MUSIC

The 2011-2012 Berklee College of Music Signature Series continues with Brazilian musical icon Ivan Lins. The pianist and vocalist, a three-time Latin Grammy Award winner, and one of the most re-recorded songwriters in history, will be backed by over 20 Berklee students and faculty as he performs music associated with his legendary career. The concert takes place Wednesday, October 26, 2011, 8:15 p.m., Berklee Performance Center, 136 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston. General admission tickets are $20 and $15, reserved seating, and are available at the box office, at berkleebpc.com, or by calling 617-973-2000. The venue is wheelchair accessible. Ivan Lins Meets Berklee is produced by bass professor Oscar Stagnaro, and arranged/conducted by Matt Nicholl, chair, contemporary writing and production. Ivan Lins won two Latin Grammy Awards in 2005 for Album of the Year and Best MPB (Música Popular Brasileira) Album for Cantando Histórias. He is the first and only Brazilian artist to win the Latin Grammy for Album of the Year. In 2009, he was nominated for three Latin Grammys for his album Regência: Vince Mendoza performed with The Metropole Orchestra, winning the award for Best MPB album. Lins recorded several albums for EMI Brasil and Reprise, and wrote many Brazilian standards such as "Love Dance" ("Lembrança"), which has been covered by Barbra Streisand, George Benson, Diane Schuur, and many others, "Começar de Novo," and "Velas Içadas." His music has been recorded by Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Quincy Jones, Sting, Betty Carter, Kenny Burrell, Nancy Wilson, Eliane Elias, James Blood Ulmer, Patti Austin, Lee Ritenour, David Benoit, Carlos do Carmo, Mark Murphy, Terence Blanchard, Dave Grusin, Sérgio Mendes, and Michael Bublé, to name just a few. Lins was born in Rio de Janeiro, but he spent several years in Boston, MA, while his father was a graduate student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He earned a degree in industrial chemical engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and considered a career in volleyball, before becoming a musician.