New England Conservatory Announces 2013-2014 Season to Feature Nearly 1,000 Events
By: Ben Peltz Jul. 09, 2013
New England Conservatory President Tony Woodcock today announced the Conservatory's 2013-2014 concert season, which will feature nearly 1,000 events, the majority of which continue the tradition of being free and open to the public (excepting the staged operas and Symphony Hall concert).
A year-long, school-wide, multi-genre festival, Music: Truth to Power spotlights music as an expression of social, political, and artistic change. As with the resoundingly successful Mahler Unleashed festival two years ago, the season's centerpiece will involve the Conservatory's many performing ensembles and academic departments, characterized by the remarkable diversity of musical styles that is unique to NEC. Kick-off events for Music: Truth to Power will be held in September and October, and include the North American premiere (September 25) of Tan Dun's Concerto for Orchestra (from Marco Polo). The majority of the festival takes place in February, March, and April 2014, climaxing with the festival's penultimate event (April 23, 2014) - the return of the NEC Philharmonia and Stanford and Norma Jean Calderwood Director of Orchestras Hugh Wolff to Boston's Symphony Hall for the first time since 2010. That concert, which is being presented in association with the Celebrity Series of Boston, features Beethoven's Egmont Overture, Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1 with soloist Xiang Yu, Artist Diploma candidate and 2010 winner of the Menuhin International Violin Competition, and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 11 in G-minor, Op. 103.
Highlights of Music: Truth to Power events and participants from NEC's Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation departments, and the Intercultural Institute, will be announced in separate future releases. Dates and details of highlighted events may be found in the attached pdf. Britten and Beethoven
This season NEC is proud to present two mini-festivals as part of the Boston Symphony Orchestra's new Insights series and in conjunction with the BSO's performances of the Britten War Requiem and the five Beethoven Piano Concerti. NEC joins other partners-the Museum of Fine Arts, John F. Kennedy Library, and Harvard University-to present ancillary events that will enrich listeners' experience of the works of Britten and Beethoven. The first constellation of events, a celebration of English composer Benjamin Britten's Centenary, will feature chamber music, vocal and smaller orchestral works by the composer. The second, an exploration of Beethoven's piano works, Beethoven and the Piano, will juxtapose Beethoven Sonatas with piano works from the 18th to the 20th centuries. Maestro David Loebel will conduct the NEC Philharmonia in Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem (December 4). Maestro Hugh Wolff will lead the Philharmonia (December 11, 2013) in either the Violin or Cello Concerto pending the outcome of the student concerto competition. NEC's conductorless Chamber Orchestra, coached by Donald Palma, will offer two Britten works on November 20 (two days before the composer's actual 100th birthday): Les Illuminations with soprano Nataly Wickham (a student of Jane Eaglen) andVariations on a Theme of Frank Bridge. The Borromeo String Quartet will perform theBritten Second String Quartet on the First Monday at Jordan Hall performance (December 2, 2013), John Heiss will coach a performance of the Third String Quartet on a Contemporary Ensemble program (October 28, 2013). In addition, Cameron Stowe and Tanya Blaich will coach two Liederabend programs devoted to Britten songs, and Erica Washburn, Director of Choral Activities, will direct NEC choruses in the Ceremony of Carols and other Christmas-themed works (December 13, 2013). For Beethoven and the Piano, NEC students will present Beethoven Sonatas in the context of major piano works that came before and after, demonstrating the influence of earlier composers and Beethoven's own legacy to the future. World Premiere of Gunther Schuller New Work
Conductor Charles Peltz will lead the NEC Wind Ensemble in the world premiere of a new work by former NEC President and composer Gunther Schuller (February 13, 2014) as part of a program probing the melding of jazz and classical styles into Third Stream. It was Mr. Schuller, a classical horn player, jazz performer, conductor, and historian, who in the 1960s conceived the idea of Third Stream and created the unique Third Stream department (now known as Contemporary Improvisation) at NEC. Also on the concert will be works exemplifying Third Stream idioms by such disparate composers as Milton Babbitt, Charles Mingus, George Russell, and Frank Zappa. Among the featured works is the live performance premiere of Charles Mingus' Half Mast Inhibitions for solo cello and jazz orchestra, recorded in 1960 with Mr. Schuller conducting. New Partnership with Museum of Fine Arts
