NEC Update Vol. 1, No. 26, August 22, 2005

Fall recitals by BSO flutist, other faculty

Tanglewood: young artists, new music

Welcome back to school!

Fall recitals by BSO flutist, other faculty

photo by Betsy Bassett

For the 29th year, Boston Symphony Orchestra flutist and NEC faculty member Fenwick Smith greets the fall season with a recital that explores the breadth of the flute repertoire (September 25). This year, Smith finds himself amidst an unusually busy season for NEC faculty that begins with a Regattabar concert showcasing NEC's entire Preparatory and Continuing Education jazz faculty (September 11). The fall roster also includes some faculty names that do not routinely appear on NEC's calendar of free concerts, among them guitarist Eliot Fisk, mezzo-soprano D'Anna Fortunato, violist Kim Kashkashian, and clarinetist Richard Stoltzman.

Listen to music from Fenwick Smith's 2003 faculty recital.

Tanglewood: young artists, new music

photo by Walter H. Scott / courtesy BSO

Tanglewood, the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home in western Massachusetts, was a magnet for journalists this season. Writers were drawn by curiosity about music director James Levine's first year of full engagement in Tanglewood activities--including the young artist study programs of the Tanglewood Music Center. What they found was a maestro whose ambition for the TMC is "to create a situation where the best young musicians simply have to come to Tanglewood." (In photo: Levine leads a masterclass with TMC Vocal Fellows, including NEC alumna Michelle Johnson '05 at far left.)

To date, five articles have appeared in The Boston Globe, New York Times, and Berkshire Eagle highlighting NEC's young musicians, as well as faculty and alumni presence ranging from a premiere by NEC composition chair Lee Hyla to a profile of the BSO's youngest member, double bassist Ben Levy '03.

A highlight of Tanglewood's Festival of Contemporary Music was Gunther Schuller's Grand Concerto for percussion and keyboards, part of a commissioning project for the NEC Percussion Ensemble funded by the Bradford and Dorothea Endicott Foundation. The Schuller work will come to Boston as part of NEC's November festival devoted to the school's former president.

Welcome back to school!

photo by Paul A. Cortese '92 M.M.

301 new College students, one of NEC's largest-ever entering classes, will lead the charge with Orientation activities beginning August 26. The schedule includes briefings on programs of study and other how-to aspects of academic life, but at NEC it also means a musical welcome in Jordan Hall, a Red Sox game, a cruise in Boston Harbor, and performance jams for jazz and chamber musicians.

On September 7, President Daniel Steiner and Provost Robert Dodson open the school year with a Convocation in Jordan Hall at 9:30am, just before the noon start of classes. President Steiner uses this occasion to review the school's significant recent accomplishments and announce plans for the coming year. And because this is NEC, Convocation traditionally ends with a musical performance like no other!

NEC's Preparatory and Continuing Education classes are back as well, with registration beginning September 6.