Performances + Events
The New England Conservatory community is saddened by the passing of Marylen Sternweiler, who died on April 12 at age 89. Sternweiler’s contributions to the Conservatory were recognized in February with a Presidential Commendation.
Born in Freiburg, Germany, and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, Sternweiler studied clarinet and piano as a child and later supported the Cape Town Concert Club (now the Cape Town Concert Series) and the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra. She studied physical therapy in London and returned to Cape Town to work in cardio-pulmonary care. Remarkably, Sternweiler served as the physiotherapist for the world’s first heart transplant.
Sternweiler eventually moved to the United States and continued her career in Philadelphia and Boston, where she served on the Celebrity Series of Boston’s Board of Advisors, the Boston Chamber Music Society’s Advisory Council, and the President’s Council at NEC, where she enthusiastically attended concerts and mentored students. Sternweiler also supported the Marlboro Music Festival and Yellow Barn.
In February, a small group of representatives from NEC, including President Andrea Kalyn, President’s Council Chair Frances Wilmerding, and Sternweiler’s former NEC student mentee, Elizabeth Stefan ’11 MM, presented Sternweiler with the Presidential Commendation and shared with her a recorded performance by and message from Trio Eris, the Conservatory’s Piano Trio in Residence.
