New England Conservatory
Honorary Doctor of Music
Recipients
Since 1956, New England Conservatory has conferred honorary Doctor of Music degrees on individuals who have made significant contributions to the world of music, the world of the arts, and the world of human values. Except where otherwise indicated, the degree has been presented at Commencement ceremonies in May.
2007 Richard Dyer, Halim El-Dabh, Bruno Monsaingeon, Regina Resnik, Wayne Shorter
2006 David Baker, Ran Blake, Janos Starker, Daniel Steiner, Joan Tower
2005 John Eliot Gardiner, Bernard Greenhouse, George Russell, Maynard Solomon
2004 Doriot Anthony Dwyer, Roy Haynes, Robert Mann, Thea Musgrave
2003 Robert Cogan, Gary Graffman, Dave Holland, Charles Rosen, David Scudder
2002 Jose Antonio Abreu, George Perle, Sonny Rollins, Susan Wadsworth
May 2001 John Corigliano, Peter Serkin
April 2001 (Inauguration of President Daniel Steiner) William E. Bolcom, Robert D. Levin, Marian McPartland, Joseph W. Polisi
2000 Lukas Foss, Ali Akbar Kahn, Laurence Lesser, David Lewin
1999 Peter Schickele, Claire Brook, Ron Carter, Christoph Wolff
October 1998 (Inauguration of President Robert Freeman) Ian Horsbrugh, Robert L. Sproull, Roberta Guaspari-Tzavaras, William Caesar Warfield
October 1998 (special convocation) Karel Husa
May 1998 Mark Volpe, Marilyn Horne, Benny Carter
1997 Aretha Franklin, Edward Kennedy, Lewis Lockwood, Clark Terry
1996 Leon Fleisher, Elliot Forbes, Eric Rosenblith
1995 Anner Bylsma, John Harbison, Lionel Hampton
1994 Bethany Beardslee, Ruth Rubin, Robert King
1993 Howard Gardner, Carl C. Howard, Daniel Pinkham, Ravi Shankar, James Terry
1992 Ornette Coleman, Andrew Falender, Everett "Vic" Firth, Frances Brockman Lanier, Yo-Yo Ma, John Moriarty, The Canadian Brass
1991 John Birks (Dizzy) Gillespie, Roger Louis Voisin
October 1990 (special convocation) Witold Lutoslawski
May 1990 Leon Kirchner, Jean Mayer, Conlon Nancarrow, Leonard Shure
1989 Art Blakey, Boris Goldovsky, Jean Kraft, Alexander Schneider
1988 Claudio Arrau, Lorna Cooke deVaron, Francis W. Hatch, H.C. Robbins Landon
November 1987 (special convocation) Nathan Milstein
May 1987 Joseph Allard, Katja Andy, Arthur Berger, Harry Ellis Dickson
May 1986 Miles Davis, Justino Diaz, Joseph Silverstein, Virgil Thomson
April 1986 (special convocation) Olivier Messiaen
1985 Gil Evans, Adolph Herseth, Mischa Schneider, Rudolph Serkin, John Williams
1984 Edward T. Cone, Joseph Gingold, Blanche Honegger Moyse, Bernard Zighera
1983 George Crumb, Eugene Lehner, John A. Lewis, Robert Shaw
October 1982 (special convocation) Seiji Ozawa
May 1982 Rosalind Elias, Lewis Thomas, Max Roach, William Schwann
1981 William Schuman, Phyllis Curtin, Louis Krasner, Jordan M. Whitelaw
1980 James Galway, Mabel Mercer, William R. Driver, Jr.
1979 Sarah Caldwell, Iva Dee Hiatt, Hon. Claiborne Pell
1978 Gunther Schuller
1977 John Hammond, Cecil Taylor, Elma Lewis, Aaron Copland
May 1976 Ethan Ayer, Vera Brodsky Lawrence, Chester W. Williams, Hon. Kevin S. Harrington
April 1976 (special convocation) Richard Rodgers
1975 Gladys Child Miller, Randall Thompson, Catherine Filene Shouse, Luis A. Ferré
1974 James Hubert "Eubie" Blake, Francis Judd Cooke, Oliver Daniel, Alice Tully
1973 Beverly Sills Greenough, William Grant Still, Leta F. Whitney
1972 Milton Babbitt, Sherwin C. Badger, Samuel Rosenbaum, Howard Goding
September 1971 (special convocation) Harvey Phillips
May 1971 Arthur Fiedler, John Tseng-Hsin Hsu, Frederick Jagel, Coretta Scott King
1970 no commencement
December 1969 (special convocation) Walter Piston
May 1969 Fernand Gillet, Stefan Wolpe, Robert Lowell
1968 Olga Koussevitzky, Ernst Krenek, Herbert Marcuse, Carl Ruggles, William Valkenier
1967 John Brownlee, Ross Lee Finney, Paul Fromm
1966 Mildred Miller, Roger Sessions, Michael Steinberg, Shinichi Suzuki
1965 E. Power Biggs, Norman Lloyd, Paul Taylor White
1964 Marian Anderson, Margaret C. Mason, Arthur Tillman Merritt, Warren Story Smith
1964 Charles Munch (special convocation)
1963 Hubert Weldon Lamb, Carl McKinley, Erica Morini, Jesus Maria Sanroma
1962 Richard Burgin, Jean Demos, Eleanor Steber, Isaac Stern
1961 Elliott Carter, Roland Hayes
1960 none
1959 Harrison Keller
1958 Mabel Daniels, G. Wallace Woodworth
1957 Paul Henry Lang
1956 Howard Hanson