Frost Summer Institute of Contemporary Songwriting Faculty

Raina Murnak, Assistant Professor and Head of Contemporary Voice & Performance Artistry at the University of Miami Frost School of Music

Brian Wilkins

Danny Sanchez

Pauly German

Stephen Gleason

BIOGRAPHY

RAINA MURNAK

Dr. Raina Murnak is Assistant Professor and Head of Contemporary Voice & Performance Artistry department at Frost School of Music at the University of Miami in the Music Media and Entertainment Industries Department. She has served as the Artistic Director of the Bruce Hornsby Creative American Music Pop Ensembles, co-founder of the renowned Frost Method of Experiential Musicianship, the founder and director of Frost Summer Institute of Contemporary Songwriting and a co-creator of the widely successful MADE program at Frost where she has been innovating in higher education for the last 17 years.

She is a sought-after vocalist and performance coach with over 20 years of experience on stage, television and in the studio. Her extensive training in both classical and pop/contemporary voice has afforded her the rare ability to fluently perform/coach a vast array of styles and genres from opera to classical avant-garde to theater to rock. Her gift is her ability to unleash performers and help them create compelling honest performances grounded in freedom and expression.

Dr. Murnak is a multi-talented artist well versed in not only music, but also in dance and the visual arts. She holds a BM and MA degree in Vocal Performance and Composition from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and a DMA in Music Theory and Composition and Vocal Pedagogy from the University of Miami. She remains active as an online educator for Frost Graduate programs, Continuing Education and the Top Hat platform in music theory and peak performance.

https://people.miami.edu/profile/r.murnak@umiami.edu

BRIAN WILKINS

Wilkins built a successful 18-year career utilizing his passion for music, technology, creative partnership building, and artist relations to help clients grow their businesses and brands. He is the founder and president of 137 Entertainment, an innovative music management agency specializing in artist development, digital marketing, business development consulting, and artist-label relations. Most recently, he served as strategic advisor and business development director for leading music companies PledgeMusic and Cyber PR where he helped establish music business curriculums at the Berklee School of Music and Middle Tennessee State University. As an entrepreneur, he helped create, launch, and build a client base of over 75 artists and 100,000 users for the music mobile social application, CrowdStream. Wilkins has held positions with major and independent music label partners including Sony/BMG Entertainment, RED Music, and INgrooves. He was also an artist manager and director of new media for Rebel-One Management, where he helped guide the careers of top-tier artists and producers including Rihanna and Alex Da Kid.

DANNY SANCHEZ

Reinaldo Daniel Sanchez is a Miami native musician and producer. Many people know him by his stage name "Danny Rein." He recently graduated the University of Miami with a Media Writing Production major and Songwriting/Music Business double minor with guitar being his primary instrument. You may find him playing guitar and singing in his band "Love & Water" or locked away in his home studio producing for hours on end.

PAULY GERMAN

is a pianist, arranger, producer, composer and music educator from the Dominican Republic. He graduated with Summa Cum Laude honors from the prestigious Berklee College of Music with a Bachelor of Music in Contemporary Writing and Production as a full-tuition scholarship scholar. While completing his bachelor, he received the "Award for Excellence in Vocal Writing," and the " Contemporary Writing and Production Achievement Award". He's currently pursuing his Master of Music in Media Writing and Production at the acclaimed Frost School of Music, where he's also a Teaching Assistant.

STEPHEN GLEASON

is a New York-born musician, artist, and educator. With heavy roots in both jazz and popular music - a unique career of performing, composing, producing, and teaching music has been curated. For over fifteen years he has been a highly sought-after guitarist, vocalist, and conductor, performing for major network television, corporate, and political affairs including Rachael Ray, The Food Network, and The Presidential Inaugural Ball. As a studio musician, he has been featured on many recordings, including the likes of Carly Simon, and appeared as a sideman on various recording label sessions.

As an award-winning ensemble director, his original vocal arrangements are heralded as a "modern and vibrant interpretation of classic jazz and the Great American Songbook", garnering attention from the likes of Manhattan Transfer and Phil Mattson from the renowned A cappella quartet, Singers Unlimited. He has since gone on to arrange and sing in the CASA nominated, award winning vocal jazz ensemble, Quintet, as well as direct the Contemporary A cappella ensemble at the Frost School of Music, University of Miami.