At Berklee she earned a B.M. and signed on as an instructor at the age of 20-making her the youngest faculty member in the history of Berklee. Spalding was the 2005 recipient of the prestigious Boston Jazz Society scholarship for outstanding musicianship. The Berklee years also created networking opportunities with several notable artists, including pianist Michel Camilo, vibraphonist Dave Samuels, bassist Stanley Clarke, guitarist Pat Metheny, singer Patti Austin and saxophonists Donald Harrison and Joe Lovano. Her album ‘Esperanza’ showcased Spalding singing in three different languages (English, Spanish and Portuguese). The album reached No. 2 on the Billboard Top Contemporary Jazz Albums chart, No. 3 on the Jazz Albums chart and No. 40 on the Top Independent Albums chart. At the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize ceremonies, Spalding performed at Oslo City Hall in honor of the 2009 Laureate President Barack Obama and again at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert the following day.
