Ten young musicians from urban Boston neighborhoods accepted full scholarships to attend Berklee College of Music starting this fall at an emotional presentation at the Berklee Performance Center on Tuesday, August 8.
Berklee President Roger Brown and Assistant Vice President for Community and Governmental Affairs J. Curtis Warner, Jr., along with Boston Public Schools Senior Program Director for the Arts Kathy Tosolini, handed out Berklee City Music Continuing Scholarships to 10 students who have been participants in Berklee City Music - a scholarship, tutorial, and mentoring program that gives urban teens from Greater Boston access to music education at no cost to them or their families. If all 10 students complete four years of study at the college, the collective amount of the scholarships awarded will be more than one million dollars.
The scholarships were awarded during the annual Berklee City Music Blow-Out Concert where City Music students performed a showcase of gospel, R&B, and jazz music. The 10 recipients were among 50 young musicians between the ages of 15 - 19 who were enrolled in Berklee's 5 Week Summer Performance Program on Summer Youth Scholarships for Talent and Excellence in Music (SYSTEM 5), another scholarship component of Berklee City Music.
Recipients of the 2006 Berklee City Music Continuing Scholarships: Shakyma Horacius, 18, vocalist, Cambridge
Sheldon Thwaites, 18, drummer, Dorchester
Anthony Nembhard, 18, bassist, Dorchester
Justin Claiborne, vocalist, Dorchester
Latoria Boyd, 18, vocalist, Hyde Park
Dominic French, 19, trombonist, Mattapan
Anant Pradhan, 18, tenor saxophonist, Jamaica Plain
Kaovanny Holguin, 18, vocalist, Lawrence
Jeannette Perez, 18, trumpet player, Roslindale
India Velez, 18, vocalist, Roslindale
Under the direction of Warner, Berklee City Music has provided music education to more than 900 underserved teens from Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Chelsea, Lynn, and other local urban areas since its inception in 1991.
Berklee College of Music was founded on the revolutionary principle that the best way to prepare students for careers in music was through the study and practice of contemporary music. For more than 60 years, the college has evolved constantly to reflect the state of the art of music and the music business. With over a dozen performance and nonperformance majors, a diverse and talented student body representing 70 plus countries, and a music industry “who's who" of alumni, Berklee is the world's premier learning lab for the music of today and tomorrow.
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