New England Conservatory’s Jazz Studies and Contemporary Improvisation Departments Present Performances and Events for 150th Season
2018 Spring Season highlights include:
• Ran Blake and Aaron Hartley’s annual Film Noir concert
The Legacy of Bob Brookmeyer with world premiere by Darcy James Argue
• World premiere of “Streams,” new work by Anthony Coleman
• Music of Jerry Bergonzi and Ken Schaphorst
Photo of Brian Landrus by Vince Segalla
Highlights include Ran Blake and Aaron Hartley’s annual film noir concert; the world premiere of a newly commissioned work by alumnus Darcy James Argue as part of a concert honoring the legacy of Bob Brookmeyer; the premiere of alumnus and faculty member Anthony Coleman’s new work, “Streams,” a composition commissioned for NEC’s sesquicentennial; the music of Jerry Bergonzi and Ken Schaphorst; and CI Salon Nights and Jazz Ensemble Concerts featuring hour-long concerts by rising star NEC students from the Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation departments.
NEC is pleased to offer the following concerts, free and open to the public. For more information, visit necmusic.edu or call 617-585-1122.
SPRING 2018
January 2018
Monday, January 29 – Jazz and CI Faculty Spotlight
7:30 p.m. Jordan Hall
February 2018
Thursday, February 15 – The Music of Dave Holland Residency Concert
7:30 p.m. Brown Hall
Wednesday, February 21 – Film Noir: Cría Cuervos
7:30 p.m. Jordan Hall
Co-producers Aaron Hartley and Ran Blake present their 13th Annual Film Noir project, featuring students and faculty of NEC's groundbreaking Contemporary Improvisation department. This year's performance explores Carlos Saura's film Cría Cuervos heightened by new music created by NEC musicians and special alumni guest artists percussionist Tupac Mantilla and vocalist Burcu Gulec.
Thursday, February 28 – Bob Brookmeyer Panel Discussion
4 p.m. Brown Hall
March 2018
Thursday, March 1 – Celebration: The Legacy of Bob Brookmeyer
7:30 p.m. Jordan Hall
The NEC Jazz Orchestra will perform music by Bob Brookmeyer and six of Brookmeyer’s former NEC students, including the world premiere of a new composition commissioned for NEC’s 150th Anniversary by alumnus Darcy James Argue. Argue was a Doris Duke Artist Award recipient in 2015. Music by NEC alumni Ayn Inserto, Mehmet Ali Sanlikol, Ryan Truesdell and Nicholas Urie will also be featured. Saxophonist, low reed expert and NEC alumnus Brian Landrus will be featured playing Brookmeyer’s “Celebration Suite.” Brookmeyer taught composition at NEC between 1997 and 2007.
Tuesday, March 13 – Eden MacAdam-Somer Faculty Recital
7:30 p.m. Jordan Hall
This concert will feature The Shooting Gallery, a new work for string quartet by CI Co-Chair Eden MacAdam-Somer commissioned by Cuatro Puntos, a non-profit dedicated to international dialogue and outreach through music. Based on a series of lithographs by Czech surrealist Toyen, the work deals with violence in our world as seen through the eyes of children. MacAdam-Somer will also be joined by Anthony Coleman on piano, with a series of new pieces based on songs by George Jones and Loretta Lynn. CI Co-Chair Eden MacAdam-Somer is one of the most exciting and versatile artists performing today. Hailed by The New York Times as reflecting “astonishing virtuosity and raw expression,” her music transcends genre through soaring violin, sweet vocals, and percussive dance, weaving in and out of the many cultures that have formed her experience.
Monday, March 26 – Jazz and Wild Card Honors Ensemble Concert
7:30 p.m. Jordan Hall
Each year, an audition committee selects a few exceptional students to represent NEC in the Honors Jazz and Wild Card ensembles. Tonight’s performance showcases Wildcard Ensemble “Escargot,” featuring Rubin Hohlbein, Taichiro Ei, Andres Abenante, and Robert Murphy, and the Jazz Honors Ensemble featuring Bobby Lane, Nathan Reising, Andrew Boudreau, James Dale, and Avery Logan.
April 2018
Wednesday, April 4 – Jazz Ensemble Concerts: Lockwood Ensemble
7, 8 and 9 p.m. Eben Jordan Ensemble Room
Discover the musical innovators of tomorrow with these one-hour concerts featuring NEC’s student ensembles. Tonight’s ensemble is coached by bassist John Lockwood.
Thursday, April 5 – NEC Gospel and NEC Composers Ensemble
7:30 p.m. Brown Hall
This concert showcases two of NEC’s exceptional student ensembles. The NEC Gospel Ensemble, coached by Nedelka Prescod, explores contemporary gospel music as it is currently being created and performed. This ensemble works with repertoire composed within the last 20 years and highlights key composers and choir leaders. The NEC Jazz Composers Ensemble, coached by Jorrit Dijkstra, gives student composers the opportunity to develop their work for small jazz ensemble through rehearsal and performance.
Monday, April 9 – CI Salon Night: Reichman CI, Zaleski Monk/Mingus, and Prescod R&B Ensembles
7, 8 and 9 p.m. Pierce Hall
Discover the musical innovators of tomorrow in these three one-hour performances by CI student small ensembles. Tonight’s lineup features: Ted Reichman’s Contemporary Music Ensemble; Mark Zaleski’s Thelonious Monk/Charles Mingus Ensemble; Nedelka Prescod’s Rhythm and Blues Ensemble.
