Performances + Events
Students at New England Conservatory’s 159th Convocation last week were welcomed to the start of the academic year and the beginning of an education designed to prepare them for sustainable and impactful artistic lives. The October 6 ceremony celebrated NEC’s commitment to nurturing artistic excellence, ensuring career readiness, and developing cultural leadership skills in each and every student across the Conservatory’s College and Expanded Education divisions.
That commitment was reinforced by Distinguished Convocation Speaker Deborah Borda ’21 hon. DM, who encouraged students to recognize the many career pathways their NEC education can open. Borda, whose visionary leadership of the New York Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic has been transformational, recounted her experience finding professional purpose. It was years ago that as a young violist coveting an orchestra job Borda found herself offered a position in arts administration. It was a door opening unexpectedly to what would become a hugely impactful career.
“I found my calling,” said Borda. “If you find what’s right for you,” she said, “the answer to ‘What is success?’ is pretty simple,” further explaining — importantly, “I was successful because I was a musician.”
Jessica Yuma ’24, ’26 MM, ’28 GD, a pianist who received NEC’s 2026 Tourjée Alumni Award, was the Student Speaker at Convocation. “We are artists looking for excellence, speaking up for what matters, figuring out what music can do for us and what we can do for it,” Yuma said. “Keep your minds wide open, because what you find might surprise you.”
Yuma’s words affirmed Borda’s.
“What is success for you?” Borda urged NEC students to ask themselves, “And what does that mean to the world of music?”
To help students answer those questions, Borda announced that in April NEC will present Curtain Up: An Inside Look at How Musical Life Works, an NEC Industry Summit that will welcome to campus a “host of musical superstars” and feature panel discussions, roundtable conversations, and mentorship opportunities, among other signature experiences. Grounded in the belief that there is no single path to a meaningful life in music, the summit will help NEC students imagine, define, and shape a meaningful future in music while also giving industry leaders a direct connection to the next generation of musical talent.
A measure of that talent was on stage in Jordan Hall during Convocation, where attendees heard violinist and NEC Concert Artist Leonhard Baumgartner ’28 AD perform the middle two movements of the F-A-E Sonata, WoO 2 — R. Schumann’s Intermezzo and Brahms’s Scherzo — with pianist Yali Levy Schwartz ’27. Reflecting the Conservatory’s holistic approach to music education, NEC’s prestigious Institute for Concert Artists balances artistic excellence with professional readiness, connecting NEC’s exceptional Concert Artists with audiences and industry leaders at and beyond the Conservatory.
Convocation attendees also heard students from NEC’s Jazz Studies Department — including vocalist Bogáta Orbán Ducos ’27, saxophonist Max Strong ’27, pianist Anthony Elison ’28 MM, bassist Oscar Peterson ’27 MM, and drummer Victor Giraldez ’27 — perform a medley (arranged by Ducos) of tunes by Duke Ellington. That performance offered a nod to the vision that has long animated NEC, where, in 1969, the jazz studies program became the first accredited program of its kind at an American conservatory.
It was a little more than 100 years before that, in 1867, that NEC was founded. Since then the Conservatory has stood at the intersection of tradition and innovation. Today, as then, NEC leads the field in transforming what a music education looks and sounds like.
Through shared purpose, NEC President Andrea Kalyn said at Convocation, the NEC community is “advancing the meaningful impact that music and musicians can have in the world.”
Learn more about and save the dates for NEC’s Summit, Curtain Up: An Inside Look at How Musical Life Works, which will take place April 13 and April 14, 2027.
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NEC President Andrea Kalyn speaks to students, faculty, and staff during Convocation.
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Student speaker Jessica Yuma delivers remarks during Convocation.
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Violinist Leonhard Baumgartner performs with pianist Yali Levy Schwartz.
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Students from NEC’s Jazz Studies Department perform a medley of tunes by Duke Ellington.
