Amplify Berklee Gala Raises $1.4 Million for Berklee City Music Students

Amplify Berklee Gala Raises $1.4 Million for Berklee City Music Students This year's event featured performances from student K-pop group B-Girls, the Overjoyed gospel ensemble, Eguie Castrillo, Tia Fuller, and more.

November 7, 2025

By

Daniel Pesquera

Student K-pop group B-Girls perform at the Amplify Berklee gala.

Image by Mike Ritter

Berklee raised more than $1.4 million for scholarships for Berklee City Music students at its annual gala, Amplify Berklee, which took place on Saturday, November 1, at the Westin Copley Place in Boston.

The event featured a genre-spanning lineup of live music performed by 12 different acts across four nightclub-style music rooms and hotel ballrooms, showcasing the world-class talent of students, faculty, alumni, and staff. Among those featured at this year's gala was Berklee's all-student K-pop group B-Girls; the Overjoyed gospel ensemble led by Jerome Kyles; Grammy Award-winning percussionist Eguie Castrillo and his acclaimed salsa orchestra; a New Orleans second-line marching band; the Diamond Cut Big Band led by Grammy-nominated professor Tia Fuller and Grammy-winning trumpeter Bijon Watson; bluegrass musician and singer-songwriter Jean-Baptiste Cardineau; string quartet Cosmo Ling and the Four Strings; Recording Academy chair Chelsey Green and the Green Project; and a hip-hop set from DJ Brian Raydar Ellis.

Additionally, over 20 Berklee City Music students and alumni performers represented the program in the Roots Berklee Jam Session, the City Music Siblings Session, and Berklee City Music Alumni Next-Gen All Stars ensembles.

Proceeds from Amplify Berklee support scholarships for Berklee City Music students. Berklee City Music is a global network that enables youth from under-resourced communities to develop musically, academically, socially, and emotionally, primarily through the study of contemporary music and the performing arts.

Left to right: Michael Shinn, executive director, Boston Conservatory at Berklee; Jim Lucchese, president of Berklee, and his wife Tomasina; Kelly and Bill Kaiser, Board of Trustees vice chair and partner emeritus; Marty Mannion, chair of the Board of Trustees; Krystal Banfield, vice president of education outreach and social entrepreneurship; Ron Savage, vice president and executive director, and his wife Lois.

Image by Dave Green

About Berklee City MusicSince 1993, Berklee City Music has awarded more than 300 full-tuition college scholarships, totaling over $34 million. More than 2,000 students from the Berklee City Music Network have attended Berklees Aspire: Five-Week Music Performance Intensive on City Music Summer Scholarships. The Berklee City Music Network is currently made up of 44 sites across the United States, Latin America, and Canada, serving more than 60,000 students in the past year alone. Berklee City Music has served over 500,000 students through Berklee City Music Network partnerships, preparatory and high school academies, and summer and full-tuition scholarships, since the program's inception.

Amplify SponsorsThe gala was sponsored by Abrams Capital, Aramark Collegiate Hospitality, Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation, Berklee trustee member Bill Kaiser and his wife Kelly, Berklee Board of Trustees Chair Martin and wife Tristin Mannion, New Balance Foundation with committee chairs Jessica and Tim Donohue, Sandhya S. and Craig S. Douglas, and Alison and Richard Vieira.

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