Juan Luis Guerra Scholarship: Singer Awards Colombian Pianist With $200K For Music Education

The Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation awarded an aspiring and talented musician with the Juan Luis Guerra Scholarship in a special ceremony held May 5th at Boston's Berklee College of Music. Jesus Molina-Acosta is the 19-year-old music student from Colombia who received the scholarship with a maximum value of $200,000, allowing him to continue his education at the university.

According to Billboard, the Dominican singer, who received a Bachelor's degree in jazz composition from Berklee in 1982, chose the Colombian pianist from six other finalists. “I want to congratulate the six finalists and especially the winner of the scholarship, Jesús Molina-Acosta. We applaud and admire his dedication, work and talent. We look forward to continuing to fund scholarships that benefit Latin music students,” said Guerra, who also received an honorary doctorate degree from Berklee in 2009.

Molina-Acosta is set to begin his studies in the fall.

Last year, the Latin Grammy Cultura Foundation awarded Silvana Itzel Salinas, 23, with the Enrique Iglesias Scholarship. Like Molina-Acosta, Salinas also received $200,000 to continue her music education at Berklee.

“I never imagined to be the winner because I know there are a lot of talented people in Latin America that also deserve this opportunity. But when I knew, I couldn’t believe it, because studying at Berklee has always been my personal dream since I started playing the saxophone," noted the Mexican saxophone player at a ceremony held in Miami Beach, Fla. in 2015. "I feel very grateful with everything that the Latin Grammy Foundation has done, and Enrique Iglesias for helping me with my personal formation, and my dream of becoming a great jazz player.”

Iglesias mentioned he felt very honored and proud to be able to participate as a helpful mentor in the career of Salinas, and many other Latino musicians in the future: “For me, personally, it is a very important moment because in 40 years I will look back, and analyze my career, and this will be one of the most important moments because it will mean that I helped someone’s dream come true.”