BPMI Artists to Perform at Electric Daisy Carnival, Lollapalooza, Osheaga, Made In America

While some students spend their summer interning in an office, four groups of Berklee students will travel a different path, gaining invaluable experience out on the road performing at a summer music festival. Through the Berklee Popular Music Institute (BPMI), the students will perform at the 2016 editions of Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) in New York, May 13–14; Lollapalooza in Chicago, July 28–31; Osheaga in Montreal, July 29–31; and Made In America in Philadelphia, September 3–4.

For the artists—including electronic duo Glow Team, folk trio Honeysuckle, pop singer-songwriter Noé, and R&B artist Symone—the road to the festival stage began last fall. After submitting to BPMI’s record label Heavy Rotation Records (HRR), they were selected by the student staff from among 400 entries to appear at a festival and be featured on the label's latest release Dorm Sessions 11.  

The artists weren’t chosen with an eye toward specific festivals. “It all came together at the same time,” explained Jeff Dorenfeld, founding managing director of BPMI. “We had placed the festival holds by October, and were picking the acts for the record around the same time. With the exception of EDC, the festivals aren’t genre specific, so we were able to be flexible with the slots.”

Berklee music business/management majors will also gain valuable experience behind the scenes. Two to five students will accompany the artists to each festival to handle on-site promotion, assist with production and tour management, and document the trips on video.

BPMI is an experience-based program enabling students to go from the classroom to the stage in every facet of artist development and touring – important preparation for a performance career. The class begins its first full-year cycle in the fall, but the program is getting a jump-start this summer. “We’ve been doing festivals for years—Lollapalooza Chicago, Chile, and Brazil; Montreal’s Osheaga, and Mexico’s Cumbre Tajin,” said Dorenfeld. “That’s how the class came about. It got to the point where we wanted to formalize the experience for the students.”

Learn more about how BPMI works. 

BPMI Summer Festival Schedule

Glow Team at Electric Daisy Carnival, New York

Saturday, May 14

Glow Team is a bass duo from Miami, Florida, featuring $UAREY and student TRU¢¢O. They have produced celebrated remixes, including for Ellie Goulding’s “Burn” that landed them the No. 2 spot on dubstep.net’s best tracks of all time list. Aside from producing, Glow Team is gifted at knowing how to hype a crowd through their dynamic DJ performances. They have been invited to perform at music festivals including Life in Color, and have opened for Kill Paris and Antiserum, among others.

Honeysuckle at Lollapalooza, Chicago

Saturday, July 30

Folk trio Honeysuckle—featuring student Benjamin Burns, and alumni Holly McGarry '15, and Chris Bloniarz '15—blend older influences and traditional instrumentation with modern effects and inspiration. The group performed at the 2015 Newport Folk Festival and frequently plays in Boston and around the Northeast with bands like Boy & Bear and Grey Season. Honeysuckle currently has two releases, Live at Rockwood Music Hall, and Arrows. The band’s full-length debut came out in March, supported by a grant from Club Passim’s Iguana Music Fund.

Noé at Osheaga, Montreal

Saturday, July 30

Born in Paris and raised between Hong Kong and France, Noé is a student singer-songwriter striving to create entertaining yet thought-provoking music. Her indie-electronic band—including students Corbin Johnson and Adrian Forbes, and alumnus Mateo Gold '15—creates tracks worth talking about. Not Mad called her single “Lady,” “an unabashedly sexy, assertive and alluring attack on this seemingly undying and yet incredibly relevant sexual double-standard of condemning women and championing men.”

Symone at Made In America, Philadelphia

September 3-4

Symone '16 is an up-and-coming pop/R&B artist from Houston, Texas, who relocated to New York after earning her degree in music business/management from Berklee. Her songs range from slow, feel-good music to bumping party jams. Symone’s fire is fueled by the desire to empower individuals to pass along infectious positivity. She recently released a single called “Mood,” and will release her debut EP this year. Symone’s band features students Adrian Forbes and Jermaine Poindexter, Anthony Nembhard '10, and Jeffandy Alltogether.