July 28, 2009, Panama. The seventh annual Panama Jazz Festival (PJF), the cultural event of the year, will take place January 11th-16th, 2010. During the week of the Festival, the newly created Berklee College of Music Global Jazz Institute will be announced. The institute will be based in Boston, Massachusetts and led by Artistic Director, Danilo Pérez.

The Global Jazz Institute is designed to foster creativity and musicianship through a variety of musical disciplines, and to become a center of musical creativity that will emphasize personalized goal-setting and directed study, experiential and service learning with a special
emphasis on nature and the environment, business acumen, and intensive
access to world-class visiting artists

Danilo Pérez, founder of the Panama Jazz Festival, stated that the distinction bestowed upon him by Berklee College of Music is a significant achievement for Panamá. Through the institute, the cultural diversity of Panama and the American continent will be recognized, similar to the path taken by the Panama Jazz Festival, which has become a significant point of musical convergence.

The Global Jazz Institute will be officially announced during the PJF Gala Night in front of national and international guests who will participate in the concerts and educational activities which this year will be dedicated to the memory of renowned Panamanian pianist Ellerton Oswald, better known as Sonny White, whose fame in the United States dates back to the 1930s.
About Oswald, Perez commented that, despite the lack of information in Panama about this extraordinary artist, in North America he is considered a pillar in the history of the jazz genre, which he influenced over generations until his death in 1971.

The Panama Jazz Festival will return this year to the classrooms of the Panama Canal Authority, where the acclaimed music clinics will be led by prestigious international artists, educators, and the musical institutions that have converted Panama into their Latin American hub, where they hold auditions in order to discover the future global stars of music.