NEC will partner with its neighbor on the Avenue of the Arts, the Museum of Fine Arts, in a series of gallery performances featuring chamber music ensembles and themes linking music and art. The kick-off event will be Music in Proust (November 10) celebrating the 100th anniversary of the publication of Marcel Proust's Swann's Way, the first volume in the epochal novel, A la recherche du temps perdu. The lecture/performance, curated byKatarina Markovic, Chair, Music History Department at NEC, incorporates readings and performance, and will feature NEC President Tony Woodcock, his wife Virginia Woodcock, and NEC musicians. It will attempt to trace the source or sources of the haunting "little phrase" that Proust ascribed to a fictional composer, Vinteuil. Throughout the year, NEC ensembles will also perform Sound Bites, in MFA galleries. These programs include Homegrown Exotic (November 14, 2013) with NEC's Percussion Ensemble performing Lou Harrison's Concerto for Violin and Percussion Orchestra, withNicholas Kitchen, first violin of the Borromeo String Quartet, as featured soloist;Beethoven's Birthday (December 10, 2013) featuring student ensembles from NEC's Beethoven Quartet Symposium; Art of the String Quartet (February 13, 2014) with NEC Honors Ensembles; and Off the Score: Beethoven's Legacy among Contemporary Improvisers (March 13, 2014), with musicians from NEC's groundbreaking Contemporary Improvisation program, now 40 years old, offering their special improvisatory spin in honor of the great improviser himself. In addition, jazz ensembles will perform in the museum during the spring. Orchestra Concerts
Under the leadership of Calderwood Director of Orchestras Hugh Wolff and Associate Director of Orchestras David Loebel, NEC's three orchestras have been acclaimed for their brilliant and passionate playing. Most recently, the Boston Musical-Intelligencer wrote of the "emotional electricity" generated by the NEC Philharmonia's (NEC's senior-most orchestra) performance of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, when "a packed Jordan Hall erupted in spontaneous shouting and an extended ovation at the climax..." In addition to Maestros Wolff and Loebel, this season's conductors will include guests Julian Kuerti, Jeffrey Kahane and Christopher Wilkins. Kuerti and Kahane are both returning for a second time to NEC (October 23 and November 6 respectfully), where they will lead programs with the NEC Philharmonia. Maestro Kuerti's program pairs two works inspired by the Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream: Mendelssohn's Overture from his Incidental Music for the play and HansWerner Henze's infrequently performed Symphony No. 8 ("brilliantly evocative, and astoundingly beautiful" - James Leonard, Allmusic.com) http://www.allmusic.com/album/hans-werner-henze-symphonie-no-8-nachtst%C3%BCcke-und-arian-die-bassariden-mw0001874537 Maestro Kahane's program will feature the conductor/pianist leading a Mozart Concerto from the keyboard and then returning to the podium to conduct John Adams' Harmonielehre. Maestro Wilkins' concert (March 31, 2014) is highlighted by such revolutionary works asCharles Ives' The General Slocum and The Yale-Princeton Football Game, and the BerliozSymphonie fantastique. Throughout the orchestra season, repertory will be integrated with the themes of the Music: Truth to Power festival or with the Britten celebration. Hugh Wolff will conduct an excerpt from the rarely heard Shostakovich Symphony No. 2 "To October," written on the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution and including a choral paean to Lenin (February 12, 2014). David Loebel will conduct Kurt Weill's Mahagonny Suite, extracted from his anti-capitalist, anti-opera, The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny; the Berg Violin Concerto(which dates from the politically tumultuous Europe of the 1930s) with a student soloist; andHindemith's Symphony: Mathis der Maler, a work that pits the protagonist artist against a repressive political regime (March 5, 2014). Loebel will also lead the NEC Symphony inJoseph Schwantner's Martin Luther King-inspired work New Morning for the World with a guest narrator (February 5, 2014). The NEC Preparatory School's senior-most orchestra, the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, will perform four programs (November 22, 2013, February 15, 2014, May 14, 2014, June 1, 2014), including returning to the Boston Opera House to join the Boston Ballet School'sannual Next Generation celebration. The YPO will this year enjoy new permanent leadership and a direct connection to the NEC college program as David Loebel becomes Music Director and Hugh Wolff becomes Resident Conductor. Loebel will conduct two programs and Wolff will lead one, while the Boston Ballet's Jonathan McPhee will conduct the Next Generation program. Masterclasses by Renowned Artists
