Berklee International Network Collaborations

The year 2010 has shaped up to be an important one for Berklee and the institutions of the Berklee International Network (BIN). Next year the college will expand its global reach to new locales that are teeming with musical excitement. Equally important are the upcoming anniversaries of several of our international partners.

International Celebrations

Earlier this year, branches of the Koyo Conservatory in Kobe and Nagoya, Japan, began celebrating a double anniversary. First, Koyo Conservatory and Berklee collaborated on the 25th annual High School Jazz Festival sponsored by the Japanese Association for Jazz Educators. Koyo has been a major supporter of this event, which attracts the top middle- and high-school jazz bands in Japan. Next year, Koyo will celebrate its 30th anniversary. For more details, visit www.koyo.net.

The PAN School of Music in Tokyo, Japan, will also celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2010 with a number of events beginning this fall and leading to a special program to be conducted in conjunction with Berklee in February in Tokyo. For more information, visit www.pan-music.com.

This fall, Institutionen der Jazz & Rock Schulen of Freiburg is celebrating its 25th anniversary with an international symposium on music production for campus radio and a gala show featuring the school’s faculty and staff. The school will also make an appearance at the European Music Education Network’s annual conference. Visit www.jrs.org/de/ for details.

This fall semester began the 10th anniversary year for the Instituto de Música Contemporánea at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Quito, Ecuador. In early October, Director Esteban Molina hosted an expanded version of the annual BIN visit. This event will be followed by several others throughout the year and culminate in the 2010 BIN Summit. For details, visit www.imc.usfq.edu.ec.

Berklee’s on the Road programs in Italy and Puerto Rico will also celebrate milestones next year. July 2010 will mark the 25th year for the Berklee in Italy program and the 20th year for the Heineken JazzFest in Puerto Rico.

Fall Collaborations

Berklee student group the Patrick Kunka Quartet represented Berklee at the Nancy Jazz Pulsations Festival in October. The group performed at the festival and at several music institutes and conducted clinics at Music Academy International in Nancy. Special thanks go to Director Hans Kullock for expanding the quartet’s role in the festival.

Berklee’s spin doctors, professors Stephen Webber and Brian “Raydar” Ellis, and members of the Berklee Turntable Ensemble traveled to Finland in October for concerts and clinics. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State with support from the Helsinki Pop & Jazz Conservatory and Numark, Alesis, and Akai Professional, the tour helped to mark the 90th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the United States and Finland.

Over the past few years, many developments have taken place within the structure and governance of higher education and vocational institutions in Finland. As a result, two exceptional institutions—the Helsinki Pop & Jazz Conservatory and the Pop and Jazz Music Programme of the Metropolia University of Applied Sciences—are now housed in the same location and teach an array of musical styles and subjects. Helsinki Metropolia University was recently invited to join the Pop & Jazz Conservatory as a BIN network school. We look forward to working with Director Jere Laukkanen and others at Metropolia University.