New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Berklee College of
Music will visit Bolivia for the first time as part of the Berklee World Tour, where the college holds live audition and interview (A&I) events for musicians interested in studying at Berklee. All applicants will be considered for a host of scholarships that Berklee awards annually. College representatives plan to hear 120 musicians in La Paz (June 22 and 23) and
Santa Cruz (June 25 and 26). A group of current Berklee students will also lead clinics and workshops, and perform concerts with local musicians.
Berklee's trip to Bolivia is the result of an initiative by students including Bolivian vocalist Luis Gamarra, and Colombian percussionist Esteban Roa Fuentes. Gamarra, who was the only Berklee student from Bolivia at the time, created the non-profit group Bolivian
Sounds in 2013 to showcase talent from the country to the world and provide opportunities for Bolivian musicians, artists and dancers.
"It would be absurd to think I'm the only musician from Bolivia who's talented enough to be at Berklee," said Gamarra. "I know there are thousands of kids who could be here. I just want to give them the same opportunity that I had." With that goal in mind, the group successfully petitioned the college's Admissions Department to add the country to Berklee's audition sites.
"We are excited to make this first official audition and interview visit to Bolivia," said
Damien Bracken, Berklee's dean of admissions. "Berklee has a long tradition of recruiting talented students from all over Latin
America and we are confident that our exploration there will yield new talents that may otherwise have gone undiscovered."
The student group - Gamarra and Fuentes, along with American violinists Alan Price and Mona Seyed-Bolorforosh, and Nicaraguan flutist Juan Rosales - will also film a music video in Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flat in the world. The song, an arrangement of the Bolivian
National Anthem, is a collaboration between Bolivian and Berklee musicians recorded using traditional folkloric instruments and featuring Grammy nominee Eddy Navia on the charango. The video is planned for release on August 6 to coincide with Bolivia Independence Day.
Musicians come to Berklee from every corner of the earth, making the college uniquely international. Over 30 percent of the college's students come from outside the United States, representing more than 100 countries, and Berklee has strong ties to South
America with Berklee International Network (BIN) partner schools in Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, and Ecuador. The A&I events in Bolivia are part of a larger effort to increase the number of students from underrepresented areas of the world and foster a significant cultural exchange.
Berklee's unique audition and interview process is designed to uncover the applicant's musical strengths and academic goals while helping assess their aptitude and ability to succeed in the college's dynamic environment. Each year, Berklee's World Tour visits more than 50 cities in search of talented instrumentalists and vocalists—an effort that is supported with over $40 million in scholarship funds available to prospective and continuing students.
