College

The Cassatt String Quartet has announced violist and NEC alumna Emily Brandenburg ’15 MM as its new member. Brandenburg will succeed Rosemary Nelis, who joined the group in 2022 and is leaving to focus on other projects. Other quartet members include violinists Jennifer Leshnower and Muneko Otani, who studied at NEC in the '80s, and cellist Gwen Krosnick ’13 MM.

Violinist and NEC alumnus Liyuan Xie ’22 has been appointed the Cleveland Orchestra’s first associate concertmaster. 

In honor of Juneteenth, New England Conservatory commemorates the spirit of liberation, resilience, and creativity of Black Americans. We recognize the many ways NEC's Black alumni community members have brought music to the world and opened the doors for others through their passion and exceptional artistry.  One such NEC community member was J. Rosamund Johnson, a Black artist and civil rights advocate who attended NEC in 1893. Johnson composed "Lift Every Voice and Sing," widely recognized as the Black National Anthem. 

This spring at NEC, a group of violin students in faculty member Ayano Ninomiya's studio arranged the Dichterliebe song cycle, composed for voice by Robert Schumann based on the poetry of German romantic poet Heinrich Heinne, for the violin. The students collaborated to develop a new musical notation system they could use as they translated the scores of each song. After weeks of experimenting, integrating new skills, and receiving coaching from Ninomiya and guest faculty Tanya Blaich, students presented the final cycle—fully reimagined for the violin.

Vocal Performance major and leader of NEC's Queer Student Union Molly Knight ’25 has used her position to create welcoming spaces on campus for NEC's LGBTQIA+ community, from developing a Gay Library within the CEB office to coordinating a panel of NEC students, faculty, and staff to share their experiences of being queer in music. Knight, a talented classical soprano studying with faculty member MaryAnn McCormick, reflects on her NEC experience, looks ahead to her final year and post-grad goals, and shares her best advice for incoming students.  

Violinist Joshua Brown ’22, ’24 MM, ’26 AD won Second Prize at the 2024 Queen Elisabeth Competition, along with both audience prizes. He receives €20,000 and concert opportunities in Belgium and abroad for his win. Fellow NEC alumni Julian Rhee ’22, ’24 MM and Minami Yoshida ’21, ’24 MM also finished as laureates, placing fifth and sixth, respectively.  

Built in 1711 and donated to NEC in 1999 by alumna John Hsu ’53, ’55 MM, ’71 hon. DM, the Tecchler is one of the finest instruments in NEC’s collection and is among the few offered to students in an annual in-house competition. The remarkable instrument underwent a significant restoration throughout the last year before being offered recently to cellist Annie Hyung ’25 MM, its new holder for 2024-2025.

When she first arrived on NEC's campus, accomplished jazz clarinetist and recent graduate Jahnvi Madan ’24 had never composed a piece of music before. Remarkably, just a few years later, she became the youngest musician to be commissioned by Seattle's Earshot Jazz to create a new original composition for its 2023 Festival. As an Indian-American woman who grew up seeing very little representation of herself in media, especially in the arts, Jahnvi embeds her identity and experiences into her music — and her compositions are resonating widely.