Berklee Lollapalooza Scholarship Awarded to Portsmouth, NH, Teen

Since 2011, a partnership between Lollapalooza and Berklee College of Music has resulted in scholarship awards for 12 outstanding musicians. Max Grazier of Portsmouth, NH, is the 2015 recipient of the Berklee Lollapalooza Endowed Scholarship, a four-year, full-tuition award that brings him to Berklee in the fall.

“The relationship is a win for everyone: high school students receive scholarships, Berklee artists get to perform on the same stage as the biggest artists in the world, and Berklee students produce a silent concert at Kidzapalooza,” said Berklee professor Jeff Dorenfeld, who developed the partnership with Lollapalooza producers C3 Presents. “The first Berklee Lollapalooza Endowed Scholarship recipient, David Stewart, will become the first in his family to graduate from college next year.”

The partnership also gives Berklee student band Kyle Thornton & the Company the opportunity to perform at Lollapalooza 2015. Read more about student bands performing at summer festivals.

After a process that included auditions in cities across the U.S., Berklee chose guitarist Max Grazier to receive the full-tuition Berklee Lollapalooza Endowed Scholarship. In the spirit of Lollapalooza, the college aimed to find not only an outstanding musical talent, but also a musician with charisma, energy, and a strong interest in rock music who aspires to a performance career.

Max Grazier is an 18-year-old guitarist from Portsmouth, NH. Grazier began studying piano at Portsmouth Music and Arts Center, founded by his parents. He picked up guitar at eight and soon started writing songs. In 2007, Grazier began participating in The RPM Challenge, where the goal is to write and record an album in one month. In his first RPM, his band was featured on NPR’s All Things Considered and NECN. The challenge sparked Grazier’s interest in recording engineering, and he has since recorded, mixed, and mastered more than 25 albums – many released on his own label, Fortune Cookie Records.

Grazier attended Berklee’s Five Week Summer Performance Program in 2014. “Berklee was always my top choice because I can literally do anything I want in music there, and being someone who plays lots of instruments in many styles, this was always the place for me,” said Grazier. “I love every aspect of music and I believe in order to be the best at what you do, you should know everything about what you plan on doing. Education is key for success.” Grazier plans to study recording engineering and take songwriting classes.

The Berklee Lollapalooza Endowed Scholarship is endowed by Goldman Sachs Gives, a donor- advised fund. The scholarship was established at the recommendation of Berklee trustee Fran Bermanzohn, managing director and deputy general counsel of Goldman Sachs.

Berklee College of Music was founded on the revolutionary principle that the best way to prepare students for careers in music is through the study and practice of contemporary music. For 70 years, the college has evolved to reflect the current state of the music industry, leading the way with baccalaureate studies in performance, music business/management, songwriting, music therapy, film scoring, and more. With a focus on global learning, Berklee in Valencia, a new campus in Spain, is hosting the college’s first graduate programs, while Berklee Online serves distance learners worldwide with extension classes and degree-granting programs. The Berklee City Music Network provides after-school programming for underserved teens in 48 locations throughout the U.S. and Canada. With a student body representing nearly 100 countries and alumni and faculty that have won more than 325 Grammy and Latin Grammy Awards, Berklee is the world’s premier learning lab for the music of today—and tomorrow.