Jorge Drexler Meets Berklee

Oscar-winning singer-songwriter will appear at the Berklee Performance Center on January 20.

January 6, 2011

The 2011 Berklee College of Music Signature Series continues on Thursday, January 20 with Oscar-winning singer-songwriter Jorge Drexler. Matching a world music sensibility with the rhythms of his native Uruguay, Drexler has received a combined total of seven Grammy and Latin Grammy nominations, and has won two Spanish Music Prizes.

Jorge Drexler Meets Berklee takes place on Thursday, January 20, at 8:15 p.m. at the Berklee Performance Center, 136 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston. General admission tickets are $15 and $10 (reserved seating), and are available at the box office, at ticketmaster.com, or by calling 617 931-2000. For more information, call 617 747-2261 or visit berkleebpc.com. The concert is produced by bass professor Oscar Stagnaro and arranged and conducted by contemporary writing and production chair Matt Nicholl. Faculty cellist Eugene Friesen will be featured on Drexler's composition, "Al Otro Lado del Río." Berklee student Emily Elbert will open the show.

Watch Jorge Drexler perform at the Berklee Performance Center in this video:

In 2004, Drexler became the first Uruguayan to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song "Al Otro Lado del Río" from the internationally acclaimed film The Motorcycle Diaries. Drexler's recent work includes the soundtrack for James Ivory's film The City of Your Final Destination. His latest album, Amar la Trama (2010), recorded in four days in front of a small audience chosen from an online contest, received four nominations at the 11th Latin Grammy Awards.

Drexler was born in Montevideo to a German Jewish family that migrated to Uruguay to escape persecution. In 1992, he released his first album, La Luz Que Sabe Robar and earned a doctorate from the University of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay.

In 1995, he was invited to Madrid by Spanish songwriter Joaquín Sabina, who introduced him to other important singers. In 1996, Drexler recorded the album Vaivén in Spain with Spanish musicians. Vaivén included some old songs from his previous releases mixed with new compositions.

Drexler moved to Spain and recorded another four albums: Llueve (1998), Frontera (1999), Sea (2001), and Eco (2004). Although he lives most of the year in Spain, many of his albums were partially recorded in Uruguay with Uruguayan musicians. Artists such as Mercedes Sosa, Shakira, Maria Rita, Ana Belén, Victor Manuel, and Zélia Duncan have recorded on his songs.

See the event listing and buy tickets.