NEC is particularly fortunate to benefit from coaching residencies by international musicians who share their interpretive and technical insights with students. In fall 2013, renowned mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne will be in residence for four days, during which she will lead two public masterclasses (October 8 and 11). Metropolitan Opera tenor William Burden will also work individually with NEC opera students and conduct public masterclasses (November 11 and 13). Baritone Thomas Hampson will lead a public masterclass (March 6, 2014) and will also receive an honorary doctorate from NEC on that occasion. In addition, guest artists appearing with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Celebrity Series of Boston, Boston Lyric Opera, and other ensembles will present masterclasses. Among those are violists James Dunham (October 18), former member of the Cleveland Quartet, current violist for the Axelrod Quartet, and Professor of viola and chamber music at Rice University; and Thomas Riebl (February 27 and 28, 2014), 1982 Naumburg Competition winner, viola soloist with international orchestras, and Professor at the University Mozart Salzburg. Opera
Stephen Lord, Artistic Advisor of Opera Studies, Music Director of the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, international guest conductor and former music director of Boston Lyric Opera, opens NEC's 2013-14 opera season with Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito (October 2) in a Jordan Hall concert staging by Joshua Major, Chair of Opera Studies. NEC will also produce two main stage operas (to be announced in the fall) in February and April 2014 at the Cutler Majestic Theater. Contemporary Music
Coached by Stephen Drury, John Heiss, and other faculty, an exceptionally wide range of 20th and 21st century works will be performed by NEC chamber groups. Heiss, who directs the NEC Contemporary Ensemble, plans works by Messiaen, Xenakis and Schoenberg as well as two Music: Truth to Power - themed works: Harbison's Abu Graib and Berio's O King(January 28). Among other contemporary music highlights will be a residency and concert (April 14) by composer John Zorn. Voice and Chorus
NEC's choral ensembles under the direction of Erica Washburn will contribute significantly to both the Music: Truth to Power festival and the Britten Centennial. The Concert Choir and Chamber Singers open their season with the Whitbourn cantata, Annelies, and works by Pizzetti, Milhaud, and Distler that were composed during the lifetime of Anne Frank (October 24). The singers will also perform Britten's Lessons and Carols and other w orks, during their annual Christmas-themed appearance (December 13) at Boston's Church of the Covenant. They will join the NEC Philharmonia and Hugh Wolff for the Beethoven Ninthand Shostakovich Second Symphony, (February 12, 2014) and collaborate with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra for two performances (April 24 and 25, 2014) of the Brahms Requiem in New Haven and Hartford, Connecticut. Distinguished Faculty Recitals and Chamber Concerts
NEC's distinguished world-class faculty artists regularly give recitals in NEC's renowned Jordan Hall. This year, Russell Sherman, Distinguished Artist in Residence, returns for a program that juxtaposes Chopin's 24 Preludes Op. 28 with Arnold Schoenberg's Drei Klavierstuecke, Op. 11, Debussy's Estampes, and Scriabin's Sonata No. 4 in F-sharp Major, Op. 30 (September 29). Other faculty recitalists include pianists Gabriel Chodos(October 21), Hung-Kuan Chen (November 3, 2013), Damien Francoeur-Krzyzek(January 15, 2014), Stephen Drury (January 16); violist Kim Kashkashian with frequent piano partner Robert Levin in music of Schubert, Brahms and Argentinian songs (February 24, 2014); violinist James Buswell (March 25, 2014); tenor Michael Meraw (November 26); saxophonist Kenneth Radnofsky (February 17, 2014); and cellist Natasha Brofsky(January 13, 2014). Also three Boston Symphony Orchestra/NEC faculty members will give recitals including: BSO Principal Trombone Toby Oft (September 11, 2013), Stephen Lange, BSO trombone and Jason Snider, BSO horn will perform together (November 25, 2013). BSO trumpeters including PrincipAl Thomas Rolfs, Benjamin Wright, Thomas Siders, and Michael Martin, will be concerto soloists with the NEC Wind Ensemble (November 12, 2013). Chamber music is one of the cornerstones of NEC's educational program because it encompasses some of the world's greatest repertory and because performing it enhances young musicians' artistry through collaborative give-and-take and intense listening. NEC's faculty boasts numerous performers with profound experience in the chamber music repertory, which they share with student ensembles. Performances include the annual concert by NEC's Weilerstein Trio (Donald Weilerstein, violin; Alisa Weilerstein, cello; and Vivian Hornik Weilerstein, piano) (November 25); Trio Cleonice (Ari-Isaacman Beck, violin; Emely Phelps, piano; Gwen Krosnick, cello), coached by Vivian Hornik Weilerstein through NEC's Professional Piano Trio Training Program, (March 4, 2014); and NEC's Borromeo String Quartet (Nicholas Kitchen, Kristopher Tong, violins; Mai Motobuchi, viola; Yeesun Kim, cello). The Borromeos will perform the BrittenString Quartet No. 2 on a First Monday Concert (December 2) and the six Bartok String Quartets (January 26, 2014) preceded by an Early Evening concert (January 22, 2014) in which the ensemble talks about and plays musical examples from the Bartok Quartet manuscripts. First Monday at Jordan Hall, Music for Food and More
