Performances + Events
Branching Out: Crafting Interdisciplinary Performances
Eben Jordan Rehearsal Room
In this workshop, Neil shares insights from nearly three decades of creating and touring interdisciplinary performance experiences, offering advice for musicians and teaching artists who are curious to branch out and embark upon non-traditional career paths. Discussion topics include interdisciplinary approaches to developing performance skills and musical interpretation; creating and seeking out new performance opportunities; commissioning vs. arranging repertoire; and authentic vs. definitive performance practices.
Please register to attend in person or virtually using the "Get Tickets" button above. Registrants will receive live stream information via email. This event is part of the Teaching Artistry @ NEC Workshop Series.
Artist(s)
C. Neil Parsons is a bass trombonist, dancer, actor, and arts educator who has spent a lifetime onstage, appearing in his first professional theater production at age three. Extensive touring has taken him to 45 states, with engagements at major performing arts centers, residencies at numerous universities, and guest appearances with symphony orchestras, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Beyond his versatility across music, theater, and dance productions, Parsons is best known for blending his skills in interdisciplinary artworks.
In 2010, Parsons cofounded the hybrid arts ensemble The Fourth Wall. Praised by the Wall Street Journal for their “deft choreography,” the trio has toured widely with their neo-vaudeville production Fruit Flies Like a Banana and their circus show Without a Net. For nine seasons, Parsons performed with Tales & Scales, an ensemble that devised and toured innovative “musictales” for children and family audiences, serving as co-artistic director from 2006 to 2008. In addition to ongoing collaborations with Zara Lawler / The Flute on its Feet, Shakespeare's Ear, and the Seattle Modern Orchestra, Neil has created and toured the solo shows A Thousand Words and 50% Nonverbal.
Parsons is a graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy and Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, where he declared an individual major in Interdisciplinary Performance and Education. In 2015, he joined the inaugural class of Boston Conservatory at Berklee’s graduate program in Contemporary Classical Music Performance. Neil is an Assistant Professor at Boston Conservatory, teaching across the Theater, Music, and Dance Divisions.
