At a click of button, 25-year-old Cal State Long Beach student Stephen Salts received a life-changing opportunity.
Salts, a choral conducting graduate student, was at work when he received an email informing him that he would be attending the Royal Holloway University of London for the 2014-15 school year as a recipient of the Fulbright U.S. Student Award, an exchange program that allows recipients to study abroad for one academic year.
The Fulbright U.S. Student Program aims to familiarize students with other cultures and vice versa, according to the program’s website. The Fulbright grant will cover the cost of Salts’ tuition, room and board.
“I saw Fulbright and I saw the word congratulations … and then I started to cry,” Salts said. “It’s a once in a lifetime chance … and I have big shoes to fill.”
During his time in the U.K., Salts will serve as an assistant conductor to Rupert Gough, a professor at Royal Holloway University and his new mentor. He will also research London’s classical music scene by observing rehearsals, attending choir performances and operas throughout the city.
Salts, who is set to leave for the U.K. in August, said he has always been intrigued by British culture.
He said the application process for Royal Holloway University, which only accepts one Fulbright student per year, was a “nerve-wracking” experience. He said he was required to apply one year in advance and had to know someone at the university who would mentor him if selected.
His decision to apply there came only after he learned that his mentor in Los Angeles, Jim Buonemani, and CSULB professor Jonathan Talberg knew Gough.
“It was meant to be!” Salts said.
Although Salts has always been passionate about music, it wasn’t until his second year as a graduate student at CSULB that he made the switch from classical vocals to choral conducting.
Salts, who has been singing since he was 8-years-old, said he began to question what path he should follow after Talberg pulled him aside during his first year as a graduate student and asked him if he was certain about his major.
“He really made me think about what I wanted as a musician and where I wanted my career to go,” Salts said.
He said he is grateful for his “overwhelmingly passionate” teachers who instilled the same passion and desire for music in him.
“Music is my everything … it runs through my blood,” he said. “Without my teachers I would not be here.”