Message from the Vice President for Academic Affairs/Berklee ValenciaOctober 5, 2009Dear Friends and Colleagues, As most of you know, Berklee and Sociedad General de Autores y Editores (SGAE) announced an exciting new partnership one year ago that will culminate in the establishment of a Berklee campus in Valencia, Spain. With the help and support of the regional and city governments of Valencia—Generalitat Valenciana and the Ayuntamiento de Valencia—the Berklee Valencia (BV) campus will bring to Spain and Europe a school of contemporary music that is designed to attract diverse and talented students passionate about careers in music. To achieve this, Berklee Valencia will engage an unparalleled faculty of inspiring educators and cutting-edge industry professionals, provide state-of-the-art facilities for learning and living, and produce tomorrow’s leaders of the global music community. Much has been accomplished since that Primera Piedra event last October, and the purpose of this letter is to inform you of those activities and the present status of the Berklee Valencia project. There is a lot to cover, so this will be the first of many letters that I will write you as the Berklee Valencia project develops. OK, let’s get started! Celebrations La Puesta de la Primera Piedra, an event that traditionally ends with the laying of the actual cornerstone of the new building, took on a new twist in the hands of the Berklee/SGAE partnership. As construction was not imminent at that time, we concluded our event with a hologram presentation that simulated the building construction while the students played Latin jazz in the background. The mixing of new technologies; the interweaving of Spanish and American cultures; the music of brilliant young musicians; the vision of the guest speakers; and the display of shared dedication by educational, industrial, and political leaders to the cause of contemporary music education was inspiring to the hundreds of invited guests in the audience. A follow-up gathering of our SGAE and Valencian friends took place in Boston at Berklee’s 2009 commencement ceremony. Teddy Bautista brought a team of SGAE administrators and President Camps brought a delegation of government officials to help Berklee celebrate the class of 2009 graduation. The weekend was anchored by two main events: a Friday evening student concert that featured the music of the honorary doctorate recipients, and the ceremony for more than 850 graduates on Saturday morning. This year’s doctoral recipients were Juan Luis Guerra, himself a Berklee alumnus, r&b legend Smokey Robinson, pop star Linda Ronstadt and renowned audio engineer and producer, George Massenburg. Our friends from Spain greatly enjoyed the chance to meet these important cultural figures and were thrilled to hear in person the talented students who performed in what has become Berklee’s most important annual concert event. Partners Additionally, 11 runners-up were awarded partial scholarships through Berklee’s World Scholarship Tour program. All 14 students will be supported by SGAE with stipends for travel and for the purchase of laptop computers. SGAE has provided more than one million euros for this program that will be continued in spring 2010 with new auditions to be held in Mexico DF, Buenos Aires and a return to Madrid for a second year. If you are interested in this program, consult the Berklee and SGAE web sites for more information. Another important program that joins the efforts of Berklee and SGAE is the Berklee Canta en Español event, a Spanish language songwriting competition that is open to all Berklee student and alumni singer/songwriters. An October concert in Mexico City featuring the six finalists will be broadcast on Televisa cable satellite music channel Telehit in November 2009. A panel of judges composed of renowned members of the Latin music community will select the grand prize winner at the concert. The winner will have a music video produced and then aired on Televisa. In December 2009, we will join with the SGAE Arteria Network to stage the first of a series of Berklee lectures at SGAE locations throughout Spain. The lecturers—all faculty, alumni, or professional affiliates of Berklee—will focus on important music industry issues that are of relevance to all of us. These events will be held at local SGAE facilities and will be open to the public as well as SGAE members. Again, monitoring Berklee and SGAE web sites is the easiest way to stay informed as to these events. Operations Directing our operations in Madrid is María Martínez Iturriaga, who joined the Berklee Valencia team as project manager in March 2008. She has worked with the Boston team on building the administrative, legal, and academic structure of Berklee Valencia as well as serving as the liaison between Berklee and SGAE. A native of Madrid, Maria holds a M.A. in performing arts administration from New York University. She received her B.A. in business administration from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and her B.A. in piano performance from Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid. She is fluent in English, French, and Spanish, has worked in the United States, and we are very happy to have her with us. Recently, we added an administrative assistant, Carlos Ballester, to assist Maria as we are increasingly transferring our operations to this new Madrid office. We invite you to stop by and see us; we are located on Calle Almirante in central Madrid, and we would be happy to meet you. Our phone is 34-91-522-4536 or you can email Maria at mmiturriaga@berklee.edu or Carlos at cballester@berklee.edu. In Boston, our Berklee Valencia office is at 855 Boylston Street on the seventh floor. The phone is 617 747-2299 and you can email me at lmonroe@berklee.edu. I am dividing my time between Boston and Madrid, so if you want to drop by be sure to contact me first to find out if I am in town. Leadership With the Berklee Valencia project, I feel that my professional career is coming full circle in that I am returning to Spain where I first learned so many things about music and life. In the 1960s and 70s, the Spanish jazz community was rich and vibrant with talent and I treasure the experiences that I had sharing the stage with great musicians like Pedro Iturralde, the late Tete Montoliu, and others. So, it is with much excitement that I approach the Valencia project and the opportunity to help develop today’s young Spanish musicians as their predecessors helped to develop me. In reality, I have been working on this project for more than two years. As you can imagine, an international undertaking of this kind is extremely complex in both its scope and design, but the planning work of the past two years has brought us to the point where we can now truly move forward to realize this bold and exciting venture. As of this writing, we are beginning the search for the executive director, the person who, along with President Brown, will provide the leadership for the Berklee Valencia initiative. Starting a new school is a daunting task in today’s difficult environment and we are seeking a very special person with a broad array of leadership gifts. The search is being conducted on an international basis and I hope that we will be able to announce our choice within a few months. Don’t hesitate to contact us at the numbers and email addresses above. Meanwhile, keep an eye out for more letters from me and other BV news and events as we move forward. The best way to stay up-to-date is by signing up for our Berklee Valencia newsletter, which we will then send to you from time to time in the months and years ahead. Thanks for your interest in Berklee Valencia! Sincerely yours, Larry Monroe
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