PODCAST: Inside Berklee—Eirini Tornesaki

For Cirque du Soleil vocalist Eirini Tornesaki, Berklee Online grants her the freedom and flexibility to study songwriting from anywhere her career may take her. As the sole vocalist in the touring Cirque production KURIOS, Tornesaki never finds herself in one place for more than a couple of months at a time. With Berklee Online, she can earn a specialist certificate in songwriting from the road without disrupting her professional life.

When KURIOS set up its grand chapiteau at Boston's Suffolk Downs in late May 2016, Tornesaki knew that she had to make time to visit the Berklee campus. She spent time in Back Bay at Berklee Online's annual music conference Berklee Onsite, delivered a visiting artist clinic in the Colvin Recital Hall, and recorded an interview with the BIRN. Having studied online with Berklee since early 2015, visiting the college was a dream come true for the native of Crete, Greece.

"When I was 16, I was living on Crete and we had an amazing jazz festival. I volunteered for the festival and met a lot of musicians that studied at Berklee. Suddenly, I felt like I wanted to be there, too! I wanted to study jazz and modern music. I applied to the Boston campus and auditioned in Athens when I was 17. I was accepted and received a scholarship to attend the school, but I still couldn't afford to go to Boston at that time. Instead, I studied in England."

Later, while performing in KURIOS, Tornesaki was inspired to start writing her own songs but wanted some guidance. Remembering Berklee, she began exploring the many classes offered by Berklee Online. In this episode of Inside Berklee, Tornesaki discusses her connections to Berklee and what it's like to sing for the circus.

Producer: Tony Brown
Engineer: Dyami Wilson
Recorded at the BIRN Studios

In her Berklee Online student spotlight, Tornesaki explains why online education is such a good fit for touring musicians: