NEC Update Vol. 3, No. 5, November 6, 2006

Feast on music and support scholarships

Gubernatorial candidates rock Jordan Hall

Jupiters win Cleveland Quartet Award

Honens prize goes to NEC pianist

NEC alum leads Seattle Youth Orchestra

Alumni meet in Chicago

NEC student launches blog

Test your NEC knowledge

You don't need to be 100 to give

Just booked: cello masterclass

Coming up at NEC

Give to NEC

NEC Today

NEC Concerts

LIVE from NEC

NEC Annual Report FY05

NEC Update back issues

Take NEC's Reader Survey

Feast on music and support scholarships

A Feast of Music is NEC's annual scholarship gala. This glamorous evening, pairing sumptuous food and wine with superb musical performance by NEC's student stars, is celebrating its 10th year on February 24, 2007. The Boston Herald has called it one of Boston's "Top 10" parties.

If you've attended in the past, you'll want to RSVP early for this stunning evening. And if you're new to the event, you'll want to find out more. You'll be pleased to know that the NEC Web site now has pictures and information supporting the event, as well as a secure online registration form! A silent auction is included, with details to appear online.

Gubernatorial candidates rock Jordan Hall

WBZ TV 4, Boston

On November 1, some of the most powerful vocals ever heard in NEC's Jordan Hall came not from opera divas, but from impassioned supporters of the four Massachusetts gubernatorial candidates during a debate held in the hall. This was the final live, televised debate prior to the November 7 election.

An NEC student leaving the hall at the end of the debate was heard to say, "That was so intense! It was like singers going at each other." Another viewer was "deeply offended" by the demeanor of the debate, and commented, "It stings me that this disgusting display was allowed to take place in one of the greatest musical performance halls in the world." Others noted that ideas flowed freely and loudly in Jordan Hall in the 1960s and 1970s, when the hall housed the Ford Hall Forum and such speakers as Ayn Rand and Malcolm X.

Democratic candidate Deval Patrick, in a conversation with NEC's interim CEO Laurence Lesser, noted his own musical lineage. His father, baritone saxophonist Pat Patrick, was a core member of Sun Ra's Arkestra. Lesser recalled meeting Sun Ra during a visit to NEC by the Arkestra in 1992.

Watch a video stream of the Jordan Hall debate.

Jupiters win Cleveland Quartet Award

photo by Susan Wilson

The Jupiter String Quartet, which completed NEC's Professional String Quartet Training Program last spring, has been named the sixth recipient of the bienniel Cleveland Quartet Award, administered by Chamber Music America. The award sets the quartet up for concerts with eight prominent presenters over the next two years, beginning with CMA's National Conference in New York on January 14.

Honens prize goes to NEC pianist

photo by Paul Foley

Pianist Minsoo Sohn '99 DP, '01 G.D., '04 A.D. was named First Laureate at the fifth Honens International Piano Competition in Calgary, after performing Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2 in the final competition round November 3. Sohn will receive $35,000 as a cash prize, along with professional assistance estimated at three times that value. Honens is considered Canada's top classical music competition, with pianists heard every three years.

In photo: Minsoo Sohn at NEC in 1999, in a masterclass with Andras Schiff.

NEC alum leads Seattle Youth Orchestra

Stephen Rogers Radcliffe '82 has entered the Pacific Northwest music world with a bang as the new music director of the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras. Radcliffe's background is in conducting opera, orchestras, and chamber ensembles, but he has always worked with youth orchestras as well.

Seattle's five-tier youth orchestra system saw Benaroya Hall "packed to the rafters" on October 29 for a season opener that the Seattle Times said "displayed encouraging vital signs." The Seattle Post-Intelligencer quoted Radcliffe on his desire to challenge the senior orchestra, the Seattle Youth Symphony, with "a program which involved every segment of the orchestra." The P-I reviewer reported that "The performance bore out his approach. It was excellent."

Read more about this story at NEC Today.

Alumni meet in Chicago

NEC alumni attending the National Association of Schools of Music annual conference in Chicago, and other alumni based in the Chicago area, are invited to meet Provost Robert Dodson and Dean of Admissions/Assistant Provost Tom Novak at an informal dinner in Chicago, November 20.

Explore NEC alumni events online.

NEC student launches blog

Leah Swann, a violist who is completing her Graduate Diploma at NEC in Martha Katz's studio, has accepted an invitation to use a page of the NEC Web site to publish her blog ("blog" is short for Web log, for those who have never read one of these online diaries). Swann's activities include membership in a student orchestra and participation in NEC's Performance Outreach program. She is a 2006-2007 Albert Schweitzer Fellow. And in the name of "escaping the Conservatory bubble," she is looking for "a way to get my music out of the practice room and into the community."

Follow Swann's adventures, in her own words, as she promises to post new blog entries on a weekly basis.

Test your NEC knowledge

How much do you really know about NEC past and present? Have you wondered where to go to find out who was president when, or how many seats there are in Jordan Hall? Look no further than the "About NEC" section of the NEC Web site, which now houses a growing portfolio of reports and factsheets on various NEC topics.

You don't need to be 100 to give

photo by Andrew Hurlbut

Carl Howard '36 is turning 99 on November 15. And he is the NEC Annual Fund's most faithful supporter.

Since the establishment of the Fund in 1980, Carl's yearly gift has arrived as regularly as Thanksgiving. To date he has given enough to fund 10 full scholarships, a year's worth of service on NEC's nearly 200 pianos, or myriad other operating costs the Annual Fund helps to support.

What has motivated this alum's steadfast generosity? "My years at New England Conservatory gave me a happy emotional uplift," says Carl. "I've been grateful ever since."

Take a cue from Carl. Don't wait to be 100 to give to NEC's Annual Fund.

Just booked: cello masterclass

Alexander Baillie has just scheduled a masterclass at NEC, which he will give in the midst of rehearsals for the Schumann Cello Concerto with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra.

Coming up at NEC

November
6 Christian Tetzlaff masterclass, First Monday
7 masterclasses with Dave Holland, John Heiss
8 Dave Holland masterclass, teaching workshop, "Earths and Skies" concert
9 Trombone quartet masterclass, NEC Wind Ensemble, Music of Dave Holland
10 Alexander Korsantia seminar
12 Aldo Abreu concert
13 Keller Jazz Series
14 NEC Contemporary Ensemble
15 NEC Chamber Orchestra
16 NEC Youth Symphony
17 Gabriel Chodos seminar, John Medeski masterclass
18 Jeanne Baxtresser masterclass
19 NEC Opera Workshop, Robison/Gibbons concert
20 NEC Opera Workshop
21 Shostakovich quartets, NEC Jordan Winds, NEC Light Opera

In a letter to the NEC community dated November 6, NEC Board Chair Jack Vernon offers an update on the work of the search committee towards identifying a new NEC President. Working with the executive search firm Heidrick and Struggles, "we are proceeding with interviews," Vernon reports. "We anticipate that we will soon be able to recommend a stellar nominee to the Board of Trustees."