New England Conservatory's November Contemporary Musical Arts Programs To Celebrate 50th Anniversary

New England Conservatory's Contemporary Musical Arts (CMA) program marks five decades of crossing boundaries, pushing limits, and training creative contemporary musicians and artists with a CMA Festival from Saturday, November 12-Thursday, November 17 and a concert honoring Gunther Schuller's legacy on Tuesday, November 22.

The festival, part of a year-long celebration featuring faculty, students and alumni in cutting-edge musical events, showcases bluegrass, African, Irish, classical, Americana, Middle Eastern music, klezmer, folk, jazz, electronic, rock, film noir and beyond, just some of the wide range of musical genres performed in the department which embraces interdisciplinary collaboration. Festival events feature a master class by renowned percussionist Jamey Haddad, the US premiere of a film about CMA founding chair Ran Blake, and CMA: Pushing the Limits, a concert showcasing the musical breadth and depth of the department and its composers including music written about some of the most pertinent issues of our time.

Events include:

Saturday, November 12

Jamey Haddad Percussion Master Class and Performance
2-5 p.m. Sinfonia Room, co-sponsored by NEC's Percussion and CMA departments

Percussionist and former NEC faculty member Jamey Haddad, pianists Alain Mallet and Leo Blanco, and bassist Peter Slavov perform for students and work with them to orchestrate a song. One of the world's most gifted and imaginative percussionists, Haddad is sought after by leading musicians around the globe because of his unparalleled musical taste and intuition. He brings his collaborative spirit to every project he works on with such diverse icons as Sting, esperanza spalding, Paul Simon, Nancy Wilson, Osvaldo Golijov, Dave Liebman, Simon Shaheen, Joe Lovano, and countless others.

Sunday, November 13

Film Premiere & Book Release honoring CMA Founding Chair Ran Blake
Eben Jordan Recital Room

6:30 p.m. - Book release celebrating the publication of two books: "Storyboarding Noir," co-authored by Blake and writer and fellow film buff Gardiner Hartmann, and "Shimmering Shadows," an in-depth biography of Blake written by Janet and Leo McFadden.

7 p.m., U.S. premiere screening of French filmmaker Antoine Polin's film, "Living With Imperfection." The movie profiles 84-year-old Blake from the vantage point of his love for the cinema, how it has animated and nourished his musical inspiration, and how he continues to develop his unique musical language.

Free and open to the public. For information visit Contemporary Musical Arts Film Screening: "Living with Imperfection: A Portrait of Ran Blake" | New England Conservatory (necmusic.edu).

Monday, November 14

NEC Chamber Orchestra
7:30 p.m., Jordan Hall

Donald Palma conducts a program featuring CMA co-chair Hankus Netsky's "Chagall's Mandolins" with sophomore G. Rockwell, winner of Nashville's prestigious Freshgrass Festival Award in Banjo, as soloist. The 1998 work is inspired by four Chagall paintings of mandolinists he knew. Also on the program are Sandor Veress' Four Transylvanian Dances and Stravinsky's Apollon musagète.

Free, requires ticket. For information visit NEC Chamber Orchestra: Veress, Netsky, Stravinsky | New England Conservatory (necmusic.edu)

Tuesday, November 15

CMA: Pushing the Limits
7:30 p.m., Jordan Hall

The composer/performer/improvisers on NEC's Contemporary Musical Arts faculty have taken the lead in today's creative musical scene. This concert features compositions dealing with some of the most pertinent issues of our time, including "Sister Cries Out" an excerpt from "For Our Common Home," Linda J. Chase's recent one-hundred-minute oratorio on the climate crisis featuring Stan Strickland on saxophone and Carla Kihlstedt on vocals, "Shoym" (Froth) a meditation on the Parkland High School massacre, and "La Maria," a performance piece by Lautaro Mantilla about abductions and murders in Colombia. The world premiere of a new solo violin piece "The Sway," a commission from Cambridge-born composer Gordon Beeferman, showcases the artistic virtuosity of CMA co-chair Eden MacAdam-Somer.

