Feast of Music 2012

NEC Celebrates All Things Viennese at Feast of Music Gala, February 25, 2012 at Fairmont Copley Plaza

Celebrated Viennese Chef Kurt Gutenbrunner Designs Menu

Music from Mozart to Mahler to Strauss Featured in Performances, After-Party Waltzing

New England Conservatory will celebrate the music and cuisine of Vienna at its Feast of Music gala, February 25 at 6 p.m. in the Fairmont Copley Plaza. Feast has been recognized by cognoscenti and the media as one of Boston’s top parties each year. It also celebrates a great cause: the education of NEC’s outstanding young musicians.

This gala event brings together 450 of the city’s most prominent business leaders, music lovers, and cultural philanthropists to benefit New England Conservatory’s General Scholarship Fund. The evening features a unique format of alternating courses of spectacular cuisine and fine wines, followed by virtuoso musical performances by our wonderful NEC students. The occasion raises more than $500,000 in scholarship support annually.

This year, this grand party pays special tribute to Vienna and its distinctive flair for music, culture, and fine cuisine. Acclaimed Austrian Chef Kurt Gutenbrunner of New York’s Café Kristall, Wallsé, Café Sabarsky in the Neue Gallerie, and Blaue Gans, has agreed to create an extraordinary menu of updated Austrian classics for the evening, including a spectacular dessert bar for the after-party. Gutenbrunner is the author of the dazzling new cookbook Neue Cuisine: The Elegant Tastes of Vienna (Rizzoli), in which he shares his favorite contemporary and traditional recipes and the cultural heritage that has inspired him. The beautifully illustrated volume showcases more than 100 recipes, featuring Viennese specialties such as apple strudel and Wiener Schnitzel, as well as modern dishes using fresh-from-the-market ingredients, such as pea soup with pineapple mint.

A highlight of Feast is the spectacular silent auction, which offers bidders an opportunity to extend the pleasures of the evening through a variety of luxurious prizes including Sacher Torte, tickets to the Vienna Staatsoper, and behind-the-scenes restaurant tours, among others.

For more information on how to be an Event Sponsor, a Table Patron, a participant in the silent auction, or how to purchase tickets, contact Janet Goff, NEC Director of Special Events at  or 617-585-1152. Also check the website here.

ABOUT NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY

Recognized nationally and internationally as a leader among music schools, New England Conservatory in Boston, MA offers rigorous training in an intimate, nurturing community to 720 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral music students from around the world.  Its faculty of 225 boasts internationally esteemed artist-teachers and scholars.  Its alumni go on to fill orchestra chairs, concert hall stages, jazz clubs, recording studios, and arts management positions worldwide.  Nearly half of the Boston Symphony Orchestra is composed of NEC trained musicians and faculty.

The oldest independent school of music in the United States, NEC was founded in 1867 by Eben Tourjee. Its curriculum is remarkable for its wide range of styles and traditions.  On the college level, it features training in classical, jazz, contemporary improvisation, world and early music. Through its Preparatory School, School of Continuing Education, and Community Programs and Partnerships Program, it provides training and performance opportunities for children, pre-college students, adults, and seniors.  Through its outreach projects, it allows young musicians to engage with non-traditional audiences in schools, hospitals, and nursing homes—thereby bringing pleasure to new listeners and enlarging the universe for classical music, jazz, and contemporary improvisation.

NEC presents more than 900 free concerts each year, many of them in Jordan Hall, its world- renowned, century-old, beautifully restored concert hall.  These programs range from solo recitals to chamber music to orchestral programs to jazz, contemporary improvisation, and opera scenes.  Every year, NEC’s opera studies department also presents two fully staged opera productions at the Cutler Majestic Theatre or Paramount Theatre in Boston.

NEC is co-founder and educational partner of From the Top, a weekly radio program that celebrates outstanding young classical musicians from the entire country. With its broadcast home in Jordan Hall, the show is now carried by National Public Radio and is heard on 250 stations throughout the United States.

Contact: Ellen Pfeifer
Public Relations Manager
New England Conservatory
290 Huntington Ave.
Boston, MA 02115
617-585-1143
Ellen.pfeifer@necmusic.ed