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Woodwinds

Group of woodwinds players smiling.

Woodwind students at NEC study with extraordinary faculty mentors who are world-renowned soloists and members of major orchestras, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Performance opportunities are numerous and varied – solo recitals, chamber music, orchestra, wind ensemble, concerto competitions – and you will collaborate with incredibly talented and dedicated peers.

Group of woodwinds players smiling.
Members of the NEC Philharmonia gather for a post-concert group photo in Boston’s Symphony Hall.
Woodwinds department chair Richard Svoboda teaches in his studio.

Woodwinds Department Chair Richard Svoboda teaches in his studio.

Richard Svoboda

From the Department Chair

Woodwinds department chair Richard Svoboda teaches in his studio.

Welcome! I’d like to share with you some of the reasons why I love working at NEC and why I think you as a woodwind player would love being a student here. First would be our faculty. The NEC woodwind faculty comprises renowned soloists, chamber musicians, and orchestra players, each a devoted and caring teacher. You might study with a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, as they comprise two-thirds of our faculty. Many NEC students regularly attend BSO concerts where they hear concepts from their lessons put into real-life practice.  

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After NEC

Department Highlights

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  • Faculty Member Tom Siders (BSO), Trumpet, Gives a Private Lesson

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  • Faculty Member Tom Siders (BSO), Trumpet, Gives a Private Lesson

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  • Performance Opportunities

    Performance Opportunities

    An Inside Look at NEC’s Woodwinds Department

    Under the direction of chair, Richard Svoboda, NEC’s woodwind department offers one of the finest music educations available. In this video, you can meet several of our outstanding faculty members, find out about NEC’s close relationship to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and hear about the performance and instruction opportunities enjoyed by our students.

  • Performance Opportunities

    Performance Opportunities

    Brittany Walker, Bassoon, Featured Alongside NEC Symphony

    Franz Berwald’s Konzerstück for Bassoon and Orchestra, with the NEC Symphony, conducted by Orchestral Conducting student Matt Szymanski ‘11, ‘13 MM and featuring Brittany Walker ‘14 MM, bassoon.

  • Performance Opportunities

    Performance Opportunities

    NEC Faculty Perform Vaughan Williams

    Charles Peltz, director of wind ensemble activities, conducts his NEC faculty member and flutist Paula Robison in Vaughan Williams’s Lark Ascending.

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