Berklee To Christen New Home In Valencia, Spain

Berklee College of Music will christen a new facility in Valencia, Spain on Monday.

“It would be as if the city of Boston had invited us to take a little space at Symphony Hall,” Berklee President Roger Brown explained, “and we got to be right in the heart of one of the great performance venues of the area.”

The music school will be housed in the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, a stellar performance center where Brown says students will eat in the cafeteria alongside some of the world’s great opera singers.

Valencia officials were eager to have Berklee move into the space, according to Brown. The school is offering master's degree classes in performance, but also management and scoring for film, TV and video games.

“A little beyond just music,” Brown said. “But also addressing the question of how you manage in the entertainment industry of the 21st century.”

It's Berklee's first international campus, and Brown said the goal is to give North African, Middle Eastern and European students a leg-up in the rapidly changing music and entertainment industry.

Students from Boston will also be able to spend semesters abroad studying in Spain.

Another reason why Berklee chose Valencia is because it’s a profoundly musical place and the region's traditions are apparent even in the small villages there.

“Each one has two bands, they’re incredibly competitive — it's like the Jets and the Patriots. As a result it’s one of the most musical places in the world,” Brown explained.