June 2006
NEC Prep Parents Honor Prep Teachers with Scholarship
Two of the Preparatory School's most respected instructors, Rodney Lister and Sergey Schepkin, have been honored with a scholarship in their name by John and Harriet Carey of Wellesley. The Careys are parents of current student Lizzie, 17, and Prep alumna Julia, 20 (who returned to the Conservatory in this past fall as one of the 6 students in the first class of the NEC/Harvard joint-degree program). "We feel very privileged that our daughters had these two men for teachers," said Harriet Carey. "The one-to-one connection with a music teacher can be the strongest bond a child can have, outside of family. We wish nothing more than for others to have this very valuable and formative experience."
Both teachers are NEC alumni; Schepkin serves on the College faculty in addition to the Prep School. Rodney Lister is chair of the Preparatory School's composition department, an award-winning composer, and a performer of chamber and contemporary American music. St. Petersburg-born pianist Sergey Schepkin '92 A.D., '99 D.M. is renowned for his virtuoso performances and recordings of Bach. The two instructors are not only inspiring to their students for being committed artists in their own right, said John Carey, they each also bring specific strengths to their lessons.
Rodney Lister is an exceptional composition teacher, noted Harriet Carey, because he doesn't have pre-established ideas for what music should be. "Rodney teaches through being a superb critic. He evaluates a piece on its own terms, pointing out strengths and weaknesses without trying to 'correct' anything. If you attend a recital of the young musicians that make up his studio, it's striking the range in styles you'll hear." He actively promotes argument, she said-and, by encouraging students to defend their artistic choices, he teaches them to consider those choices more deeply. The older Carey daughter began composing when she was just five. Under Lister's tutelage, her first work for full orchestra, written when she was 11, was premiered by the Boston Pops Orchestra in 1998 and broadcast nationally in 1999. Her subsequent works have received dozens of awards and have been performed around the world.
Sergey Schepkin, said Harriet Carey, is extraordinary not only for being an "astounding musician," but also for the range and depth of his intellect. "I haven't yet found any area of knowledge where Sergey is weak," she said with a laugh. "The girls have learned a lot of their world view from him. I remember Lizzie's first piano lesson with Sergey-she was ten, and he taught her about the breakup of the Holy Roman Empire."