Danilo Prez Wins United States Artists Fellowship and Victoriano Lorenzo Award

Danilo P rez, artistic director of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, has been named a 2018 United States Artists (USA) Fellow. The unrestricted $50,000 award is considered one of the most prestigious grants in the country.

P rez, a Grammy-winning pianist, composer, and educator, said the grant will provide the opportunity to continue developing a number of musical projects he's been working on for years. Id like to form a band with musicians from different parts of the world to create music that provides a platform for intercultural dialogue, he said.

P rez was also recently honored at the 15th annual Panama Jazz Festival, where Rafael Pino-Pinto, the governor of the province of Panama, presented him with the nation's first Victoriano Lorenzo Award, named after Panama's revered patriot and leader of marginalized indigenous peoples. P rez, who founded the jazz festival in 2003 and serves as its artistic director, was given the award in recognition of his enduring contributions to art and culture in Panama.

Pino-Pinto lauded P rez, noting that with music, he exalts the country of Panama.

USA Fellows are awarded to artists at all stages of their careers through a rigorous nomination and panel selection process. The fellows come from across the country, and represent various fields of artistic production: architecture and design, craft, dance, media, music, theater and performance, traditional arts, visual arts, and writing.

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Grammy-winning trumpeter, composer, and educator Terence Blanchard, a visiting scholar in Berklee's Jazz Composition Department, was also named a 2018 USA Fellow.

Other recipients in the field of music include Wayne Shorter 99H, Amir ElSaffar, Ruthie Foster, Tania Le n, Toshi Reagon, Somi, and Tyshawn Sorey.

Watch P rez discuss his work with the Berklee Global Jazz Institute:

Video of Berklee Global Jazz Institute

LINK:	https://www.berklee.edu/news/danilo-p%C3%A9rez-wins-coveted-usa-fellow...
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