Performances + Events
Conductor Stefan Asbury, who has led many of the world’s most celebrated ensembles and taught for 30 years at the Tanglewood Music Center, will join the NEC faculty in the fall. Asbury will teach NEC’s graduate-level orchestral conducting students and will lead the NEC Philharmonia and the NEC New Music Ensemble in a performance each year.
Asbury will evaluate conductors who’ve applied to NEC’s Orchestral Conducting program when auditions are held this coming February. Asbury will succeed esteemed conductor, pedagogue, and longtime NEC faculty member Hugh Wolff, who will continue to serve as NEC’s Director of Orchestras.
Absury’s pedagogical interest is in helping young conductors convey their musicality. One can develop musicality, Asbury said, but there has to be a seed. His job, as he sees it, is to facilitate a conductor’s growth.
A conductor’s job requires giving direction and reacting to the sounds musicians create. “Receiving information in real time and immediately diagnosing what to do,” Asbury said, “is very hard work.” That work involves oral and physical communication, a deep knowledge of the repertoire, rehearsal management, and more. At NEC, Asbury wants to find each student’s voice then help them develop their technique through lessons, the podium time they have in front of NEC’s Lab Orchestra, and other related areas of study.
About Stefan Asbury
Stefan Asbury has conducted such orchestras such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, China National Symphony Orchestra, Concertgebouw Orchestra (Amsterdam), Frankfurt and Hamburg Radio Orchestras, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony (Tokyo), Seattle Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic, Tongyeong Festival Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra (Taiwan), among others. He has served as Chief Conductor of the Noord Nederlands Orkest (Groningen) and resident conductor with the Tapiola Sinfonietta (Helsinki).
An impassioned champion of contemporary music, Asbury has collaborated with such renowned composers as Harrison Birtwistle, Unsuk Chin, Steve Reich, Wolfgang Rihm, and Mark-Anthony Turnage. A dedicated pedagogue, Asbury has given master classes around the world and served on the faculty of the Tanglewood Music Center since 1995 — from 2005 to 2024 as Head of Conducting.
Photo of Stefan Asbury by Takashi Fujimoto.
