Remembering Violist and Former NEC Faculty Member Roger Tapping
The NEC community mourns the loss of Roger Tapping, a beloved teacher and talented violist who passed away on January 18, 2022 after a battle with cancer.
Roger was a former faculty member at NEC alongside his wife, cellist Natasha Brofsky, and their daughter Cordelia Tapping graduated from NEC’s undergraduate program in 2019. We send our condolences to Roger’s family and friends.
While on the faculty at NEC from 2008-2016, Roger served as Chair of Chamber Music, as well as taught studio viola and coached chamber music. Over the course of his illustrious career he was a member of the Juilliard String Quartet and the Takács Quartet (with whom he had won three Gramophone awards, one Grammy award, and earned three Grammy nominations). He also was on the faculty of many institutions and festivals, most recently at The Juilliard School. As a teacher and performer, he inspired countless musicians and music fans around the world.
Watch this April 2021 Jordan Hall performance of Schumann’s Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Opus 47, featuring Roger Tapping, Natasha Brofsky, Pei-Shan Lee, and Donald Weilerstein.