Doris Duke Artists Named

April 3, 2015

Darcy James Argue '02 M.M., Okkyung Lee '00 M.M. named two of 20 "remarkable performing artists."

Jazz alumnus Darcy James Argue '02 M.M. and Contemporary Improvisation alumna Okkyung Lee '00 M.M. are two of 20 individuals in the fourth class of Doris Duke Artists, announced yesterday by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Argue and Lee, along with the other Doris Duke Artists, will each receive $275,000 in flexible, multi-year funding "as an investment in and celebration of their ongoing contributions to the fields of contemporary dance, theatre, and jazz," according to the Foundation.

NEC alumnus Don Byron '84 was among the initial group of Artist Award recipients in 2012, and Matana Roberts '03 M.M. was one of the initial group of Impact Award recipients announced a year ago. The 2015 Impact Award recipients have not yet been named.

Read about Jazz Studies at NEC.

Read about Contemporary Improvisation studies at NEC.

Read the DDCF press release naming the 2015 Doris Duke Artists.

About Darcy James Argue

"As a composer, writing for big band affords me equal opportunity to construct something big and fierce, or small and intricate. It allows me to create entire worlds, and then let improvising musicians loose inside of them. That will never stop being thrilling to me."
—Darcy James Argue

After completing graduate studies at NEC with Bob Brookmeyer among his teachers, Darcy James Argue founded Secret Society, an 18-piece big band. The group's Grammy Award–nominated release Brooklyn Babylon, and the multimedia collaboration with artist Danijel Zezelj on which it is based, "addresses the gentrification of Brooklyn and has drawn critical comparison to panoramic works by Duke Ellington and Charles Ives." Argue's multimedia work Real Enemies will premiere in fall 2015.

In 2013, Argue visited NEC to talk to students about the collaborative process behind Brooklyn Babylon.

More about Darcy James Argue.

About Okkyung Lee

"Important to take your work seriously, but not yourself, which is a lot easier said than done in reality."
—Okkyung Lee

Okkyung Lee's teachers at New England Conservatory included current Contemporary Improvisation chair Hankus Netsky. Lee's music "draws from noise and extended techniques, jazz, Western classical, and Korean traditional and popular music." In 2015, she will be a Civitella Ranieri Fellow in Umbria, Italy, and play at the Météo Festival in Mulhouse, France.

More about Okkyung Lee.