The concert also features compositions by Carla Kihlstedt and CMA's newest faculty member, film and multi-media composer Akram Haddad. The program highlights the unique creative legacy of NEC's Contemporary Musical Arts Department, including tributes to founding chair Ran Blake, musical maverick Joe Maneri, vocalist and composer Dominique Eade, Nedelka Prescod, founding director of our African American Roots ensembles, and sitar virtuoso and former NEC Provost, Peter Row, the only non-Indian performer ever to win the all-India music competition.

Free admission, tickets required. Live performance to be recorded and internationally broadcast on December 12, 2022. For information visit Contemporary Musical Arts Dept: Pushing the Limits | New England Conservatory (necmusic.edu).

Wednesday, November 16 - "Gunther Schuller's Educational Legacy" Panel Discussion
6:15 p.m Eben Jordan Ensemble Room

CMA co-chair and NEC alum Hankus Netsky, NEC alum Susan Calkins, University of Alberta Professor Michael Frischkopf and NEC alum and NEC Wind Ensemble Director Charles Peltz participate in a panel discussion focusing on how Schuller's enduring educational vision made, and continues to make, NEC unique among the world's music institutions.

Thursday, November 17

CMA Small Ensembles

Eben Jordan Ensemble Room

7 p.m. - Haddad Intro to World Music Ensemble
8 p.m. - Knowles Ceol Irish Music Ensemble
9 p.m. - Liszt Bluegrass Ensemble

Tuesday, November 22

Gunther Schuller Legacy Concert: Founding Family

7:30 p.m., Jordan Hall.

The annual Gunther Schuller Legacy Concert, produced in collaboration with the Gunther Schuller Society, honors the birthday of Schuller, born November 22, 1925. Schuller, the most transformative figure in NEC's history, served as NEC President and was a visionary composer, conductor, author and renowned horn player.

This year's theme is "Founding Family," celebrating exceptional artists brought to NEC to teach and perform. The program includes comments by celebrated founding family members including CMA faculty Ran Blake and Hankus Netsky as well as Carl Atkins, Frank L. Battisti, John Heiss and Laurence Lesser. Performances by current students will include the CMA Department's Bluegrass Ensemble coached by Greg Liszt, introduced by Netsky who will speak about Schuller's connection to Americana.
Free admission, ticket required. Event will be in-person and live-streamed. For information visit Gunther Schuller Legacy Concert: Founding Family | New England Conservatory (necmusic.edu).

Following the November events, NEC's CMA and Jazz Departments collaborate on a special concert on December 8 featuring the NEC Jazz Orchestra with special guest, NEC alum Don Byron, along with soloists from the CMA program.

Founded in 1972 by Gunther Schuller and Ran Blake, NEC's Contemporary Musical Arts program, originally called Third Stream, prepares musicians for today's musical world. The department brings together a diverse group of the world's finest young artists in a setting where they can grow in a community of composers, performers and improvisers. This year NEC changed the name to Contemporary Musical Arts to acknowledge the breadth of the program's training. With an emphasis on detailed listening to and performance of diverse oral musical traditions, advanced aural skills, conceptual ideas and interdisciplinary collaboration, the CMA program is uniquely positioned to cultivate the complete 21st century global musician.

Alumni of the department, "a thriving hub of musical exploration" (Boston Globe), include Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter Sarah Jarosz, composer and clarinetist Don Byron, virtuosic pianist and jam-band pioneer John Medeski, internationally acclaimed vocalist and educator Dominique Eade, klezmer clarinet virtuoso Michael Winograd, contemporary singer songwriter Aoife O'Donovan, and current co-chair Eden MacAdam-Somer, a virtuoso violinist, vocalist, percussive dancer and scholar.

To post a comment, you must register and login.