Performances + Events
New England Conservatory looks eagerly forward to a 2026–2027 concert season featuring performances by the ascendant and acclaimed musicians in its diverse community and renowned guest artists from around the world. Over the course of the coming academic year, NEC will present nearly 800 free events, many of which will be livestreamed.
This coming season, the beloved First Monday at Jordan Hall series, founded in 1985 by cellist Laurence Lesser and currently entering its second season under the leadership of Artistic Co-chairs Nicholas Cords (viola), Soovin Kim (violin), and HaeSun Paik (piano), celebrates the 90th birthdays of composers Philip Glass and Steve Reich and the 150th birthdays of violist Lionel Tertis and cellist Pablo Casals.
Among the artists who’ll appear on the First Monday series this season are faculty pianist Dang Thai Son and his student Zitong Wang ’24 MM, ’26 GD, ’28 AD, a pianist in the Conservatory’s Institute for Concert Artists; faculty pianist Alessio Bax; the Borromeo String Quartet, NEC’s faculty ensemble-in-residence; and the Paddington Trio and Katarina String Quartet, the new ensembles in residence in the Conservatory’s Professional Programs.
During the 2026–2027 concert season NEC will welcome to campus renowned guest artists whose contributions to the art form have been as influential as they’ve been inspiring. Virtuoso violinist Hilary Hahn will be a Visiting Artist throughout the academic year and will present a master class that’s open to the NEC community. Jazz bassist Dave Holland returns to NEC as Visiting-Artist-in-Residence, appearing in performances, leading workshops, and giving master classes in residencies during each semester, and fellow jazz bassist Christian McBride will give a master class, as well.
Violist Garth Knox will visit NEC for a residency that includes master classes and a seminar with the Conservatory’s composers, cellist Ralph Kirshbaum and pianist Richard Goode will each give master classes, and pianist and composer Gordon Beeferman will serve a residency in which he’ll appear on Contemporary Musical Arts Department Chair Eden MacAdam-Somer’s faculty recital. The CMA Department will host songwriter Charlie King for a master class, and the department’s programming will explore global traditions, the music of social movements, and, in a concert featuring NEC alumna Charmaine Lee ’16 MM, the inimitable soundworld of Björk. Contemporary music offerings will also include an immersive new-music event produced by flutist and interdisciplinary artist Claire Chase. In contrast to music of today, including the work of Grammy Award-winning NEC alumna Stephanie Economou ’16, who’ll hold a Composition Residency, violinist Alana Ruocco will join NEC’s Chamber Singers and the NEC Baroque Orchestra for a program of works by Handel.
Distinguished NEC faculty who’ll appear in recital during the 2026–2027 season include vocalist and improviser Dominique Eade, pianist Ethan Iverson and saxophonist Mark Zaleski in a duo recital, violist Wenting Kang, flutist Paula Robison, who’ll perform an all-Vivaldi program in celebration of her 85th birthday, pianist Pei-Shan Lee, who’ll give a marathon performance of Beethoven’s Violin Sonatas, and pianist Minsoo Sohn, who’ll perform Book 1 of J.S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. The Borromeo String Quartet will be joined in recital by composer, cellist, and NEC alumnus Paul Wiancko ’12 GD.
An Institute for Concert Artists showcase will introduce audiences to violinist Leonhard Baumgartner ’28 AD, baritone Junhyuk (Paul) Jang ’28 AD, pianist Zitong Wang ’24 MM, ’26 GD, ’28 AD, composer, trumpeter, improviser, and interdisciplinary artist Chris Ryan Williams ’28 AD, and returning pianist Clayton Stephenson ’23 Harvard/NEC, ’27 AD, each of whom is at the start of a major performing career. NEC’s Piano Department will continue its four-year series in which all 555 of Domenico Scarlatti’s Keyboard Sonatas will be performed, and department co-chair Bruce Brubaker will appear in a program celebrating Philip Glass’s piano music and 90th birthday. NEC’s Jazz Orchestra will present a centennial tribute to saxophonist John Coltrane, whose intrepid explorations of musical language continue to fire the imaginations of countless artists everywhere. NEC Opera will stage Engelbert Humperdinck’s operatic fairy tale Hansel and Gretel in a season that includes other fully- and semi-staged productions. And NEC’s Black Student Union will honor the life, legacy, and centennial birthday of the late NEC alumna and iconic Civil Rights leader Coretta Scott King ’54, ’71 hon. DM in a student-led tribute concert.
NEC’s outstanding students will perform in concerts featuring orchestras and other large ensembles, including those led by the Conservatory’s new Wind Ensemble Director, Kevin Fitzgerald. The NEC Philharmonia will be joined in performances by such compelling soloists as alumni Tessa Lark ’10, ’12 MM (violin) and cellist Deborah Pae ’12 MM (cello) and current NEC Concert Artist Clayton Stephenson ’23 NEC/Harvard, ’27 AD. The Philharmonia’s season program includes works by 2026 Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gabriela Lena Frank, NEC faculty composer Kati Agócs, Derrick Skye, Bartók, Berlioz, Ravel, Shostakovich, Smetana, and Stravinsky. Led by Director of Orchestras Hugh Wolff, the Philharmonia will also return for a performance at Symphony Hall.
As NEC opens its 2026–2027 academic year and concert season, the Conservatory community looks forward to further collaboration with the Boston Symphony Orchestra through the BSO x NEC Alliance, a first-of-its-kind initiative that fuels excellence and innovation in Boston and beyond and expands access to the art form for musicians of all ages. In the upcoming season, the BSO x NEC Honors Children’s Choir, which offers singers ages 8 to 13 exceptional training through NEC’s Preparatory School and extraordinary opportunities to perform with the legendary BSO, will appear with the orchestra, vocal soloists Cécile McLorin Salvant and Davóne Tines, percussionist Cyro Baptista, kamancheh player Kayhan Kalhor, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus in the world-premiere performances of Osvaldo Golijov and David Henry Hwang’s Creation, eight Holiday Pops Family Concerts with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops, and two semi-staged performances of Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades with Andris Nelsons and the BSO. The BSO x NEC Honors Children’s Choir is led by Michele Adams, the new Director of Choirs in NEC’s Expanded Education Department.
The NEC community is eager to share its impassioned and insightful music-making with concertgoers in Greater Boston and beyond and invites new and returning audiences to experience events on campus and online. Visit our Performances and Events calendar for comprehensive listings and more information, and listen to some of the music and performers the 2026–2027 concert season will feature.
