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Pat Simpson is a retired Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, Certified Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT), and Certified American Viniyoga Teacher and Therapist specializing in Mental Health Yoga Therapy. With a Post-Master’s degree in Applied Psychology and Counseling from the University of Baltimore, Pat combines therapeutic counseling and yoga to support individuals experiencing anxiety, depression, PTSD, grief, and emotional disorders. She has volunteered as a yoga therapist in research at Johns Hopkins Hospital and has supported veterans through the Battle Buddies program. Through her practice, Heart Path Yoga, Pat brings a uniquely integrative approach to performance anxiety — drawing on decades of clinical and therapeutic experience.
Howard Lieberman, a multi-instrumentalist, physicist, and engineer, has taken a wonderfully circuitous path to becoming a composer. A pioneer in audio, computers, and education, he developed the first self-contained digital piano, became the first computer acoustician, and designed one of Silicon Valley’s first innovation management programs, leading to the founding of SVII in 2005. With a background spanning physics, electrical engineering, electro-acoustics, and AI, Howard contributed to two billion-dollar markets and founded companies including Integrated Acoustics and Dorado Corporation. Now, he brings that same inventive spirit to music, studying composition and orchestration at Juilliard and co-founding iiCoCo — the International Interactive Composers Collaborative.
David Guenette is the author of The Steep Climes Quartet, a climate fiction series examining environmental change through character-driven narratives. The first novel, Kill Well, was published in September 2023, followed by Dear Josephine in March 2025. His work reflects a longstanding interest in climate issues that began with an early school project on pollution and greenhouse gases. He began his career in publishing as a developmental and acquisitions editor, later shifting into digital publishing as a journalist, editor, and analyst. He also consulted for technology ventures, including Fuse, Intertrust Technologies, and NetMarquee.
Guenette founded Retrosheath, a startup focused on reducing the cost of energy-efficient building retrofits, before turning his attention more fully to fiction. During this transition, he spent several years working as a bartender and bar manager. He lives in the Berkshires, where he writes, consults in digital marketing for Averosa Records, and tends a vegetable garden.
Olivia Sblendorio is a performer, comedian, pianist, and coach who brings a uniquely hilarious and boundary-pushing energy to every stage. A practitioner of what she calls “Modern Vaudeville,” she has performed physical theatre worldwide — from Shakespeare & Co. to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival — and is a winner of the Frigid Festival’s Audience Choice Award and a semi-finalist for the Andy Kaufman Awards. Her full-length show Nana explores feminism, intimacy, and the humor in life’s taboos. With decades of experience, Olivia also coaches performers of all levels, helping them craft stage-worthy material for everything from open mics to burlesque to auditions.
Varoujan Froundjian is a multidisciplinary artist born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1952 of Armenian ancestry, working across painting, digital imagery, and experimental film. Influenced by Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Luis Buñuel, Stan Brakhage, and Norman McLaren, Varoujan works primarily in acrylics and digital mediums, embracing the experimental and non-narrative traditions of filmmaking as a vast creative spectrum for social, emotional, and philosophical expression. His films emerge not from concept or story, but from pure stream of consciousness — shapes and forms arising without intention, the inner psychological landscape finding its own form. For Varoujan, the most compelling art happens without supervision, where the unconscious leads.
The power that Pamela’s singing has to move an audience owes a lot to the acting experience which shaped her career. She trained at the American Conservatory Theatre and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Pamela created a successful career as an international jazz singer and recording artist, living and performing for many years in Europe and Australia, before returning to Manhattan where she established a residency at Pisticci restaurant in Harlem appearing with some of New York City’s finest jazz players; Art Hirahara, Noriko Ueda, Tomoko Ohno, Helio Alvez, Tim Horner, Michael O’Brien and Kaori Yamada. In 2021 Pamelarelocated to the Berkshires where she regularly performs and teaches voice. Her four recordings have received rave reviews which place her in the mainstream of today’s outstanding jazz vocalists.
Dave Smith is a jazz pianist, mixer, sound designer, and owner of Audio Alchemy, with a career rooted in an extraordinary ear and a passion for technology. Trained in jazz piano at Berklee College of Music, Dave found his calling on New York’s legendary 48th Street, selling synthesizers and digital recording equipment before pioneering audio-for-video production. From 1988, he had a front-row seat at ABC TV, ultimately spending fourteen years as a re-recording mixer, earning a reputation for delivering quality under pressure. He provided surround sound for the first HD Super Bowl broadcast in 2006, then founded Audio Alchemy, bringing two decades of expertise to every project.