Performances + Events
MacArthur Fellows
Since 1981, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s Fellows Program has awarded unrestricted fellowships to “talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction.”
There are three criteria for selecting Fellows: exceptional creativity, promise for important future advances based on a track record of significant accomplishment, and potential for the fellowship to facilitate subsequent creative work.”
Learn MoreMacArthur Fellows
Fellows with NEC Affiliations
2011
Alisa Weilerstein is a cellist whose emotionally resonant performances of both traditional and contemporary music have earned her international recognition. She is the cellist of the Weilerstein Trio, an NEC ensemble-in-residence. Weilerstein is also the daughter of NEC faculty members Vivian Hornik Weilerstein and Donald Weilerstein.
2010
Jason Moran is a pianist, composer, and bandleader who mines a variety of musical styles to create adventurous, genre-crossing jazz performances. He joined the NEC faculty in 2010.
2008
Miguel Zenón is a saxophonist and composer who is expanding the boundaries of Latin and jazz music through his innovative musical collages. He joined the NEC faculty in 2009.
2006
Regina Carter ’82 is a master of improvisational jazz violin. In 2003, she was the first non-classical violinist invited to perform on Paganini’s famous “Cannon” violin in Genoa, Italy Carter studied violin performance at NEC.
1992
Steve Lacy was a saxophonist and jazz composer. In 2002, after almost four decades living in Europe, Lacy moved back to the United States to accept a teaching appointment at NEC — his only such institutional affiliation. He taught at NEC up until he died in 2004.
1991
Cecil Taylor ’51, ’77 hon. DMA was an avant-garde jazz composer and pianist distinguished by his exploration of the power of sounds beyond traditional harmony, melody, and rhythm.
Gunther Schuller ’78 hon. DMA was a composer, a conductor, a scholar, a jazz historian, a music publisher, and a record producer. He served as President of NEC from 1967 to 1977, where he formalized NEC’s commitment to jazz by establishing, in 1969, the first degree-granting jazz program at a major classical conservatory. Shortly thereafter, he instituted the Third Stream department (subsequently named the Contemporary Musical Arts department) to explore the regions where the two musical “streams” of classical and jazz meet and mingle (Schuller had coined the term “Third Stream” during a lecture he gave at Brandeis University in 1957).
1989
George Russell ’05 hon. DMA was a composer, a music theorist, an educator, and a conductor. He served on the NEC faculty from 1969 through 2004, where he held the title of Distinguished Artist-in-Residence Emeritus.
John Harbison ’95 hon. DMA is a composer and a conductor whose music is distinguished by its exceptional resourcefulness and expressive range. He taught composition at NEC from 1998 through 2000 and has made regular visits to NEC to coach performances of his music.
1988
Ran Blake ’06 Hon. DMA is a performer of American music and a composer whose improvisational work reflects a variety of genres, including jazz, film scores, classical, Latin, and various world music. Blake joined the faculty of New England Conservatory in 1967. In 1972, he founded the Department of Third Stream Studies, later renamed the Contemporary Musical Arts Department.
1985
Charles Wuorinen is one of America’s most distinguished and prolific contemporary composers. Wuorinen taught composition at NEC from 1968-1969.
