Miami, April 30 (IANS) Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias has presented to a young Mexican musician a four-year scholarship to study at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston.
The Enrique Iglesias Scholarship aims to help young musically-inclined people with limited financial resources to attend the college, which is considered the foremost music school in the world, reports Efe.
“It is an honour and a privilege to be part of this initiative,” Iglesias told reporters in the Miami hotel where he presented the $200,000 scholarship to Silviana Itzel Salinas on Wednesday.
“To support new talent is personally rewarding,” Iglesias continued.
“What motivates me most for the Enrique Iglesias Scholarship with the Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation is that a student who probably would not have had the opportunity to study in a college like Berklee will be able to,” said the singer.
Manolo Diaz, vice president of the Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation, which partnered with the singer to award the scholarship, said earlier that the scholarship was intended for a financially constrained Latin American student accepted by the college for exceptional talent and musical ambition.
An emotional Itzel Salinas, saxophonist and student of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, told reporters she never thought she would be chosen for the scholarship from amongst more than a hundred applicants.
The “Bailamos” hitmaker said he hoped the scholarship would continue in the years to come and wished it could support “the musical career of 10,000-20,000 more students”.
He praised the young Mexican musician and said he looked forward to having her play with his band in concert.