Press Release
For Immediate Release:
January 3, 2006
NEC Preparatory School Presents Gala Orchestral, Choral, Chamber Music Concerts and Contemporary Music Festival
Youth Philharmonic Orchestra with Benjamin Zander Perform Bernstein, Ives, Ravel, Shostakovich January 22 in NEC’s Jordan Hall
NEC Composers Lee Hyla, Michael Gandolfi Spend Weekend Residence with Prep Students Followed by January 29 Marathon of Concerts
New England Conservatory Preparatory students will demonstrate their chops in orchestral, choral, and chamber music concerts and a contemporary music festival during the month of January. NEC composers Lee Hyla and Michael Gandolfi will be in residence during the festival and students will perform their music as well as that of Irish composer Gerald Berry and three Prep alumni—Julia Carey, Jefferson Freeman, and Cynthia Wong.
The performances kick off with the NEC Youth Philharmonic Orchestra January 22 at 8 p.m. in NEC’s Jordan Hall. Conductor Benjamin Zander leads the Prep’s flagship orchestra in Bernstein’s “Candide” Overture, Charles Ives’s Three Places in New England; Ravel’s La Valse; and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5. Tickets for the concert are $10 or $5 for students and seniors. NEC students are free with i.d. For tickets, click on the website at: http://www.newenglandconservatory.edu/jordanhall/index/html
On January 23, the NEC String Chamber Orchestra, NEC Youth Chorale, and NEC Youth Camerata will perform in a free concert at 7:30 p.m. in Jordan Hall.
For the 16th year, NEC Prep students will celebrate new music in the festival known as “Today’s Youth Perform Today’s Music.” The marathon of performances begins at 10 a.m. in NEC’s Brown Hall and is organized by Prep composition chair Rodney Lister. Chamber music events continue throughout the day and the public is invited to drop in for any or all of the free concerts.
For more information, call the NEC Concert Line at (617) 585-1122 or visit NEC on the web at www.newenglandconservatory.edu/concerts
ABOUT NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY
Recognized nationally and internationally as a leader among music schools, New England Conservatory offers rigorous training in an intimate, nurturing community to 750 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral music students from around the world. Its faculty of 225 boasts internationally esteemed artist-teachers and scholars. Its alumni go on to fill orchestra chairs, concert hall stages, jazz clubs, recording studios, and arts management positions worldwide. Nearly half of the Boston Symphony Orchestra is composed of NEC trained musicians and faculty.
The oldest independent school of music in the United States, NEC was founded in 1867 by Eben Tourjee. Its curriculum is remarkable for its wide range of styles and traditions. On the college level, it features training in classical, jazz, Contemporary Improvisation, world and early music. Through its Preparatory School, School of Continuing Education, and Community Collaboration Programs, it provides training and performance opportunities for children, pre-college students, adults, and seniors. Through its outreach projects, it allows young musicians to engage with non-traditional audiences in schools, hospitals, and nursing homes—thereby bringing pleasure to new listeners and enlarging the universe for classical music and jazz.
NEC presents more than 600 free concerts each year, many of them in Jordan Hall, its world- renowned, 100-year old, beautifully restored concert hall. These programs range from solo recitals to chamber music to orchestral programs to jazz and opera scenes. Every year, NEC’s opera studies department also presents two fully staged opera productions at the Cutler Majestic Theatre in Boston.
NEC is co-founder and educational partner of “From the Top,” a weekly radio program that celebrates outstanding young classical musicians from the entire country. With its broadcast home in Jordan Hall, the show is now carried by more than two hundred stations throughout the United States.