NEC Update Vol. 2, No. 13, February 27, 2006

From concertmaster to Borromeo

photo by Andrew Hurlbut

Kristopher Tong, who is completing studies at NEC this spring as a student of Miriam Fried, enters a new musical life on March 1 as second violinist of the Borromeo String Quartet. Tong will be joining a quartet that performs more than one hundred concerts each season across three continents, in addition to its high profile on the NEC faculty as quartet-in-residence.

As a student, Tong received the singular honor of being named concertmaster of the NEC Philharmonia (in photo) under the direction of former Boston Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Joseph Silverstein. The Borromeos also worked with him as a student, and discovered that each of them thought of him independently when seeking a new violinist to join the quartet.

Explore NEC's faculty, starting with the Borromeo String Quartet.

NEC cellist takes Sphinx prize

photo by Miro Vintoniv

For the second year in a row, cellist Tony Rymer has taken a prize in the junior division of the Sphinx Competition, held in Detroit, and open to black and Latino string players nationwide. The 16-year-old took second prize in 2005 and fourth prize this year, when the judges decided that the "remarkable young talent" among this year's contestants merited an expansion from three prizes to five.

You can hear what the judges heard when Rymer solos with the NEC Youth Symphony in Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1, June 4.

Rymer is a student of Mike Reynolds in the NEC at Walnut Hill Program, and plays in NEC's Youth Philharmonic Orchestra (in photo). When he appeared on the "From the Top" radio show last year, he became one of the first two recipients of the Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award, which funded the purchase of his own instrument.

Explore NEC's Preparatory School.

Grammy Awards for NEC musicians

Three of the 48th Annual Grammy Awards announced on February 8 went to projects featuring NEC musicians.

Wayne Shorter's Beyond the Sound Barrier is made up of live tracks from a touring quartet that includes pianist Danilo Perez of the NEC jazz faculty.

Days after receiving a Grammy for his big band CD Overtime, jazz bassist Dave Holland arrived at NEC for a week-long teaching residency sponsored by NEC Board of Visitors member Jimmy Earl '81--one of two such visits each year.

And vocalist Luciana Souza '98 M.M. is a soloist on a double live album by the Paul Winter Consort, Silver Solstice, named "Best New Age Album."

Read more about NEC's Grammy winners.

March bounty of Artist Diploma recitals

The five students currently enrolled in NEC's Artist Diploma program are on full display in March, when all of them offer free, Friday lunchtime concerts at Boston's historic Old South Meeting House. The young artists also have full-length evening recitals scheduled in NEC's Jordan Hall later in the spring.

NEC's Artist Diploma program focuses on developing the artistry and professionalism of gifted young musicians who may have already embarked on solo performing careers, or may be on the brink of such careers. Currently enrolled in the program are pianist Christopher Guzman and violinists Korbinian Altenberger, Karen Gomyo (in photo), Stefan Jackiw, and Susie Park.

Read more about the Artist Diploma performance schedule.

Soros honors NEC guitar student

Guitarist Grigory Goryachev, a student of Eliot Fisk in NEC's doctoral program, is one of 32 recipients of 2006 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans. Goryachev was one of almost eight hundred applicants nationwide.

Since 1997, the Soros Fellowships have supported graduate study, mostly in the sciences, of "new Americans": immigrants and children of immigrants. Goryachev was born in St. Petersburg, Russia; his family now lives in Dorchester, Mass. A previous musician awardee was composer Lei Liang '96, '98 M.M., a native of China.

Goryachev will be a performer at Boston GuitarFest 2006, an NEC Summer School institute created by his teacher Eliot Fisk.

Explore GuitarFest and other NEC Summer School offerings.

In 2006, NEC joins the rest of the world in celebrating the 250th anniversary of the birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791). Over the next few weeks, NEC's Mozart celebration takes on a grand scale, from the "Gran Partita" to the opera Cosi fan tutte. Watch this space for a month-by-month schedule of upcoming Mozart activities at NEC, and listen to an audio stream of a past Mozart concert at "Live from NEC."

February 28: Former BSO horn player Richard Mackey leads Serenade in B-flat, "Gran Partita," to be preceded by a panel of Mozart experts.

March 1: NEC Chamber Orchestra program includes a Mozart Sinfonia concertante.

March 11, 12: NEC Opera Theater presents Cosi fan tutte.

March 14: The Borromeo String Quartet explores "The Slow Movements of Mozart."