Berklee Blogs

First-hand accounts of the Berklee experience

Global Initiatives (Page 1 of 25)

Global Initiatives

Why I Want to Move to Spain

Eli Slavkin in ValenciaBy Eli Slavkin

It wasn’t long after setting foot in Spain for the first time in January 2017 to do my third semester in Valencia that I realized that this is the place where I belong. Being a film scoring major and being a Los Angeles native, one would think that L.A. is where I’m meant to be. The career opportunities, the ability to put my education to work in a city with an abundance of creative professionals makes it almost too obvious that I should be there. Not to mention that my family is there, and I spent eighteen years living there. But my heart is in Spain.

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Gracenotes group

Building Homes and Connections: Reflections from New Mexico

Continuing Berklee’s commitment to giving back to the community at large, the college’s Gracenotes Volunteer Committee sponsored its second annual trip to New Mexico. A group of nine staff and faculty members from the College and Conservatory traveled to Santa Fe to work in the Oshara Village, an ongoing Habitat for Humanity project to promote affordable home ownership for Santa Fe area residents by constructing simple, adequate, and safe houses through the efforts of volunteers, partner families, donors, and staff.

Ellen Thompson | Trip Leader, Ellen ThompsonStaff, Berklee College of Music

By trusting each other, being vulnerable, and sharing from our strengths, each of our group allowed for all the others to learn, contribute, and be contributed to.

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Working with Shreya Ghoshal Changed My Perspective on Singing

By Shrivant Singh

So, I got the opportunity to perform with Shreya Ghoshal.

To be honest, it still hasn’t sunk in entirely. I learned so much during the entire process  and had such a good time  with the entire group. I have always been a fan of the Indian Ensemble and then getting to perform as a part of it with Shreya Ghoshal—I couldn’t have asked for anything better.

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An Unforgettable Memory

Singing with Shreya Goshal for the first time

   The evening of the 4th of December 2017 would be an unforgettable date in my life. It was the day a long time dream of mine was realized. It was the day when any singer’s inspiration first set foot into a musician’s dream institution. It was the day for which we, the Berklee Indian Ensemble, had been waiting for. All those hours of practice and rehearsals were to bear fruit that very day. As soon as she set foot into the room, all attention was directed towards her. I remember my heart skipping a beat seeing her in person. I had imagined, even dreamt, of that moment and thought I would be well prepared to take it. I couldn’t sleep the night before as I was up imagining my first meeting with her. But, experiencing it in reality was so much better. For she was my inspiration, my idol, the one and only Shreya Ghoshal.

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Concert venue prior to a Flamenco Legends performance

Tali Rubinstein on Touring with ‘Flamenco Legends’

This past fall, Israeli recorder player and composer Tali Rubinstein B.M. ’14 was invited to fill harmonica virtuoso Antonio Serrano’s spot with Flamenco Legends, the late Paco de Lucia’s band, now led by Javier Limón, artistic director of the Mediterranean Music Institute. Here are a few selections from a travel journal she kept over the course of the tour. You can also read the full travel journal.

By Tali Rubinstein B.M. ’14

Tali Rubinstein and Flamenco Legends in the touring vanTuesday, October 31, 2017

Being on an airplane is one of the strangest situations. It is as if time has paused, someone put the hourglass sideways. You are obliged to wonder, to doubt and ponder. I am on my way from TLV to Sacramento, to join the late Paco de Lucia’s band, “Flamenco Legends,” led by Javier Limón. Indeed, what a legendary moment I’ve been waiting anxiously for, for so long! Only one hour left for this flight in this crowded cabin, and then time starts rushing again, towards our first show out of four, tomorrow. Just as a typical musician, I had close to zero time to practice, and the music is probably the most challenging repertoire I’ve faced as a professional musician.

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