他们当中有些钢琴家、小提琴家、作曲家和指挥家在自己本土已经誉满天下，被认为是他们这一代中最好的音乐家。但他们为什么还要攻读美国大学的学位？

来自委内瑞拉的大提琴家麦克斯·欧珀德赛(Max Oppeltz)目前是茱莉亚音乐学院大二的学生，他说，“有关茱莉亚音乐学院，我过去所听到的一切都是这是一所人们梦寐以求的大学。更棒的是它处在纽约市的市中心。”促使欧珀德赛来美国学习音乐的不仅仅是这所学校的声誉，他说，“美国的教育更为广泛，能教你如何成为一位专业人才，教你市场是如何运作的。”

来自哥伦比亚的埃丝特·罗哈斯(Esther Rojas)是一位贝斯手，她中断了自己成功的音乐生涯前来波士顿(Boston)的伯克利音乐学院(Berklee College of Music)学习当代音乐创作和音乐制作。她说，“我曾一度陷入困惑。我想学一些新的东西。” 罗哈斯发现，除了能让她的音乐事业能更上一层楼之外，来波士顿留学还有另外一个好处。“我喜欢伯克利的其中一个原因就是你可以接触到如此众多的音乐文化 ―― 非洲的、韩国的和印度的。就个人而言，我想涉足R＆B和灵魂音乐。”

奥巴马总统就任第二个任期的总统后，香港小提琴家林子皓（Che Ho Lam）曾与伊士曼音乐学院的弦乐四重奏乐队一起为总统演奏。他选择伊士曼是“为了从那些最接近西方文化的教授那儿获得第一手资料。”

林子皓说，他决定报考伊士曼音乐学院，是因为他曾在香港参加过由一位该学院教授主持的音乐大师班，这位教授曾师从“所有的传奇式人物”，包括大卫·奥伊斯特拉赫(David Oistrakh)、艾萨克·斯特恩(Isaac Stern)和弗里茨·克莱斯勒(Fritz Kreisler)。他说，“这是一些你只能从纪录片或DVD上才可以看到的人物，而这位老师是他们的学生”。

洛杉矶(Los Angeles)南加州大学（University of Southern California)桑顿音乐学院(Thornton School of Music)院长罗伯特·库提叶塔(Robert Cutietta)说，“我经常开玩笑说，当你走进电梯时，你听到汉语或韩语的机会跟听到英语的机会差不多。如果退回去半个世纪，每一个艺术家肯定都有欧洲的渊源。”

中国约有4,000万学生学习钢琴，显然拥有相当丰富的音乐文化。库提叶塔表示，但是今非昔比，亚洲人现在觉得他们成长的途径是来美国学习。

请关注ShareAmerica网站，了解如何做好留学美国的规划 ，充分利用美国教育提供的机会 。

本文作者是自由撰稿人克里斯托弗·康奈尔(Christopher Connell)。本刊撰稿人马克·纯纳(Mark Trainer)参加撰写。


Musiciansfind the key to a career at U.S. conservatories 
 
Most international students attending U.S. colleges and universities pursue degrees in business, the sciences, math, engineering and technology. But talented young musicians from Latin America, Asia and elsewhere also flock to renowned music schools such as the Eastman School of Music, which is part of the University of Rochester, in New York, and the Juilliard School in New York City.

Some of these pianists, violinists, composers and conductors already have reputations back home as being the best of their generation. So why do they seek an American college degree?

“Everything I had heard about Juilliard was that it was the dream school, amazing, right in the middle of New York,” said cellist Max Oppeltz from Venezuela, now a sophomore at the conservatory. It wasn’t only the school’s reputation that made Oppeltz want to study music in the U.S. “The education in the States is broader,” he said. “They teach you how to be a professional. They teach you how the market works.”

Esther Rojas interrupted a successful music career as a bassist in her native Colombia to study contemporary writing and production at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. “I was stuck. I wanted to learn new things,” she said. In addition to taking her music to a higher level, Rojas has discovered another benefit in coming to study in Boston. “One of the things that I love about Berklee is that you’re exposed to so many cultures’ music — African, Korean, Indian. Personally, I want to get involved with R&B and soul music.”

Violinist CheHo Lam of Hong Kong, who performed with an Eastman School of Music quartet for President Obama after his second inauguration, chose Eastman “to grasp firsthand information from professors who are closest to Western culture.”

Lam said he decided to audition for the school after a master class in Hong Kong with an Eastman professor who had studied with “all the legends,” including David Oistrakh, Isaac Stern and Fritz Kreisler. “These are people you can only watch on documentaries or DVDs, but your teacher is one of their students,” Lam said.

Robert Cutietta, dean of the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, said: “I often kid that when I get into the elevator, it’s as likely I will hear Chinese or Korean as English. If you go back half a century, every artist had to have a European pedigree.” China has an estimated 40 million piano students and obviously a rich musical culture. But “times have changed,” Cutietta said, and “now Asians feel their coming of age is to study in the United States.”

Follow ShareAmerica for information about planning for and getting the most out of a U.S. education.

This article was written by freelance writer Christopher Connell. Staff writer Mark Trainer contributed