Online and Campus Students Collaborate in Boston

Berklee and Berklee Online collaborated in an unprecedented way when two online students flew to Boston from Japan and the Faroe Islands to hear their compositions performed by the Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra.

August 24, 2015

Last March, two Berklee Online students—Yukari Kosuge of Japan and Magnus Johannessen of the Faroe Islands—flew to Boston to hear their compositions performed by the Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra in the Shames Family Scoring Stage. It was the first performance of its kind in Berklee history, through which the college's online and brick-and-mortar programs were integrated in such a collaborative way.

The event was coordinated by online course author and instructor Ben Newhouse and Francisco Noya, an assistant professor of composition on the Boston campus. Berklee Online streamed the recording session live on YouTube and also hosted a live chat, allowing students and other interested parties from around the world to participate in this unprecedented collaboration. Kosuge's and Johannessen's compositions were recorded by two Berklee campus students, Paula Giraldo and Dylan Waterhouse, under the supervision of James Donahue, associate professor of music production and engineering.

"It's a wonderful opportunity for any composer to hear their music played by the instruments that it was intended and originally composed for," said Newhouse.

Carin Nuernberg, Berklee Online's dean, added: "It's the bringing together of two worlds for us, the online school and the campus school. I see this as a way that we can bring down walls and have opportunities again like this for students."

The full performance and recording of Kosuge and Johannessen's works can be viewed here.