Esteban Molina serenading the crowd with his flute. Photo by Juan Zabala.

For the last year, Berklee College of Music in Boston has worked with Quito's San Francisco University (USFQ) to form a groundbreaking partnership that will expand Berklee's music teaching methodology to Ecuador. The newly founded relationship between the two universities has two distinct advantages for Ecuadorian students that wish to pursue music as a career. First, students that complete the Institute of Contemporary Music at USFQ will be allowed to continue their studies at Berklee College in the United States, where the credits they earned in Quito will be counted and they can earn a Berklee degree. Second, USFQ students can audition for scholarships to Berklee, one of America's finest music teaching institutions.

USFQ's new school of music will be lead by former Berkley graduates and will include courses on such diverse subjects as auditory training, music writing, and improvisation, as well as nearly every major musical instrument. Students got a taste of the what USFQ's new school will be like at two clinics in February 1999 and October 2000 given by Berklee music professors Greg Badolato (soprano saxophone), Consuelo Candelaria (piano), and Mark White (guitar).

Ensemble of Berklee and USFQ professors playing at the Swiss Hotel. Photo by Juan Zabala.

An exquisite professor-student concert at the Swiss hotel last Thursday marked the culmination of this years efforts and signaled the beginning of what everyone hopes will be a long harmonious relationship. A small ensemble of USFQ students - Gabriel Montufar and Paul Jacome, alto sax, Christian Dreyer, electric bass, and Andres Benavides, percussion - directed by Ecuadorian professor Nelson García, on piano, opened the concert. Their splendid play was followed by a masterful performance by Berklee/USFQ's leading proponent, flute player Esteban Molina, along with Berkee and USFQ professors Greg Badolato, Consuelo Candelaria, Ivis Flies, and Danilo Arroyo.