Performances + Events
At this year’s Convocation on September 3, New England Conservatory President Andrea Kalyn told new and returning students, faculty, and staff, “We’re a community of learners in a giant practice room.” Convocation is a time to be thankful for the NEC community, she said, “because community is very much a part of what makes NEC such a special place,” a place where shared purpose connects individuals to one another, to past and future, and to possibility.
“We are not the first community to call this land home,” Kalyn acknowledged. “NEC is situated on the ancestral and unceded lands of Massachusetts and Pawtucket peoples, which means that this land has been the site of learning and community for generations.”
The learning the NEC community does this coming academic year, the Conservatory’s 158th, should focus, Kalyn said, on “the practice of curiosity.”
Violinist Michael Fisher ’25, ’27 MM, recipient of NEC’s Tourjée Alumni Award (named for the Conservatory’s founder), urged his fellow students to “challenge yourselves to discover how open-minded and creative you can become. The more imaginative you are,” Fisher said, “the more you’ll uncover.”
“You’ll never know what’s possible until you go looking — yes, in the practice room, but also outside of it,” he said. “Keep your eyes open and you’ll uncover opportunities.”
Michael Fisher.
Opportunity was at the heart of a panel discussion featuring three students from NEC’s Contemporary Musical Arts Department — vocalist Rosario Rivas ’27, trumpeter Woody Pierre ’27, and drummer Paul July Joseph ’28 — and the members of NEC’s Piano Trio in Residence, Trio Eris — violinist K.J. McDonald ’25 GD, ’26 MM, cellist Annie SeEun Hyung ’26 MM, and pianist Andrew Jun Chen ’24 MM, ’26 GD. The discussion, about creative exploration, was moderated by Dean and Chief Academic Officer Richard Giarusso and Dean and Chief Artistic Officer Hank Mou.
Rivas talked about the opportunities she’s had at NEC to sing repertoire in different styles with various ensembles. “Coming to NEC makes you realize your potential,” she said, “and it feeds your confidence.”
From left: Richard Giarusso, Paul July Joseph, Woody Pierre, Rosario Rivas, Annie SeEun Hyung, Andrew Jun Chen, K.J. McDonald, and Hank Mou.
“I invite us all to approach this coming year not as a series of classes, performances, and workflows,” Kalyn said, “but as an immersive experience in the practice of discovery, the practice of curiosity, of creative aspiration.”
“What truly defines an artist is not just what they know but rather how they approach the unknown,” Kalyn said. “Curiosity is the fuel for every breakthrough, every new interpretation, every moment of artistic revelation. I implore you — implore all of us — to be brave and be relentlessly curious — about your music, about your colleagues, about the world around you.”
Trio Eris.
In addition to remarks from Kayln, Fisher, and the student panelists, Convocation featured performances by Trio Eris and an ensemble of students from NEC’s CMA Department. Trio Eris performed the fourth movement of Ravel’s Piano Trio in A minor, M. 67, and the CMA ensemble, which included Rivas, Pierre, Joseph, vocalists Pitiki Aliakai ’27 and Stella Sokolowski ’26 MM, bass guitarist Bug Jaffe ’28, pianist Sam Saomek Srithongkum ’26 MM, and percussionist Victor Giraldez ’28, performed Johnbern Thomas’s arrangement of the Haitian folk song Soufle Van (The Wind Blows).
During the ceremony, Giarusso and Chief Human Resources Officer Jennifer Hecht, respectively, welcomed new faculty and staff to NEC.
Just as she began Convocation with a nod to the community that once inhabited the land NEC now calls home, Kalyn brought the ceremony to a close with words of hope that originated half a world away, in Japan, and are inscribed on a Shōwa-era bell that has become part of the Conservatory’s traditions: “As everyone in every country in the world fully develops their innate abilities and intelligence, all nations will work together in peace and harmony.”
Kalyn struck the bell four times, once each for students, faculty and staff, trustees, and alumni, and officially welcomed the NEC community to a new school year.
Members of the Contemporary Musical Arts Department ensemble.
