Press Release
For Immediate Release:
February 15, 2006
NEC’s Grigory Goryachev ’04 Wins Prestigious Soros Fellowship for New Americans
Guitar Student of Eliot Fisk Plans to Pursue D.M.A. at Conservatory
New England Conservatory graduate student Grigory Goryachev has been awarded one of 32 grants from the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans program. The 28-year old guitar student of Eliot Fisk was born in Russia and now lives with his family in Dorchester. He is pursuing a D.M.A. degree at the Conservatory where he received his Bachelor’s Degree in 2004.He is a naturalized citizen.
Born in St. Petersburg, Goryachev began studying the guitar at age 7. He made his debut at age 9 and performed regularly in major cities in Russia and appeared frequently on television and radio. He has toured North America, France, Spain, Scandinavia and Israel. He regards himself as one of the few guitarists in the world equally proficient in both classical and flamenco styles. His aim as a performer is to help close the gap between classical and flamenco styles by performing and recording masterpieces from both schools in his own amalgamated style. Known familiarly as “Grisha,” Goryachev can next be heard at NEC when he performs in the summer GuitarFest directed by his teacher, June 8 in Williams Hall.
The Soros Fellowships, which award stipends of up to $20,000 plus half-tuition for as much as two years of graduate study, are among the most recognized and sought-after prizes in the United States. Almost 800 students, who are naturalized citizens, resident aliens, or children of naturalized citizens, applied this year. They represented 134 countries of national origin and came from 360 colleges and universities.
Established in 1997 as a charitable trust of $50 million to assist New Americans in furthering their careers through education, the Fellowships were created by Paul and Daisy Soros—both New Americans—to thank the United States for the life it has provided them and their children. A member of the Hungarian ski team in 1948, Paul Soros defected at the Olympics in Switzerland and arrived in Manhattan with $17 in his pocket. Earning a graduate degree in engineering from Polytechnic University, he founded Soros Associates, a firm that developed ports and offshore terminals in 90 countries. He is now a private investor and member of the Council on Foreign Relations who serves on corporate and non-profit boards. Daisy M. Soros emigrated from Hungary to New York City, where she studied at Columbia University. She received psychiatric social-work training at New York University's School of Social Work and counseled terminally ill patients and their families. A board and executive committee member at Lincoln Center and the New York Philharmonic, she has won awards for her service, which includes board appointments to Weill Cornell Medical College, the Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City.
In the eight preceding rounds of the competition, 232 Soros fellowships have been awarded. Currently there are 60 fellows at 21 universities studying in 21 different fields. There are also 172 alumni, including eight authors of books, 21 patent holders, three composers whose works were premiered this year by leading orchestras, and 31 young lawyers clerking for Federal judges and four lawyers clerking at the Supreme Court.
For more information, visit NEC on the web at www.newenglandconservatory.edu/
Or visit Grigory Goryachev’s website at:
http://www.grishagoryachev.com/
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 National Public Radio and is heard on 250 stations throughout the United States.