Orchestras

New England Conservatory offers orchestra concerts virtually every week of the year. The 2013/2014 season's grand finale comes on April 23, when Hugh Wolff takes the NEC Philharmonia back to Boston's Symphony Hall in their first appearance there since 2010. The concert is presented in association with the Celebrity Series of Boston.

In the College, which trains adults who are on the brink of careers with professional orchestras, Hugh Wolff is NEC's Stanford and Norma Jean Calderwood Director of Orchestras, and personally conducts many of the NEC Philharmonia's concerts. Donald Palma coaches the conductorless NEC Chamber Orchestra. David Loebel, Associate Director of Orchestras, conducts most of the NEC Symphony Orchestra's season, and is also now music director of NEC's Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, which spearheads the Preparatory School's multitiered system along with the Youth Symphony, led by Steven Karidoyanes

Upcoming performances

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2014-05-22 NEC Youth Symphony + Karidoyanes
2014-05-23 A Far Cry
2014-05-31 NEC Prep Spring Festival
2014-06-01 NEC Youth Philharmonic + Youth Symphony
2013-07-27 Festival Youth Orchestra + Bolter

Past performances

2013-09-07 A Far Cry
2013-09-25 NEC Philharmonia + Wolff
2013-10-09 NEC Symphony + Loebel
2013-10-16 NEC Chamber Orchestra
2013-10-23 NEC Philharmonia + Kuerti
2013-11-06 NEC Philharmonia + Kahane
2013-11-11 NEC Youth Symphony + Karidoyanes
2013-11-13 NEC Symphony + Loebel
2013-11-20 NEC Chamber Orchestra
2013-11-22 NEC Youth Philharmonic Orchestra + Loebel
2013-12-04 NEC Philharmonia + Loebel
2013-12-11 NEC Philharmonia + Wolff
2013-12-12 NEC Lab Orchestra
2014-01-11 A Far Cry
2014-02-11 NEC Symphony + Loebel NEW DATE
2014-02-12 Beethoven: Symphony No. 9
2014-02-15 NEC Youth Philharmonic Orchestra + Wolff
2014-02-23 Shakespeare 450: The Bard As Muse
2014-02-26 NEC Chamber Orchestra
2014-03-05 NEC Philharmonia + Loebel
2014-03-07 A Far Cry
2014-03-12 NEC Symphony + Wolff
2014-03-31 NEC Philharmonia + Wilkins
2014-04-01 Boyd: Beltaine Fire Rites
2014-04-08 Copland: Appalachian Spring chamber version
2014-04-09 NEC Symphony + Biss
2014-04-16 NEC Chamber Orchestra
2014-04-23 NEC Philharmonia + Wolff at Symphony Hall
2014-05-01 NEC Lab Orchestra
2014-05-11 Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez
2014-05-14 NEC Youth Philharmonic Orchestra at Boston Ballet
2014-05-17 Commencement Concert

Listen to past performances

Many of NEC's orchestra concerts are posted to our InstantEncore channel for streaming and downloads. Become a fan of our channel to receive notifications of new tracks and other music news.

The reviews are in

The Boston Musical Intelligencer, "a virtual journal and blog of the classical music scene in Boston," has quickly established itself as the go-to source for reviews of Boston concerts. They frequently attend NEC orchestral concerts, and here's the report card.

2011-10-07 "interesting mixture of delicacy and virility … clean-cut, rousing playing"
2011-09-28 "dramatic moments were all well earned"
2011-05-07 "equal to many a professional ensemble"
2011-02-19 "the cadenzas were dynamite"
2011-02-10 "glory, precision, and light-footedness"
2011-02-06 "the world needs talent like this"
2010-10-22 "completely in sympathy with Brahms's aims"
2010-09-29 "a most blissful space"

The Boston Globe rarely reviews school concerts, but NEC's 2011 Mahler Unleashed project got their attention.

2011-09-29 "as thrilling as any performance on record"

NEC's programs for orchestral musicians

• Explore College orchestras at NEC
• Explore NEC's graduate program in Orchestral Conducting
• Explore Preparatory orchestras at NEC
• Explore NEC's summer Festival Youth Orchestra

2014-05-21