Michel Camilo Scholarship created for Dominican student at Berklee College of Music: made possible by gift from Newbury Comics' Mike Dreese

Latin Beat Magazine, May, 2005

Grammy award-winning pianist and composer Michel Camilo announced recently that a full-tuition, full room and board scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston will be presented to a student from the Dominican Republic this year. Camilo, a native of Santo Domingo, previously made the announcement at a press briefing for his February 19 concert in Santiago, Dominican Republic.

The Michel Camilo Scholarship will be presented to a young musician, either Dominican-born, or of Dominican descent, with both exceptional talent and a passion for a career in music. The scholarship recipient will be able to attend Boston's Berklee College of Music, alma mater to such musical luminaries as Quincy Jones, Juan Luis Guerra, Diana Krall, John Mayer, and Danilo Pérez, with all tuition and housing paid through graduation.

"It has been a dream of mine to help create a scholarship for a young Dominican musician for several years now," said Camilo. "I have been extremely fortunate in my life and in my career, and I feel equally fortunate to have partners, in Mike Dreese, and Berklee College of Music, who share my dream, and have helped me make this scholarship into a reality."

As a young man growing up and studying piano in Santo Domingo, Camilo came to know the Bostonian college through jazz lessons he studied by mail, using Berklee books and recordings. In more recent years, he has enjoyed a close relationship with the pioneering Boston music college, giving clinics and master classes for its students. In 2000, for his many and enduring contributions to the world of music, Camilo was presented with Berklee's honorary doctorate degree. He is currently serving the college as an Alpert Visiting Professor, sponsored by the Herb Alpert Foundation.

After Camilo created the scholarship, Mike Dreese, founder and CEO of Boston's nationally-known Newbury Comics record store chain, and a member of Berklee's board of trustees, decided that he wanted to make a major contribution to the fund, to allow the recipient to attend the college for a full four years.

"Michel is one of the great stars of this music, and one of the most ardent advocates for music education that I've met," said Dreese. "Berklee is dear to me, in large part because of the amazing opportunity it represents for students from all over the world to meet and play together. I felt moved by Michel's mission to bring a young musician from the Caribbean to Berklee, and we are honored to participate."

Students wishing to apply for the scholarship should contact Berklee College of Music at 617-747-8681, or on the web at scholarships@berklee.edu, and ask for a Michel Camilo Scholarship application. An application and guidelines for creating an audition tape will be sent out that same day. A web-based application is available at www.berklee.edu/scholarships/camilo. After audition tapes are screened, live scholarship auditions will be held in Santo Domingo on June 7 and 8, 2005.

Fascinated with music since childhood, Michel Camilo composed his first song at the age of five, and studied for 13 years at the National Conservatory in Santo Domingo. At 16, he became a member of the National Symphony Orchestra. In 1979, he moved to New York to continue his studies at Mannes and Juilliard, and shortly thereafter, his tune Why Not? was recorded by both Paquito D'Rivera and the Manhattan Transfer, the latter winning a Grammy for its vocal rendition.

The 1980s brought Camilo's Carnegie Hall debut with his trio, recordings for Sony, and awards from Billboard, and Gavin for his jazz work as well as many commissions and performances of his classical work with major symphony orchestras. Subsequent recordings for Verve, Decca (UK) and Telarc have been met with great critical acclaim. In 2004, Camilo won the Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Album, for his Live at the Blue Note disc on Telarc. His brand new disc, Solo, also for Telarc, was released on January 25, 2005.

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 over half a century, 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 over 70 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.