Joseph Weinberg, a member of the Pittsfield High School Class of 2022, has won this year’s Daniel Pearl Berkshire Scholarship.

Joseph Weinberg, a member of the Pittsfield High School Class of 2022, has won this year’s Daniel Pearl Berkshire Scholarship.

PITTSFIELD — Joseph Weinberg, a member of the Pittsfield High School Class of 2022, has won this year’s Daniel Pearl Berkshire Scholarship in the amount of $2,000.

Weinberg, who started playing double bass his freshman year, said he has been inspired by his own experiences in youth orchestras such as Massachusetts Music Educators Association All-State Orchestra, where too many of the musicians looked just like him.

In addition, some Black friends have told him they feel like outsiders in the classical music world.

“Orchestras end up looking so white,” he said. “It would be nice if they looked a little different.”

Classical music too often appears elitist, he said.

Daniel Pearl sometimes said that what inspired him in his career was the hope that he could change the world for the better. Applicants to this scholarship are asked to submit an essay explaining how they might be able to do just that, either through journalism or music.

In his scholarship essay, Weinberg wrote about his hope to help make classical music accessible to a more diverse audience. “Classical music should not be ‘posh.’ It should not be ‘elite’ or ‘boring’ and it most certainly should not be ‘white.’”

He continued, “I cannot totally fix the world of classical music and I certainly cannot end bigotry on a global scale. But stepping away from exclusionary behavior in even one community of people is another step closer to getting rid of it altogether.”

He would like to do so by supporting programs like Project 440 and El Sistema, both focused on expanding the reach of music to more youths.

Pearl, south Asia bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, was kidnapped and killed in Pakistan in January 2002 while investigating links between Pakistani militant groups and Richard C. Reid, known as the “shoe bomber.” Reid had attempted to blow up a flight from Paris to Miami with explosives hidden in his shoes, a flight that was diverted to Boston.

Pearl began his journalism career at the now-closed North Adams Transcript and at The Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield.

The scholarship has been awarded annually since 2003 to a high school student from the region planning to major in journalism or music, which were Pearl’s two passions. It is funded by contributions from the newspapers as well as Pearl’s friends and colleagues.

Weinberg is the son of Amy Brentano and Adam Weinberg of Richmond, and graduated this month from Pittsfield High School. He plans to attend The Juilliard School in New York to major in music with a focus on double bass performance.

Weinberg has studied at the Berkshire Music School and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and has played with the Empire State Youth Orchestra, the Pittsfield High School orchestra, the Massachusetts Music Educators Association All-State Orchestra, and the Stockbridge Sinfonia. He also found time for multiple other activities and interests, including the PHS Speech and Debate club, Peach Jam, and karate.

As Pearl did through his reporting, Weinberg hopes to better the world.

“The fact that he had the courage to do what he did, when he was clearly in danger, was inspiring, and I would like to make my own small changes to the classical music world,” Weinberg said.

Judges for the scholarship competition are journalists Ruth Bass of Richmond, a retired Eagle editor; Daniel Bellow, a Great Barrington potter and former Eagle staff member; Deb DiMassimo of Williamstown, a former Eagle editor who is now a real estate broker; Judith Storie of Pittsfield, a retired editor who also worked at The Eagle; and Bill Densmore of Williamstown, journalism consultant and entrepreneur, former owner and publisher of The Advocate. Coordinator for the program is Martin Langeveld of Vernon, Vt., former publisher of The Eagle and the Transcript, and board member of New England Newspapers Inc.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

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