Performances + Events
This year’s NEC Festival, Jumpin’ in the Future: The Legacy of Gunther Schuller, which takes place November 15 to November 22, celebrates the enduring influence of a compleat musician. Schuller, who served as the Conservatory’s president from 1967 to 1977, was an artist and educator whose boundless vision has long been admired wherever it reaches, perhaps most personally in and around NEC. Here, several members of the Conservatory’s faculty wrestle with a question that can’t be answered briefly: In 100 words, who was/is Gunther Schuller?
“Renowned as composer, conductor, historian, publisher, hornist, and educator Gunther Schuller was a key witness to American musical culture. In his pioneering study Early Jazz, his rediscovery of ragtime, his championing of the American symphonists; in his transcriptions of Ellington, and his recording of music by Milton Babbitt; during his presidency of New England Conservatory, and his leadership of the Tanglewood Music Center, Gunther Schuller heard America. He wrote America and he read America — in a manner as diverse and expressive as the United States itself.” — Bruce Brubaker, Co-Chair, Piano Department; Curator of Piano Programming
“Gunther Schuller was an unusually curious, open-minded musician who believed that all music should be judged on its inherent merit, and not on what category or genre it was associated with. When he became president of NEC in 1967, he acted quickly to include music that was often overlooked by musical institutions: jazz, new music, early music, musical traditions from around the world. Personally, I’m grateful for Gunther’s vision of a more inclusive conservatory because I feel as if I can be a truer version of myself at NEC, free to pursue whatever musical path interests me at the moment.” — Ken Schaphorst ’84 MM, Chair, Jazz Studies Department
“Gunther Schuller was a musical prophet who lived to see his prophecies come to fruition — and his primary vehicle for realizing his vision was New England Conservatory! Beginning in the 1940s, during his 10 years as NEC president beginning in 1967, and for the remainder of his life after that he championed the idea that the art of music was a universal art, not one that was exclusively European. In his view, the more musicians shared their artistic vision across global, racial, and ethnic boundaries, the stronger the musical world would become. In this year’s Festival, we celebrate his prophetic vision.” — Hankus Netsky ’76, ’78 MM, Advisor, Contemporary Musical Arts Department
“Gunther was the compleat* musician and one of the few people who embodied that which he hoped others would aspire to. What he believed was who he was. He believed that the classical concept of a work’s meaning should be delivered with the jazzman’s sense of inspired spontaneity. He believed music is a transcending experience for both performer and listener and thus “the work” (both the composition and effort to realize it) transcended, came before and above, the people making the music. He was equally a herzensmensch who would blow a smiling kiss from his sick bed to a visiting child. Truly compleat. Gunther was sui generis and he made NEC the same.” — Charles Peltz ’85 MM, faculty emeritus; founding member, with Ken Radnofsky and John Heiss, and president, Gunther Schuller Society
*Gunther’s preferred spelling.
“Gunther Schuller was the compleat musician and educator. As a student at NEC between ’74-’76 the students who worked the hardest (not simply the most talented) created their best chances for achieving lasting excellence and artistry. Our school’s President, Gunther Schuller, was The Model for integrity, indefatigability, and in developing all of our abilities in the Orchestra, Twentieth Century Innovations (New Music), Swing, Whiteman, Ellington and Ragtime Ensembles, as well as his section of the legendary ‘Score and Sound’ class. ALL of those were amongst courses taught by HIM. Who could ask for MORE? The answer was — Gunther. He wanted to reach everybody. He expected MORE, and it worked! That was the essence of the time and of his spirit that we aspired to then, and in today’s Gunther Schuller Society, as well as in our everyday practice through our performing and teaching careers.” — Ken Radnofsky ’76 MM, NEC faculty (saxophone and chamber music); founding member, with Charles Peltz and John Heiss, and vice president, Gunther Schuller Society
Learn about and be part of Jumpin’ in the Future: The Legacy of Gunther Schuller.
