This week's Golden Apple goes to Sacramento trombonist Michael Wang, who was awarded Berklee College of Music's coveted Presidential Scholarship.
The four-year scholarship is valued at approximately $225,000 and covers tuition, housing and fees, school officials said. It is awarded each year to seven of the most talented young musicians across the world.
Wang is a graduate of Rio Americano High School. He was first introduced to music through classical piano lessons while he was in elementary school. In sixth grade, he joined his school's band and randomly selected a trombone when he saw it was available in the storage room, according to a press release from Berklee officials.
"Once I started playing trombone, I felt the desire to find my own voice on the instrument and to express who I am as a musician, something I never had the urge to contemplate back in my piano playing days," Wang said in the press release.
Wang eventually became devoted to jazz and excelled in a big band setting. He aspires to become a working jazz musician and performer.
Berklee College of Music is in Boston.
(Photo courtesy of Berklee College of Music.)
Loretta Kalb started her reporting career at The Sacramento Union, moved to KOVR-13 as a television reporter, editor and producer, headed to The Associated Press in San Francisco and eventually returned to Sacramento and joined The Sacramento Bee. Throughout her career, she has covered the state Legislature, courts, local government and, now, education. She is a Chico native and an Elk Grove resident.
Diana Lambert began her journalism career as a proofreader at the Lodi News-Sentinel. She is now a senior writer at The Sacramento Bee covering K-12 education and California State University, Sacramento. Previously she was The Bee’s Elk Grove bureau chief. Lambert was raised in a military family and lived at bases around the globe. She attended four high schools, graduating from Tokay High in Lodi and then Sacramento State University. She lives in Elk Grove.
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