NEC's most popular chamber series, First Monday at Jordan Hall, curated by Laurence Lesser, President emeritus and Naumburg Chair in Music, will present six free concerts on the first Monday nights of October, November, and December, 2013, and March, April and May, 2014. Highlights include the world premiere of Guggenheim Fellowship winner and faculty composer Kati Agocs's St. Elizabeth Bells, featuring cellist Paul Katz and Nicholas Tolle on cimbalom (November 4, 2013) and a trio composed of Yura Lee, violin; Russell Sherman, piano, and Lesser on cello, will play the Shostakovich Trio in E minor, Op. 67. Also, as part of the Britten mini-festival, faculty guitarist Eliot Fisk will perform Britten's Nocturnal after John Dowland (October 7, 2013) and the Borromeo Quartet will perform Britten's Second String Quartet (December 2, 2013). NEC faculty and violinist Kim Kashkashian's Music for Food chamber music series will offer three programs (September 23 and December 9, 2013, March 17, 2014) that benefit the Greater Boston Food Bank. This season, the theme of the concerts will be The Sounds of South America. Among guest performers are Argentinian composer Pablo Ziegler, who will lead a 10-person, all-star ensemble (September 23) in new and classic tangos. Admission is free, but patrons are asked to bring either a non-perishable food donation or a cash gift. Every year, four to five outstanding chamber music groups are selected to be Honors Ensembles. Coached by NEC faculty, they are awarded Jordan Hall concerts that will take place in May 2014. ABOUT THE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA'S "INSIGHTS"
In 2013-14, the BSO initiates a fascinating new series "Insights" investigating the worlds surrounding selected works from the orchestra's repertoire. The BSO presents two "Insights"series this season, coinciding with its performances of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem in November, and its performances of the five Beethoven Piano Concertos in March. Britten's "War Requiem": Music and Pacifism.
Written to consecrate the new Coventry Cathedral built after the original structure was destroyed in a World War II bombing raid, Britten's War Requiem interweaves a setting of the Latin Mass for the Dead with settings of nine poems by Wilfred Owen, the English soldier-poet killed in France at age twenty-five, just one week before the end of World War I. In conjunction with its War Requiem performances (November 7-9) celebrating the 100th anniversary of the composer's birth, the BSO-in collaboration with the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum, and New England Conservatory-will present a series of concerts and discussions on the larger theme of "Music and Pacifism." Activities in this "Insights" series will include a program of chamber music on Sunday, November 3, at the Kennedy Center Library; and, on Thursday, November 7, from 6-7pm, at New England Conservatory, prior to the first of the BSO's three War Requiem performances, a Prelude Concert devoted to Britten's song repertoire and other composers' settings of World War I poets. The Five Beethoven Piano Concertos: Beethoven and the Piano
In conjunction with its presentation of the five Beethoven piano concertos featuring Yefim Bronfman with conductor Christoph von Dohnanyi (March 13-22), the BSO-partnering with New England Conservatory, the Museum of Fine Arts, and Harvard University-presents "Beethoven and the Piano",a multi-faceted initiative exploring the composer's remarkable pianistic legacy as composer, performer, and improviser. Free public events will include a series of lectures, demonstrations, film screenings, and ancillary performances over a span of two weeks, March 9-22. On Thursday, March 13, as a Prelude Concert to the BSO's opening concerto program, students from NEC's Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation program will perform original, improvisation-incorporating compositions as part of the "Sound Bites" concert series at the Museum of Fine Arts. Other events will include a two-part film series on Sunday, March 9, and Sunday, March 16, also at the MFA, focusing on famous performances of Beethoven solo piano works by such virtuosos as Myra Hess, Wilhelm Backhaus, and Emil Gilels, among others; and a lecture onMonday, March 17, at 7pm by Harvard University Beethoven authority Lewis Lockwood, who will discuss Beethoven's compositional process. For further details, visit bso.org For tickets, call SymphonyCharge at 617-266-1200 or 888-266-1200 (voice), or 617-638-9289 (TDD/TTY), Monday through Friday from 10am until 6pm and on Saturday from 12noon until 6pm. Or order online at bso.org. ABOUT THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), is recognized for the quality and scope of its encyclopedic collection, which includes an estimated 450,000 objects. The Museum's collection is made up of: Art of the Americas; Art of Europe; Contemporary Art; Art of Asia, Oceania, and Africa; Art of the Ancient World; Prints, Drawings, and Photographs; Textile and Fashion Arts; and Musical