NEC Update Vol. 2, No. 18, May 8, 2006
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| News from NEC |
Vol. 2, No. 18, May 8, 2006 |
Welcome to your free subscription to NEC Update, coming to you every two weeks with news from New England Conservatory. Scroll to the bottom to send us a message if you wish to end your free subscription. The next issue of NEC Update is scheduled to send in three weeks, around Memorial Day weekend. |
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Presidential endowment honors Steiner |
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| photo by Miro Vintoniv |
At a May 4 Leadership Dinner at NEC, the Daniel Steiner Presidential Endowment Fund was announced before NEC's outgoing president, his family, and two hundred guests. Already pegged at $2.6 million, the fund is named after Daniel Steiner to celebrate the achievements of his seven-year tenure at NEC.
In photo: President Steiner with Pete and Ginny Nicholas. |
Read more about this new endowment fund at NEC Today.
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Surge of NEC alumni hires at U.S. orchestras |
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| photo by Susan Wilson, www.susanwilsonphoto.com |
In recent months, NEC alumni have been selected by orchestras throughout the U.S. to fill seats as performers and administrators.
Violinists Jason Horowitz '93, '96 A.D. and Julianne Lee '07 M.M. (in photo) join the Boston Symphony Orchestra next season. This marks the fourth successive season that NEC string players have been hired for BSO spots.
Robert McGrath '98, a former BSO staffer and an alumnus of the American Symphony Orchestra League's Orchestra Management Fellowship Program, joined the St. Louis Symphony in March as vice-president and orchestra manager.
Other NEC alumni have been chosen for positions at the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Oregon Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, and Boston's Handel and Haydn Society. |
Read all about this crop of orchestra hires at NEC Today.
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Down Beat Awards go to 7 from NEC |
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| photo by Andrew Hurlbut |
From a 13-year-old phenomenon to school programs led by two seasoned alumni, NEC jazz musicians made an impressive showing in the 2006 Down Beat Student Music Awards announced May 1.
In photo: Pianist Omer Klein and bassist Haggai Cohen-Milo are The Duet, one of two co-winners for Jazz Group / College. |
Read more about NEC's Down Beat winners at NEC Today.
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BLO honors NEC singer |
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| photo by Tim Morse |
On April 26, Boston Lyric Opera presented the Stephen Shrestinian Award for Excellence to mezzo-soprano Andrea Coleman, who recently completed her Master of Music studies at NEC as a student of Patricia Misslin.
At the BLO, Coleman has appeared in ensemble or featured roles for the past two seasons. At NEC, she has portrayed Jo in Adamo's Little Women, Cinderella's stepmother in Massenet's Cendrillon, and Dorabella in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte (in photo). |
See a slide show of NEC's Cosi fan tutte production.
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Danielpour receives composer award |
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| photo by John Grigaitis, courtesy Michigan Opera Theater |
Last month, the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra presented its 2005-2006 Composers Award to Richard Danielpour '80. The award was first given in 1959 to Howard Hanson. Lancaster music director Stephen Gunzenhauser '65 M.M. said that Danielpour "is able to take some of the most profound emotional sentiments and give them musical value easily understood by a wide range of audiences."
For the past year, Danielpour's opera Margaret Garner has been bringing new audiences to this venerable medium in Detroit, Cincinnatti, Philadelphia, and most recently Charlotte, North Carolina, where Opera Carolina presented the Southeastern premiere last month. The Charlotte Observer named this production "the season's highest-profile event." In photo: Richard Danielpour in a workshop with representatives of Margaret Garner's three originating companies. |
Read more about this award.
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Kearney advances in Lennon contest |
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| photo by Andrew Hurlbut |
Online voters have made third-year Tufts/NEC student Bridget Kearney the winner of a John Lennon Songwriting Award in the Jazz category. Kearney's winning song, "Sometimes When I'm Drunk and You're Wearing My Favorite Shirt," will now compete with songs in 11 other genres for Maxell Song of the Year, to be chosen by a jury of such record industry giants as Wyclef Jean, Elton John, and Tim McGraw. |
Follow the latest on the Lennon Awards.
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Drury presents recital, summer institute |
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photo by Andrew Hurlbut |
On May 15, Stephen Drury of the piano department (in photo) gives a faculty recital in NEC's Jordan Hall, pairing works by Debussy and Cage. This is just the prelude to one of the high points of Drury's teaching year, the annual Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice (SICPP), offered through NEC's Summer School. For the week of June 19-24, SICPP participants will be exposed to music of the 20th and 21st centuries for advanced pianists, percussionists, and instrumentalists, with a special focus on composer-in-residence Michael Finnissy.
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Explore SICPP and other NEC Summer School offerings.
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"Magnificat" for Reunion singers
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| photo by Miro Vintoniv |
Everyone who ever sang in an NEC chorus led by Lorna Cooke deVaron--or wishes they did--is invited to join an open sing with "Cookie" during NEC's Reunion Weekend, May 19-21. Rehearsals begin May 17, and soloists for this reading of Bach's Magnificat are sopranos Ruth Harcovitz '72 (in photo) and Claire Stadtmueller '81, alto Beth MacLeod '84, tenor Aaron Velthouse '07 M.M., and bass William S. Thorpe '81. Pianist James Barkovic '88 M.M. will accompany.
Reunion Weekend is packed with presentations and receptions, and concludes with an awards luncheon and the 2006 Commencement ceremony with speaker Joan Tower. |
Register online for Reunion activities.
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| New Globe critic is Prep ensemble veteran |
| On May 5, The Boston Globe announced the appointment of Jeremy Eichler as its new classical music critic as of fall 2006. Eichler will take the place soon to be vacated by longtime staff writer Richard Dyer, one of the most-quoted arbiters of the classical performance scene in America. Eichler, a Newton native, spent one of his high school years at NEC Preparatory School as a violist in NEC's Youth Symphony. He has written for The New York Times and other major publications, and teaches at the NEA Arts Journalism Institute at Columbia University. |
Read The Boston Globe's announcement.
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Escape the ordinary when you come to NEC to hear our faculty, guests, and the best young pre-professionals perform live. And bring a friend to escape with you for the same ticket price: Free!
New England Conservatory is located at 290 Huntington Avenue (at the corner of Gainsborough Street), Boston--a block from Symphony Hall. |
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