Berklee’s campus in Valencia, Spain, receives the award from Fundación Excelentia on June 6. Photo by Jorge Rostoll.
Berklee’s campus in Valencia, Spain, received an award on June 6 from Fundación Excelentia recognizing Berklee’s role as one the world’s leading institutions of contemporary music. Excelentia is a private, nonprofit Spanish institution that promotes the values and dissemination of lyric music.
“The fact that Spain is home to one of the most important music institutions in the world is not only a boost for the development of national talent, but also a spotlight to attract foreign talent, thanks to its innovative campus, educational program, and faculty,” said Javier Martí, president of Excelentia.
The awards ceremony took place in the National Auditorium of Music in Madrid. Queen Sofía of Spain, in her role of honorary chair of the institution, presided over the event, which was presented by the journalist Carmen Enríquez.
María Martínez Iturriaga, executive director of Berklee Valencia, accepted the award and thanked Fundación Excelentia for “acknowledging the role Berklee has been developing for the last five years in Spain, providing students with the ideal conditions so they can fulfill their potential to become future leaders of the music industry.”
Now in their third year, these awards were created to honor institutions, professionals, and companies that one way or another support and disseminate classical music. They split into a total of seven categories: professional career, young talent, ephemeris, companies, social projects, educational projects, and music and cinema. “These awards are a symbolic recognition and a way to thank all the recipients for their efforts on this field,” said Martí.
The jury was formed by professionals of different backgrounds who share the common goal of supporting classical music. “From all the awards, the educational project category is one of the most important ones, and Berklee was a suitable candidate as it is synonymous with avant-garde music and a world pioneer in the training of musicians of several disciplines,” Martí said.
The award recipients in the other categories were soprano Ainhoa Arteta and Antonio Moral, director of Centro Nacional de Difusión Musical; Daniel Lozakovitj, a 16-year-old violin player from Sweden; film composer Fernando Velázquez; Orfeón Donostiarra and Liceu de Barcelona; Fundación Mutua Madrileña, Fundación La Caixa, and Disney; and Música en Vena.
The ceremony concluded with a concert performed by the Orquesta Clásica Santa Cecilia and Orfeón Donostiarra.
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