BOSTON, MA, November 6, 2009–Berklee alumnus Alexander Acha ’03, whose debut album, Voy, reached gold status, was named Best New Artist at the 10th Annual Latin Grammy Awards, held last night at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
Acha can be seen in a special television presentation of a concert that Berklee produced in Mexico City with some of Berklee’s top Latin American pop artists, Berklee Canta en Espanol. Telehit, Televisa’s music channel, will broadcast the concert on November 22 and 29 to 60 countries. RCN satellite subscribers in the US can tune in on channel 555. Other performers include Tommy Torres, Benny Ibarra, Manne de la Parra, and the rock band Motel.
Three other Berklee alumni were nominated for awards this year. Drummer, composer, and educator Bobby Sanabria ’79 received a nomination in the Best Latin Jazz Album category for Kenya Revisited Live!!!. Aureo Baqueiro ’92, a producer and composer who has worked with artists including Sin Bandera and Aleks Syntek, was nominated for Producer of the Year. The album Grandes Pequeninos by Jair Oliveira ’97 was nominated in the Best Latin Children’s Album category.
Since the Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences founded the awards in 2000, 13 Berklee alumni have received 35 Latin Grammy Awards. Sixty-two Berklee alumni have received 176 Grammy Awards. Visit http://www.berklee.edu/awards/ for complete lists of past award winners from the Berklee community.
Berklee College of Music was founded on the revolutionary principle that the best way to prepare students for careers in music was through the study and practice of contemporary music. For over 60 years, the college has evolved constantly to reflect the state of the art of music and the music business. With over a dozen performance and nonperformance majors, a diverse and talented student body representing over 70 countries, and a music industry «who’s who» of alumni, Berklee is the world’s premier learning lab for the music of today–and tomorrow.
