NEC Update Vol.1, No.10, January 24, 2005

NEC's resident piano trio, plus songs

Ethel meets the Prep musicians

Richard Goode at BSO and NEC

French quartet visits NEC

NEC quartets score at Young Concert Artists

Young alumni have their day

NEC's resident piano trio, plus songs

photo by Susan Wilson

The students in NEC's Professional Piano Trio Training Program benefit from expert coachings, lessons, and the example of NEC's piano trio-in-residence, the Weilerstein Trio. On January 26, Boston music lovers can benefit as well from having this astonishing mother-father-daughter ensemble living and working in our midst. And as an added attraction, the Weilersteins have invited soprano Courtenay Budd to join them in an unusual song cycle by Dmitri Shostakovich, rounding out a program of works by Robert Schumann.

Read about NEC's Professional Piano Trio Training Program.

Ethel meets the Prep musicians

photo by Steve J. Sherman

Violist Ralph Farris, a former NEC Preparatory School student, now plays in Ethel, a string quartet that Strings magazine names as one of the younger groups that "defy categorization" while "charting new terrain." The weekend of January 29, Ethel meets today's Prep musicians for a residency during which "Today's Youth Perform Today's Music," part of a 15-year NEC Prep tradition.

Explore NEC concerts and programs day by day.

Richard Goode at BSO and NEC

photo by Deborah Feingold

The Richard P. and Claire W. Morse Visiting Artist Fund brings some of the world's top performers to NEC for masterclasses, including a number of recent Boston Symphony Orchestra soloists: Jane Eaglen, Heidi Grant Murphy, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. On January 31, Richard Goode comes to NEC for a Morse Masterclass with student pianists, during a day off from performing Bartok's Concerto No. 3 with the BSO.

French quartet visits NEC

photo by Catherina Hess

When Paul Katz, director of NEC's Professional String Quartet Training Program, judged the Munich ARD International Competition last fall, he was particularly impressed by one group he heard--the French-Israeli Benaim String Quartet. Katz invited the Benaims to come to NEC for coachings and a Jordan Hall concert as part of an exchange program with ProQuartet/European Center for Chamber Music, now in its second year. NEC's Jupiter Quartet (see following story) will complete the exchange by visiting France later this semester.

NEC quartets score at Young Concert Artists

photo by Susan Wilson

NEC's Jupiter String Quartet (in photo), who have been a steady force on the competition circuit all year, took first prize last week at the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, where they had placed second a year ago. Among the six finalists awarded a second prize this year was NEC's Parker Quartet, who have twice been an NEC Honors Ensemble. The Jupiters, also an Honors Ensemble last year, currently study in NEC's Professional String Quartet Training Program.

Read more about NEC's winners at Young Concert Artists.

Young alumni have their day

Wednesdays are wacky and wet--when NEC's young alumni have anything to say about it. NEC's Young Alumni Association, new this year, is hosting a range of events, from "Wacky Wet Wednesdays!" on February 2, to a Career Network workshop on "Releasing Your Own CD" on March 7.Catering to young alums in the Boston area, 15 years out, the goal of the Young Alumni Association is to provide a connection to the NEC community and establish long-term relationships with NEC's Office of Alumni Relations. Past events this year have been cosponsored with Boston's Vox Consort (an alumni performance initiative) and NEC's Career Services Center.

Exciting events are posted online throughout the year, and alumni may contact Kelly Taccetta in the Alumni Office at (617) 585-1162 to get involved or to become a member of the steering committee.

Find out what's going on with NEC's Boston alumni club.