BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC ANNOUNCES COLLABORATION WITH GARRITAN

Garritan Personal Orchestra: Berklee Edition

BOSTON, January 15, 2004 -- Berklee College of Music is proud to announce the release, in collaboration with Gary Garritan, of the Garritan Personal Orchestra: Berklee Edition. Designed specifically for Berklee students, faculty, and curriculum, and available as part of the bundles for Berklee's tech-heavy majors, the GPO: Berklee Edition contains instruments representing all families of orchestral instruments: strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion, and keyboard instruments - including a Steinway piano. Sections and solo instruments are included in the GPO, all programmed into and powered by Native Instrument's Kontakt Player to be highly expressive and playable through the use of MIDI controllers. Multiple individual solo instruments make it possible to create ensembles one instrument at a time. Performance controls include expression, legato, attack, portamento and other controls.

Gary Garritan, a distinguished harpist as well as a award-winning developer, produced one of the world's leading large libraries of high-caliber orchestral samples. These libraries represented a new level of accomplishment in the creation and programming of sound libraries, with extremely expressive capabilities and are used by numerous Oscar-, Emmy-, and Grammy-winning composers of film and television scores, such as Chance Thomas, Mark Isham, and Berklee alumni Alf Clausen and Hummie Mann. In 1979, Berklee College of Music became the first college in the world to offer an undergraduate degree in Film Scoring, and, to date, continues to be the only college with this offering.

Years after establishing his product and his company, Gary Garritan has turned his attention to the needs of students and turned to Berklee for a collaboration in this effort. Garritan has produced a generous and thorough collection of orchestral samples, remarkably complete, culled from the massive orchestral library he has marketed for the past four years. Garritan's efforts continue as he prepares further offerings for Berklee students by way of a "Jazz Set," a "Choir Set," and others, yet to be announced.

Says Berklee's Dean of Music Technology, Stephen Croes, "Berklee is fortunate to have gained this friendship with Gary Garritan. His Personal Orchestra is a gift to students everywhere, and we are proud to have worked with him on this package designed for our curriculum and our students. The Garritan Personal Orchestra is an
incredible opportunity for students to begin their collection of tools for their education and their profession."

Beginning in Fall 2003, Berklee College of Music has required all entering students to have an Apple Macintosh laptop computer outfitted with software designed to support their music education and coursework as students. More advanced students in four of the college's five technology-rich majors will also acquire GPO to support existing curriculum.

Music Synthesis Chair Kurt Biederwolf, says, "Gary Garritan is a visionary and an innovator of sampling technology. He revolutionized the sample library business with his remarkable string library, and has done it again with the release of the Garritan Personal Orchestra. The GPO will empower our students and faculty with an approachable and musically expressive tool for studying composition and arranging for orchestra using only a laptop computer. I am fortunate to have been consulted about the GPO from its earliest conceptual stages, and am looking forward to witnessing the profoundly positive effect it will have on our students and curriculum."

Of his collaboration with Berklee, Gary Garritan says, "I would like to thank Stephen Croes, Dean of Music Technology, and Kurt Biederwolf, Chair of the Music Synthesis Department at Berklee College of Music. Stephen and Kurt were very helpful in discussing many of the problems facing music students, which led to the development of this library as a creative solution for students."

About Berklee College of Music:
Berklee College of Music was founded on the revolutionary principle that the best way to prepare students for careers in music was through the study and practice of contemporary music. For over half a century, the college has evolved constantly to reflect the state of the art of music and the music business. With over a dozen performance and non-performance majors, a diverse and talented student body representing 70 plus countries, and a music industry "who's who" of alumni, Berklee is the world's premier learning lab for the music of today - and tomorrow.

Technology plays an increasingly important role in the world around us, and has had a profound impact on the music profession. Technology has changed the way music is composed, performed, produced, recorded, and distributed. The changes have been significant, and we continue to live in a time of rapid change and advancement. It has become increasingly clear that Berklee students must be well-versed in computer and music technology to succeed in their careers.

Media, for more information, please contact:

Toni Ballard
Office of Public Information
Berklee College of Music