Les Six Honors Recital

Each year, an audition committee of professional musicians selects a few exceptional student ensembles to represent the NEC Honors Ensemble Program. The ensembles work with a faculty coach and are given an opportunity to perform a spring recital in NEC's Jordan Hall.

Tonight's concert features Les Six, a woodwind and piano sextet composed of Luis Diaz, Andrew Port, Adam Floyd, Emily Prather, Jessica Boyd, and Linda Edsinga. This ensemble is coached by chamber music coach and flutist John Heiss.

Les Six was founded on the impetus of the group’s pianist, Linda Edsinga, in an effort to devise a chamber group to be coached by the legendary John Heiss. With no time to spare, Linda assembled a group of five other musicians, including Jessie Boyd, Emily Prather, Andrew Port, Luis Diaz and Adam Floyd. As rehearsals began and John Heiss provided his guidance, the six musicians brought together found themselves easily capable of playing with one another and playing through repertoire at a rapid rate. Although they had never worked together before, they quickly developed a rapport as friends and colleagues, as well as a cohesive sound that stunned listeners. The decision to compete for the Conservatory’s Honors Competition was made early, and the group worked with determination to meet the deadline of the audition. With the payoff of a successful audition in hand, the sextet now set out to perform a harder task: Picking a name. Careful consideration was given to several possibilities, but they soon decided on Les Six (The Six), in honor of Francis Poulenc, the composer of the very first piece they performed. Since then, Les Six has enjoyed learning a variety of repertoire for their ensemble, reveling in the unique opportunities presented for such a dynamic instrumentation, and looks forward to a long future of music making together.