Oscar Stagnaro, Executive Producer

Oscar Stagnaro is a renowned six-time Grammy-winning bassist and Berklee professor
who is the executive director of Berklee Latino, the college’s Spanish-language
program. A longtime collaborator with Paquito D'Rivera, the iconic Latin jazz and
classical composer, saxophonist, and clarinetist, Stagnaro has performed and/or
recorded with David Liebman, Diane Schuur, the WDR Big Band, the Boston Pops,

the Caribbean Jazz Project, Keith Lockhart, and Charlie Sepdlveda. He has been
lauded by Bass Player magazine for his “technical agility, advanced harmonic and melodic knowledge,
and grounding in funk and R&B," along with "his dedication to Latin traditions,” which "give him the
ultimate flexibility when it comes time to lay down a groove.”

Stagnaro is the author of several instructional books, including Afro-Cuban Slap Bass Lines and The
Latin Bass Book, and he has represented Berklee at conferences of the International Association for
Jazz Education throughout the world. He has produced many concerts and worked on scores of visiting
artist appearances at Berklee, including those featuring luminaries such as Israel "Cachao” Lopez '06H,
Emilio Estefan, Gloria Estefan '07H, Rosa Passos '08H, Paco de Lucia "10H, and Alejandro Sanz "13H.
He is an alumnus of the National Conservatory of Musicin Lima, Peru.

y Matthew Nicholl, Music Director
~» M Matthew Nicholl, Berklee's associate vice president for Global Initiatives and the
\ AR executive director of the Mediterranean Music Institute, is an acclaimed educator who
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and Production Department. As a pianist, arranger, and composer, he has created
music for the National Geographic Society, PBS, NASA, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and
several presidential, senatorial, and congressional campaigns.

Nicholl is the author of books such as Music Notation: Preparing Scores and Parts (with Richard
Grudzinski) and Bossa Nova Standard Songs. He has released several albums of original music,
including Della by Moonlight, a contemporary jazz/world fusion collaboration with Berklee professor
Michael Farquharson. Nicholl has arranged and conducted many live performances at Berklee,
including those featuring globally influential artists such as Eva Ayllon, Guinga, Susana Baca, Issac
Delgado, and Jorge Drexler. Nicholl holds bachelor's and master's degrees in music from the
University of North Texas.

” 1 ’ Latin Music Studies

"‘l
‘ joined Berklee's faculty in 1996, later serving as chair of the Contemporary Writing

 

I Latin musicand related studies are at the core of Berklee, engaging the entire
| college community, from academics to concerts and special events. Boasting an
international student population, renowned faculty with expertise in a range of Latin
music specialities, and alumni leaders in the Latin music industry-as evidenced by
the more than 80 Latin Grammys to date as well as their prominence as performers,
producers, and engineers across the globe-the college has staked a serious role
in the Latin music of today and the future.

Berklee's Latin music roots and connections run deep. The range of courses includes the Bata
Rhythms Lab, the Berklee Steelpan Ensemble, and the South American Folkloric Music Ensemble.
Berklee faculty specializes in an array of Latin styles, including everything from New York-style mambo
to Brazilian choro and beyond. The Latin music program also includes a dedicated minor, performance
studies in Latin music, which underscores the music's sociological, political, and anthropological
contexts. Cuban music pioneer Issac Delgado, Brazilian jazz master Rosa Passos, and Brazilian
songwriter lvan Lins are among the recent visiting artists who have shared their experience and
expertise on campus.