Instruments. Open seven days a week, the MFA's hours areSaturday through Tuesday, 10 a.m. - 4:45 p.m.; and Wednesday through Friday, 10 a.m. - 9:45 p.m. Admission (which includes one repeat visit within 10 days) is $25 for adults and $23 for seniors and students age 18 and older, and includes entry to all galleries and special exhibitions. Admission is free for University Members and youths age 17 and younger on weekdays after 3 p.m., weekends, and Boston Public Schools holidays; otherwise $10. Wednesday nights after 4 p.m. admission is by voluntary contribution (suggested donation $25). MFA Members are always admitted for free. The MFA's multi-media guide is available at ticket desks and the Sharf Visitor Center for $5, members; $6, non-members; and $4, youths. The Museum is closed on New Year's Day, Patriots' Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. For more information, visit www.mfa.org or call 617.267.9300. The MFA is located on the Avenue of the Arts at 465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115. ABOUT NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY
A cultural icon approaching its 150th anniversary in 2017, and the oldest independent school of music in the United States, New England Conservatory (NEC) is recognized worldwide as a leader among music schools. Located in Boston, Massachusetts on the Avenue of the Arts in the Fenway Cultural District of the city, NEC offers rigorous training in an intimate, nurturing community to undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate music students from around the world. Its faculty of 225 boasts internationally esteemed artist-teachers and scholars. NEC alumni go on to fill orchestra chairs, concert hall stages, jazz clubs, recording studios, and arts management positions worldwide. Half of the Boston Symphony Orchestra is composed of NEC-trained musicians and faculty. Founded in 1867 by Eben Tourjée, an American music educator, choral conductor and organist, its curriculum is remarkable for its wide range of styles and traditions. On the college level, NEC features training in classical, jazz, and contemporary improvisation. Graduate and post-graduate programs supplement these core disciplines with orchestral conducting, and professional chamber music training. Additional programs, such as Entrepreneurial Musicianship, a cutting-edge program integrating professional and personal skills development into the musical training of students to better develop the skills and knowledge needed to create one's own musical opportunities, also enhance the NEC experience. Through its Preparatory School, School of Continuing Education, and Community Programs and Partnerships Program, the Conservatory provides training and performance opportunities for children, pre-college students and adults. Through its outreach projects, it allows young musicians to engage with non-traditional audiences in schools, hospitals, and nursing homes-thereby bringing pleasure to new listeners and enlarging the universe for classical music, jazz, and contemporary improvisation. Currently more than 750 young artists from 46 states and 39 foreign countries attend NEC on the college level, 1,400 young students attend on the Preparatory level, and 325 adults participate in the Continuing Education program. The only conservatory in the United States designated a National Historic Landmark, NEC presents more than 900 free concerts each year. Many of these take place in Jordan Hall (which shares National Historic Landmark status with the school), world-renowned for its superb acoustics and beautifully restored interior. In addition to Jordan Hall, more than a dozen performance spaces of various sizes and configurations are utilized to meet the requirements of the unique range of music performed at NEC, from solo recitals to chamber music to orchestral programs to big band jazz, Contemporary Improvisation, and opera scenes. Every year, NEC's opera studies department also presents two fully staged opera productions at the Cutler Majestic Theatre or Paramount Center in Boston, and a semi-staged performance in Jordan Hall.
NEC is co-founder and educational partner of From the Top, a weekly radio program that celebrates outstanding young classical musicians from the entire country. With its broadcast home in Jordan Hall, the show is now carried by National Public Radio and is heard on 250 stations throughout the United States.
Additional details on New England Conservatory, faculty, guest artists, performances and more can be found on the school's website, http://www.necmusic.edu. For full season concert listings, please visit http://www.necmusic.edu/concerts-events. Information can also be found on Facebook at www.facebook.com/necmusic and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/necmusic. To listen to recent NEC performances, go to our channel on InstantEncore atinstantencore.com/necmusic Join our 30,000 listeners on SoundCloud at https://soundcloud.com/#necmusic.To view recent performances, check out our YouTube channel at
https://www.youtube.com/neconservatory.
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