Performances + Events
New England Conservatory’s yearlong celebration of its Preparatory School’s 75th anniversary will culminate on May 16 in a free concert at the Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Edward A. Hatch Memorial Shell. The festive, family-friendly Concert for the City, which will also celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States’ founding, will feature NEC Prep’s Youth Philharmonic Orchestra (YPO) in a performance highlighting the diverse musical traditions that have shaped our shared culture. Since its founding in 1867, NEC has been a cornerstone of Boston’s vibrant arts community. The Conservatory’s Prep School, established in 1950, has been a leader in youth music education for generations.
“Our Prep students never cease to inspire us,” Katherine Drago Luellen, NEC’s chief growth officer, said. “Their curiosity and spirit continually reminds us of the powerful impact music can have on any community. Ours is one where young musicians have for generations discovered their voices, developed their artistry, and connected with one another. Prep students come from all over Greater Boston and beyond to have and share an experience they’ll carry with them for the rest of their lives. We’re eager to introduce new friends and families to the joyful work we do, and to the young musicians whose artistic expression enriches us all.”
The Concert for the City on May 16 will feature the YPO, led by Juliano Aniceto, Director of NEC Prep Orchestras, in a performance that pays tribute to the United States’ semiquincentennial, NEC Prep’s 75th anniversary, and NEC’s place in and contributions to Boston’s cultural landscape. In programming the concert, Aniceto said, “I tried to embrace many musical languages.” In doing that, he said, “I embrace Boston.”
The May 16 program will open with an orchestration of The Star-Spangled Banner by the late NEC President Gunther Schuller — a tip of the hat, Aniceto said, to NEC’s legacy of innovation and a nod to the 2025 NEC Festival, which celebrated Schuller — followed by selections from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess that, while showcasing the influence jazz has had on American classical music, also reflect the “dreams and love” that to Aniceto have long animated the City of Boston. Soprano Sarah Joyce Cooper ’11 Prep and baritone Phil Lima, assistant chair of Berklee College of Music’s Voice Department, will be the soloists for the Gershwin.
The May 16 performance will continue with Nicholas Hersh’s combined arrangement of “We Shall Overcome” and James Weldon Johnson and NEC alumnus J. Rosamond Johnson’s “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the latter of which is widely considered the nation’s Black National Anthem, and two movements from Czech composer Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World,” which, having taken inspiration from African American spirituals and indigenous traditions, reflects a visitor’s perspective on musical culture in the United States.
The concert will conclude with John Philip Sousa’s patriotic The Stars and Stripes Forever, Tchaikovsky’s iconic “1812” Overture, a work that’s come to be associated with Independence Day in the United States, and an encore performance of Hersh’s arrangement of James P. Johnson’s Victory Stride, which Aniceto and the YPO performed on a program in May 2025 that opened the Conservatory’s yearlong Prep 75 celebration.
The Prep 75 celebration began on May 15, 2025, with a concert featuring Aniceto and the YPO in a performance of works by Gershwin, Joplin, and Prokofiev, along with James P. Johnson’s Victory Stride. The yearlong celebration continued on November 15, 2025, with a daylong event that included master classes, a panel discussion, and an evening concert featuring NEC Prep and College alumnus George Li ’13 Prep, ’19, ’22 AD, the YPO, the NEC Chamber Singers, and NEC Prep’s Youth Chorale in an extraordinary performance of Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy.
The November 15 concert, which was part of the NEC Festival, also included performances by numerous Prep ensembles, Prep alumni, and College students and alumni. Since the Prep 75 celebration began a year ago, NEC has presented numerous programs honoring Prep’s past and looking to its future. The culmination of the yearlong celebration, on May 16, will honor our shared culture, the civic pride that brings people together, and the unifying power of music.
New England Conservatory will present its Concert for the City on Saturday, May 16, at 4 p.m., at the Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Edward A. Hatch Memorial Shell. The concert is free and open to the public. Learn more.
