Berklee College of Music and Dream Theater announce the creation of the Dream Theater Scholarship Fund. In celebration of the band’s 35th anniversary, Dream Theater and Berklee are creating a fund that will provide scholarship money to student musicians in need on an ongoing basis through the future.
Recently, alumni John Petrucci ’86 (guitarist) and wife Rena (who recently completed her Berklee online Advanced Guitar Certificate) visited Berklee to tour the production and music studios of the college. This trip was the couple’s first time back to the campus since their son Reny graduated in 2018. While there, they met with Berklee President Roger Brown and discussed the founding of the Dream Theater Scholarship.
“Dream Theater has been a tremendous influence on the progressive metal scene, achieving worldwide success for their dedication to excellence in music,” said Brown. “The Dream Theater t-shirt has been the most popular item of apparel on our campus for years, and many students have chosen to come to Berklee as a result of the band’s legacy. We are so appreciative of Dream Theater’s support.”
Dream Theater was formed while John Petrucci, bassist John Myung and former drummer Mike Portnoy were students at Berklee 35 years ago. Throughout their successful career, Berklee continues to hold a special place in their lives. Current drummer Mike Mangini was a drum professor at Berklee for 11 years before leaving to join the band in 2010.
In 2013, Berklee student Eren Basbug created orchestral arrangements for the band’s 2013 self-tiled release after Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess found the student’s arrangement of the group’s album Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence on YouTube. In 2014, the band contacted Basbug again to conduct the Berklee Student Orchestra and Berklee Concert Choir at the historic Boston Opera House that would later become the live CD/DVD Breaking The Fourth Wall.
Dream Theater hopes to continue their previous success with the Dream Theater Scholarship Fund. The fund will be headed by Berklee’s Mirek Vana, Global Development Officer / Executive Producer, and Frank Solomon, Dream Theater Manager, who together have worked over the past six years behind the scenes on the foundation of the Dream Theater Scholarship Fund. Berklee and Dream Theater are excited for the creation of the Scholarship and moving forward will be asking all members of both the Berklee and Dream Theater community to take part in the creation of this endowment to make the Scholarship a success.
