving in the judge panel of the Boston International Music Competition.

Born in Damascus, Syria, Fadi Saba began playing piano by ear at the age of eight. He joined the renowned Al-Farah Choir soon after, first as a chorister and later as the ensemble’s piano accompanist. After immigrating to the United States, he continued his musical training, studying piano with Timothy McFarland, pipe organ with Peter Sykes, and jazz performance with Peter Janson, Nando Michelin, and Emil Afrasiyab.

Fadi Saba’s passion for a wide range of musical traditions has shaped him into a versatile performer. He has presented solo piano works by Bill Evans and was awarded first jury prize for his interpretation of the music of Edvard Grieg. In addition to his performance career, he composes and produces original music that weaves together Middle Eastern and Western influences.

He is currently pursuing advanced studies in jazz while performing with a variety of ensembles across the United States.

Mehrpouya Daneshvar is an Iranian clarinetist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist known for his distinct cross-cultural approach to performance and composition. Originally from Zanjan, Iran, Daneshvar draws on a rich musical background that began in early childhood. Raised in a family of musicians, he started learning tonbak (Iranian hand percussion) at age four and later studied kamancheh (Persian spike fiddle) under masters including Ardeshir Kamkar, Ehsan Zabihifar, and Mehdi Bagheri.

At age 17, his musical direction shifted after performing with renowned Turkish clarinetist Hüsnü Şenlendirici in Izmir, which inspired him to pursue the clarinet seriously. He quickly developed a personal style that combines the melodic and modal systems of Iranian classical music (Radif) with the improvisational language of jazz, fusion, and world music. His unique approach has earned him performances at major festivals, including Expo 2020 in Dubai, the World Culture Festival on the National Mall in Washington D.C., and the Berklee International Folk Festival in Boston.

Mehrpouya currently resides in Boston, where he was awarded the prestigious Berklee College of Music World Tour Scholarship. He is pursuing a dual focus in Performance and Contemporary Writing & Production, expanding his practice into music production, film scoring, and music for media and advertising. His compositional work is rooted in storytelling and cultural connection, blending traditional Iranian elements with contemporary sound design.

He has collaborated with a wide range of artists and ensembles across the United States, including Christiane Karam, Giorgi Mikadze, Maliheh Moradi, Keita Ogawa, Peter Slavov, NY Gypsy All Stars. In 2023, he joined Matoori’s “Voices Unveiled” project, touring venues such as Kirkland Performance Center (Seattle), the San Diego Museum of Art, and The Oakes Center (Minneapolis).

Whether performing on stage or producing music behind the scenes, Daneshvar aims to bridge musical traditions and create meaningful dialogue between cultures. His work reflects a commitment to authenticity, innovation, and emotional resonance.

Cellist, composer, and songwriter Jeremy Harman is always exploring shifting musical terrain; equally at home on acoustic and electric instruments, his distinct sound and approach stems from a broad-based love of music and a desire to explore it through the lens of the cello. With influences including contemporary classical, modern jazz, progressive metal, downtempo, free improvisation, and folk music of all kinds, his musical path has taken him across the globe and to venues ranging from Carnegie Hall to the Kodak Center to the House of Blues to the Newport Jazz Festival.

Harman is the cellist for the Sirius Quartet, which has brought its original compositions and unique sound to audiences throughout the U.S., Germany, Switzerland, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, and South Africa, and appears frequently with instrumental chamber music/indie rock alchemists CORDIS. In 2020, Harman was named artistic director of the New Directions Cello Festival, which has showcased alternative cellists from all over the world for almost 30 years.

Harman has shared the stage with a wide range of artists including Quincy Jones, John Williams, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Bobby McFerrin, Lady Gaga, Sir Elton John, Tony Bennett, and Mary J. Blige, among others, and has done session and arranging work for countless indie artists in New England and beyond. A passionate educator, Harman is an associate professor of cello at Berklee College of Music and the creator of the online course Creative Expansion for Cellists.

Michael K. Harrist is a music educator and multi-instrumentalist focusing on double bass, yaylı tanbur and sarangi.

Michael works in a wide range of traditions including Ottoman/Turkish music, Hindustani, Jazz, Western Classical, and American roots music. He has performed with various ensembles including Labyrinth Ontario Ensemble, Mexamorphosis, Ameranouche, Ross Daly and Kelly Thoma, Çeşni Trio, Orchestrotica, Capillary Action, Sol & Kiel and Michael Kiel Cash.

He is the founding artistic director of Halcyon Arts New England, faculty at Kean University and founder/director of Harrist Music Studios.

A disciple of W. A. Mathieu, Michael has also studied under Ross Daly, Ramesh Mishra, George Ruckert, Rohan Mishra, Suhail Yusuf Khan, Melisa Yıldırım, Fred Stubbs and Evgenios Voulgaris.

Based in Boston for over three decades, Bertram Lehmann's supple and fluid style of drumming and innovative approach to hand percussion have made him a much sought-after player within a multitude of musical contexts domestically and beyond, performing in Jazz, South-American, African, Turkish, and many other global genres.

In addition to his 65+ recordings and many high-profile appearances over the years including with acclaimed artists such as The Paul Winter Consort, Paquito d'Rivera, Randy Brecker, Dave Liebman, Miguel Zenon, Anat Cohen, Romero Lubambo, Danilo Perez, Claudio Roditi, Oscar Castro-Neves, NDR Radio Bigband, Kenny Werner, and Dave Samuels' Caribbean Jazz Project, he has toured internationally across Brazil, Russia, India, South Korea, Ecuador, Ghana, Mexico, Türkiye, Spain, Israel, and Germany.

In the New England Region Bertram Lehmann is particularly known for his past-and-present associations with artists such as Luciana Souza and Mili Bermejo, Natraj, Mango Blue, Tony Perez, as well as more recently the innovative big bands of Felipe Salles and Mehmet Ali Sanlikol.

Some of the distinguished national and international venues Bertram Lehmann has performed at include New York City’s Lincoln Center, Birdland, Joe’s Pub, Metropolitan Museum, National Sawdust, and The Jazz Gallery City; Boston Symphony Hall, The Opera House, Jordan Hall, The Paramount Theater, Boston Globe Jazz Festival, Beantown Jazz Festival, Celebrity Series, The American Repertory Theater, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, as well as many venues elsewhere, including The Kennedy Center and Blues Alley (Washington, D.C.), Shalin Liu Center (Rockport, MA), 'Jazz Yatra' Festival (Mumbai), Teatro Amazonas (Manaus), Kumho Arts Center (Seoul), Tchaikovsky Conservatory (Moscow), 'Panafest' (Ghana), ‘Chicago World Music Festival’, and the ‘Istanbul Jazz Festival’.

Lehmann currently teaches courses and lessons in the Percussion, Ear Training, Africana Studies, Ensemble, and Liberal Arts departments at Berklee College of Music, as well as in the Applied Music Program at Tufts University. He endorses Murat Diril Cymbals, Vic Firth Sticks, DEM Sticks, Aquarian Drumheads, and Black Swamp Percussion.