Michel Camilo Scholarship Competition Returns to Santo Domingo

Michel Camilo Scholarship Competition Returns to Santo Domingo Berklee will award a full-tuition scholarship to a gifted instrumentalist of Dominican descent during its 2026 Berklee in Santo Domingo program.

By

Nick Balkin

October 7, 2025

Michel Camilo

Image by Ingrid Hertfelder

Berklee will produce the next Michel Camilo Scholarship Competition in January 2026 in conjunction with Berklee in Santo Domingo, the college's weeklong music education program at the Dominican Republics National Conservatory of Music. Open to talented instrumentalists of Dominican heritage, the scholarship provides full tuition, room, and board for four years at Berklee's Boston campus. The recipient will begin studies in fall 2026.

To be considered, students must complete the Berklee in Santo Domingo application form and submit three video performance links. The deadline to apply to the program and be considered for the Michel Camilo Scholarship is Friday, November 3, 2025. A select number of eligible applicants will be invited to audition and interview during Berklee in Santo Domingo, which takes place from January 5 to 10, 2026.

Berklee in Santo Domingo is sponsored by the AES Dominicana Foundation and Itabo and organized in collaboration with the Dominican Republic's Ministry of Culture and the National Conservatory of Music. The program offers Dominican students ages 15 and up a transformative introduction to Berklee's approach to contemporary music education, with classes, ensembles, and master classes led by Berklee faculty and guest artists. Participation in the program is free of charge for accepted students.

About Michel CamiloMichel Camilo 00H is a pianist, composer, and bandleader from the Dominican Republic who has won Grammy, Latin Grammy, and Emmy awards. A child prodigy, he studied at the National Conservatory of Music in Santo Domingo and later at Mannes College of Music and the Juilliard School in New York. Since his international breakthrough at the Montreal Jazz Festival in 1983, he has performed with leading jazz and classical artists worldwide, recorded more than 25 albums, and composed works for solo piano, ensembles, and orchestras. Camilo received an honorary doctorate from Berklee in 2000 and remains closely connected to the college through his support of young Dominican musicians.

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