Berklee Global Jazz Institute to Celebrate 10th Anniversary

The Berklee Global Jazz Institute (BGJI), under the artistic direction of founder and Grammy-winning pianist and composer Danilo Pérez, celebrates its 10th anniversary with a concert featuring students and professors from around the world. The Berklee Global Jazz Institute 10th Anniversary Concert on Wednesday, April 3, at the Berklee Performance Center, exemplifies the institute’s goal of advancing significant intercultural dialogues through music, collaboration, and outreach. Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 on the day of the show. 

The BGJI is the first program of its kind to advance a vision for the artist of the new millennium. Its ambassadors develop new sounds and music for the betterment of society, including cultural concerns and social issues. The institute combines creative music, interconnected learning, social work, and ecology to foster common tones.

“Wayne Shorter told me to write and play music the way you want the world to be like,” said Pérez. “And Dizzy Gillespie taught me that we can create a cultural passport through music in order to bring people together. This is part of the institute's philosophy.” 

The concert will feature BGJI faculty Joe Lovano, Terri Lyne Carrington, Tia Fuller, George Garzone, and Ben Street. Alumni from Iraq, Israel, Greece, Korea, Palestine, Puerto Rico, Canada, and South Africa, together with Marco Pignataro, managing director for the BGJI, will join students from the current master's and undergraduate degree programs. 

Pérez defines global jazz as music that advances the mission of creating positive intercultural dialogues throughout the world while redirecting humanity in a positive direction. The movement is inclusive and welcoming of different nationalities, indigenous instruments, and folkloric music. It creates a common language and promotes music as a virtual bridge between people and cultures.

Over the past decade, BGJI faculty and students have performed more than 800 concerts at clubs and festivals in Europe, Latin America, Africa, and across the U.S. The BGJI has been covered in The New York Times, DownBeat, and NPR, and the State Department awarded the institute federal grants to visit Africa. Students in the program also perform at facilities in Boston for elderly patients. 

In 2018, the BGJI convened five prestigious music programs to form a new international organization for preparing young musicians to become jazz ambassadors in and beyond their communities. The Global Association for Interconnective Arts (GAIA)—comprising the BGJI, the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music at the New School, the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, and Siena Jazz Academy—explores, defines, and implements new ways of educating music students.