Meet Berklee's 2025 Commencement Honorees

Dear Berklee community,

I’m excited to share news about our upcoming commencement exercises on May 10. Berklee College of Music will present honorary Doctor of Music degrees to Grammy-winning rapper, singer, songwriter, and producer André 3000, and Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, pianist, and producer Sara Bareilles. Boston Conservatory at Berklee will recognize Pulitzer Prize–winning composer, conductor, and educator Tania León, and Tony Award–winning singer and actress Kelli O’Hara with honorary doctorates.

In addition, Grammy-winning drummer and composer Antonio Sánchez ’97 will deliver the keynote address at Berklee College of Music’s Boston graduate commencement on June 26, and Berklee Valencia will present an honorary doctorate to acclaimed film composer Patrick Doyle at its ceremony on July 7.

Each of these remarkable artists has made profound contributions to music, stage, and screen. We are thrilled to recognize their lasting influence as part of our celebrations, and to honor the achievements of Berklee’s class of 2025.

You can learn more about the honorees below.

Please join me in congratulating this year’s graduates on reaching this incredible milestone!

Yours,

Jim Lucchese
President, Berklee
 

Berklee College of Music Honorees

André Benjamin—best known as André 3000—is one of the most revered, celebrated artists of the last three decades, an auteur whose work in music, film, fine arts, fashion, and more continues to influence the cultural landscape on a global scale. His work as one half of the iconic hip-hop duo Outkast, with Antwan “Big Boi” Patton, established a brand-new voice and style within rap that had never been experienced before. In 2023, the nine-time Grammy Award winner released his first solo album in 20 years, New Blue Sun, a wind-focused instrumental album that represents the next step in Benjamin’s creative evolution. Released to critical acclaim, it became the first instrumental album to land on the Billboard 200 chart and was nominated for three Grammy Awards in 2025, including Album of the Year. Benjamin was recently announced as a 2025 inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 

Sara Bareilles is an award-winning singer, songwriter, actor, producer, activist, and New York Times bestselling author whose accolades include two Grammy Awards, three Tony Award nominations, and three Emmy Award nominations. As a recording artist and songwriter, she has sold more than three million albums and 15 million singles in the US, and her songs have been streamed more than 3.5 billion times worldwide. On Broadway, Bareilles composed music and lyrics for Waitress, stepping into the lead role both on Broadway and in the West End. She played Dawn Solano on the Emmy-nominated musical comedy series Girls5eva, the third season of which is streaming on Netflix. Bareilles is currently working on a musical theater adaptation of Meg Wolitzer’s bestselling novel The Interestings, alongside author Sarah Ruhl.

Boston Conservatory at Berklee Honorees

Tania León is a composer, conductor, educator, and one of the most influential musicians of our time. Her orchestral work Stride, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, received the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Music, making her the first Latin American woman to win the award. As a composer, León has been commissioned by leading orchestras around the world, held Carnegie Hall’s Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair for its 2023–2024 season, and currently serves as a composer in residence with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. As a conductor, she studied under Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa. In 2022, she was awarded a Kennedy Center Honor for lifetime artistic achievements, and she has long been a champion of arts advocacy throughout her career.

Kelli O’Hara is a celebrated actress and singer whose versatile career has reached the heights of Broadway, opera, and television. She won the 2015 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical, along with Grammy Award, Drama League, and Outer Critics nominations for her portrayal of Anna Leonowens in The King and I, and has appeared in 12 Broadway shows for which she has garnered eight Tony nominations. In 2015, she made history as the first artist to cross over from Broadway to opera when she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in Lehar’s The Merry Widow opposite Renée Fleming. O’Hara can currently be seen on HBO’s The Gilded Age, which was nominated for a SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series for its second season.

Berklee College of Music Boston Graduate Commencement Keynote

Antonio Sánchez is a four-time Grammy Award–winning drummer and composer and 1997 Berklee graduate. With more than a dozen albums as a leader or co-leader, he has become one of the most sought-after drummers in jazz. In addition to his collaboration with guitarist/composer Pat Metheny spanning 18 years and nine albums, he has also recorded and performed with artists such as Chick Corea, Gary Burton, Michael Brecker, and Toots Thielmans. In 2014, Sánchez scored Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), which won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Sánchez has been thrice named Modern Drummer’s Jazz Drummer of the Year. His latest album, SHIFT (Bad Hombre Vol. II), features him playing virtually every instrument and serving as its producer.

Berklee Valencia Honoree

Patrick Doyle is an internationally acclaimed Scottish composer whose extraordinary body of work has had a lasting impact on the film industry. With his music reaching a global audience of over 1 billion people, Doyle has scored more than 60 feature films, including Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Thor, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. He has also collaborated with some of the world’s most renowned directors. Beyond film, he has composed several original concert pieces and actively supports organizations dedicated to funding the next generation of artistic talent. His dedication to the art of film scoring, his passion for storytelling through music, and his commitment to extending his influence beyond the musical sphere have inspired countless musicians, composers, and filmmakers alike, including many Berklee students.