Julio Iglesias Scholarship Awarded by Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation

The Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation® awarded the Julio Iglesias Scholarship to piano and voice student Mar Giménez Marín. The Prodigy Scholarship-created six years ago to support musical education and the Latin music genres-holds a maximum value of $200,000, and allows Giménez Marín to pursue a bachelor's degree at Berklee College of Music in Boston, starting this fall.

The native of Zaragoza, Spain, was selected by the Foundation's scholarship committee from a highly-competitive group of hundreds of applicants worldwide.

"It gives me great pleasure to award our sixth Prodigy Scholarship to a talented music student, in order to cover the costs of a degree at Berklee," said Manolo Díaz, Senior Vice President of the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation. "Thanks to the incredible generosity of a musical icon like Julio Iglesias, we can help foster the education of future generations of Latin music makers."

"Mar is an accomplished pianist and vocalist, and I am delighted to be able to help her accomplish her dream of pursuing a formal music education at such a prestigious institution like Berklee. Bolstering the talent of Latin music students, with the help of the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation, is something that I'm very proud of," said Iglesias.

From a young age, Giménez Marín was already composing original songs inspired by some of her favorite artists like Chavela Vargas and Joaquín Sabina. She began her studies at the Escuela de Música Creativa in Madrid-developing her talents there as a professional singer and composer-and admits that she feels indebted to folklore, as this genre was the driving force behind her decision to dedicate her life to music.

"I am immensely grateful to Julio Iglesias and the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation for giving me this great opportunity to become a skilled musician under the guidance of the best educators," remarked Giménez Marín. "I have a lot to give back to Latin music and I will do so through making creative and original music."

"Berklee is grateful for our partnership with the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation and Julio Iglesias on this scholarship," said Berklee President Roger H. Brown. "The support of Julio and the Foundation gives a talented young musician the opportunity to study at Berklee, while at the same time strengthening the college's ties to Latin culture and music. We welcome Mar and look forward to following her progress."

To date, the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation has allocated an extraordinary sum of $5 million in scholarships, grants, musical instruments, and educational events throughout the United States and Ibero-America. The artists that have previously co-sponsored the Prodigy Scholarships are Enrique Iglesias (2015), Juan Luis Guerra (2016), Miguel Bosé (2017), Carlos Vives (2018), and Emilio and Gloria Estefan (2019).

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