News & Spotlights

“Strikingly beautiful, distinctive and exhilarating, with expressive vocals that will find a way into hearts and minds” (No Depression)Chamber-folk duo Ari & Mia are award-winning songwriters, and tour globally, critically acclaimed as New England's Americana sister act. Raised on folk songs and conservatory trained, their voices, cello, fiddle, and banjo intricately combine in breathtaking harmon

The NEC Alumni Summer Mix is a curated playlist that celebrates the incredible versatility, creativity, and genre-defying talent of our graduates. Designed as a vibrant summer soundtrack, the playlist includes 10 tracks, focusing on recent releases from alumni. True to the spirit of NEC's diverse contemporary and classical programs, the collection effortlessly bridges the gaps between classical, j

NEC alumna Allegra Levy ’11 won a jingle contest promoting a new, free child-care program in New York City. More than 300 New Yorkers submitted jingles celebrating the City's new 2-K program. The final five entries were selected by Bronx-born rapper Cardi B and Washington Heights native Lin-Manuel Miranda before being put to a public vote. Mayor Mamdani first announced the jingle contest alongside

WGBH interviewed Boston Festival Orchestra co-founder, principal conductor, and Artistic Director Alyssa Wang ’19 MM and co-founder and Executive Director Nicholas Brown ’19 MM about the organization’s past and its upcoming season.The Boston Festival Orchestra (BFO) was co-founded in late 2019 by conductor Alyssa Wang and clarinetist Nicholas Brown, who envisioned a summer festival orchestra that

Maxwell Fairman ’26 realized after his third year at New England Conservatory that his priorities were changing. Fairman, a violinist who studied at NEC with Donald Weilerstein and completed the Conservatory’s Concentration in Teaching Artistry and Music Education, had other interests, some of which he’d explored in STEM classes in high school. He’d even considered applying to dual-degree programs

Our alumni are consistently representing the brilliance of NEC. Check out some of the audition placements that NEC alumni have scored within the past few months below, and congratulations to all!Gustavo Barreda '25 MM - Principal Percussion, Orlando PhilharmonicEmma Carleton '18, '21 MM, '22 GD - Assistant Principal Second Violin, Toronto Symphony OrchestraLouis DeMartino '03 - Principal Clarinet,

Neuroscientist, musician, and technologist Arun Asthagiri '20 Prep, '24 has participated in a study on how the brain reacts to live music as a collaboratory project between NEC and Northeastern University.Arun is an interdisciplinary scientist and musician who has played the violin for nearly two decades, earning a Bachelor of Music from NEC before pursuing a PhD at Northeastern University’s Music

Dr. J  LanYe’ '68 MM, DMA, explores the powerful role of music in mapping escape routes to freedom from chattel slavery. She will return to Lakeside Chautauqua this Juneteenth to share groundbreaking research on the African American spiritual. She will introduce newly uncovered decoding methods that reveal how these songs functioned as sophisticated strategic tools in the resistance to and dismant

Thirteen years after founding Castle of our Skins, NEC alumni Ashleigh Gordon ’08 MM and Anthony Green ’08 MM have prepared the organization to reclaim a vital artistic space in Boston and further empower Black artists far beyond.In mid-May, the nonprofit organization, which “centers Black arts, culture, and history,” presented a concert at the Goethe Institut called The Castle We Built, featuring

Pianist Charles Berofsky ’24 MM and violinist Joshua Brown ’22, ’24 MM, ’26 AD were chosen for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s highly selective Bowers Program and will each participate in a three-year residency.This year’s participants in The Bowers Program were chosen from an international pool of 192 individual candidates and 17 ensemble candidates through competitive auditions. Th

Dr. Rhoda Bernard is the Founding Managing Director of the Berklee Institute for Accessible Arts Education and the Assistant Chair of the Music Education Department at Berklee College of Music. She holds a Bachelor of Arts cum laude in government from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Music with academic honors in jazz voice from New England Conservatory. She earned both her Master of Education

Riley Barker ’26 MMDegree: Master of MusicMajor: Collaborative Piano"This fall, I will be pursuing more collaborative piano projects, specifically taking part in the McGill Schulich School of Music x Université de Montréal piano vocal arts residency program where I will expand my skills in opera, vocal coaching, and art song interpretation. I intend to use moving to Montreal as a springboard for a

Cellist and alumnus Leland Ko '24 AD has placed third in the 2026 Queen Elisabeth Competition. This competition is one of the world's most prestigious and demanding international music competitions for young, classically trained virtuosos. Held annually in Brussels, Belgium, the event serves as a major springboard launching the careers of top-tier musicians. Established in 1937, the competition ro

Delirium Musicum, which is made up of several NEC alumni, will be touring the East Coast beginning in early July. Their upcoming performances include the Rockport Chamber Music Festival on July 1, the opening of Newport Classical on July 2, and the Naumburg Orchestral Concerts in NYC’s Central Park on July 7. Alumni members include Etienne Gara '12 MM (artistic director), Evan Hjort '22 MM (violin

Composer Andrew Rindfleisch ’90 MM has been named a finalist for the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in music for his composition American Descent, a five-movement work for 13 players that premiered in October 2025.Commissioned and premiered by the NO EXIT New Music Ensemble, American Descent explores the decline of a once prosperous society into chaos, division, and violence. The work’s five movements

Alumna DoYeon Kim ’16 MM, ’18 GD has been featured in The New York Times, which described her as “an in-demand collaborator for some of the biggest innovators in improvised music.”A virtuoso of the gayageum, Kim is known for blending Korean traditional music with contemporary improvisation and jazz. Her studies at NEC’s Contemporary Improvisation program helped shape her distinctive artistic voice

In November, the Houston Grand Opera named NEC alumnus James Gaffigan ’01 its next music director. Gaffigan, who’s conducted opera and orchestral performances with major ensembles and companies in the United States and abroad, will serve as music director designate at the HGO during the 2026–2027 season and begin his tenure as music director at the start of the 2027–2028 season. We recently spoke

Meet our 2026 Commencement Alumni Speaker and Marshals!Alumni hold a meaningful place in NEC’s Commencement celebrations. Each year, graduates from reunion classes are invited to take part by serving as alumni marshals and speakers, representing the broader alumni community.At this year’s Commencement, Matthew Shifrin '21, '23 MM (center) will address the graduating class as the Alumni Speaker, of

NEC has recognized a diverse group of alumni with its Entrepreneurial Musicianship (EM) Department Alumni Awards, highlighting projects that expand the boundaries of performance, education, and artistic collaboration.Among the honorees is Jenna Stokes ’23, whose work with the OUT Ensemble culminated in the debut album Seasons of Change. The project centers on themes of identity and transformation,

Saehyun Kim ’19 Prep, ’24 NEC/Harvard has signed an exclusive recording agreement with Warner Classics, positioning him among an internationally recognized roster of artists that includes Beatrice Rana, Piotr Anderszewski, Fazıl Say, and Mariam Batsashvili. His debut album with the label is scheduled for release in September 2026.The upcoming recording is structured around a Paris-inspired concept