Tuesday, April 10 – Jazz Ensemble Concerts: Moses and Nieske Ensembles
7, 8 and 9 p.m. Eben Jordan Ensemble Room
Discover the musical innovators of tomorrow with these one-hour concerts featuring NEC’s student ensembles. Tonight’s ensembles coached by Ra Kalam Bob Moses and Bob Nieske.
Wednesday, April 11 – Jazz Ensemble Concerts: Reichman and Levy Ensembles
7, 8 and 9 p.m. Eben Jordan Ensemble Room
Discover the musical innovators of tomorrow with these one-hour concerts featuring NEC’s student ensembles. Tonight’s ensembles coached by Ted Reichman and Brian Levy.
Thursday, April 12 – Jazz Ensemble Concerts: Eade Ensembles
7, 8 and 9 p.m. Eben Jordan Ensemble Room
Discover the musical innovators of tomorrow with these one-hour concerts featuring NEC’s student ensembles. Tonight’s ensembles coached by vocalist Dominique Eade.
Monday, April 16 – Jazz Ensemble Concerts: McNeil and Carlberg Ensembles
7, 8 and 9 p.m. Eben Jordan Ensemble Room
Discover the musical innovators of tomorrow with these one-hour concerts featuring NEC’s student ensembles, each coached by a member of NEC’s renowned faculty. Tonight’s ensembles coached by John McNeil and Frank Carlberg.
Tuesday, April 17 – CI Salon Night: Kalmanovitch Improv, MacAdam-Somer American Roots, and CI Chamber Ensembles
7, 8 and 9 p.m. Pierce Hall
Discover the musical innovators of tomorrow in these three one-hour performances by CI student small ensembles. Tonight features Tanya Kalmanovitch’s Composition/Improvisation Ensemble and Eden MacAdam-Somer’s American Roots and CI Chamber Ensembles.
Wednesday, April 18 – CI Salon Night: Netsky Jewish Music and Mantilla Contemporary Rock
7 and 8 p.m. Eben Jordan Ensemble Room
Discover the musical innovators of tomorrow in these two one-hour performances by CI student small ensembles. Tonight features Hankus Netsky’s Jewish Music Ensemble and Lautaro Mantilla’s Contemporary Rock Ensemble.
Thursday, April 19 – The Seven Rays: Music of Jerry Bergonzi and Ken Schaphorst
7:30 p.m. Jordan Hall
This concert features the NEC Jazz Orchestra with saxophonist/composer Jerry Bergonzi in the performance of his composition “The Seven Rays,” a seven movement suite inspired by mystical associations with the number seven. Ken Schaphorst arranged the suite for the HfMT Big Band in Hamburg in 2016. This will be the first time the arrangement has been played in the United States. Bergonzi has taught at NEC for over twenty years, developing an international reputation as saxophonist, author, composer and educator.
Monday, April 23 – CI Salon Night: Zaleski CI Non-Majors, Barsamian and Coleman Survivors
7, 8 and 9 p.m. Pierce Hall
Discover the musical innovators of tomorrow in these three one-hour performances by CI student small ensembles. Tonight features Mark Zaleski’s Non Majors Ensemble, Mal Barsamian’s Middle Eastern Ensemble, and Survivors Breakfast led by Anthony Coleman.
Tuesday, April 24 – Jazz Composers Workshop Orchestra
7:30 p.m. Jordan Hall
Wednesday, April 25 – Jazz Ensemble Concerts: Seager and Morris Ensembles
7, 8 and 9 p.m. Eben Jordan Ensemble Room
Discover the musical innovators of tomorrow with these one-hour concerts featuring NEC’s student ensembles, each coached by a member of NEC’s renowned faculty. Tonight’s ensembles coached by Bert Seager and Joe Morris.
Thursday, April 26 – Jazz Ensemble Concerts: McBee and Moran Ensembles
7, 8 and 9 p.m. Eben Jordan Ensemble Room
Discover the musical innovators of tomorrow with these one-hour concerts featuring NEC’s student ensembles, each coached by a member of NEC’s renowned faculty. Tonight’s ensembles coached by Cecil McBee and Jason Moran.
Monday, April 30 – International Jazz Day
7:30 p.m. Brown Hall
UNESCO has designated April 30 as International Jazz Day in order to highlight jazz and its diplomatic role of uniting people in all corners of the globe. NEC joins the celebration with a performance featuring NEC faculty and students playing music embodying the ongoing dialogue between jazz and musical cultures from throughout the world.
May 2018
Tuesday, May 1 – Jazz Ensemble Concerts: Bergonzi Ensembles
7, 8 and 9 p.m. Eben Jordan Ensemble Room
Discover the musical innovators of tomorrow with these one-hour concerts featuring NEC’s student ensembles, each coached by a member of NEC’s renowned faculty. Tonight’s ensembles coached by Jerry Bergonzi.
Wednesday, May 2 – World premiere of Streams by Anthony Coleman
7:30 p.m. Jordan Hall
For its first 150 years one of NEC’s most important contributions to music education has been the school’s efforts to confront the convergence of various musical idioms and genres. These efforts only intensified in the late 1960s, when NEC president Gunther Schuller brought his “Third Stream” idea to the conservatory, creating a department (now called “Contemporary Improvisation”) with the specific mission of crafting a new approach to teaching music that could adapt as a new global approach to composition, performance, and improvisation took shape. This concert features the world premiere of “Streams,” a new composition commissioned for NEC’s 150th Anniversary. In this work CI alum, faculty member, and maverick composer Anthony Coleman bring the forces of today’s Contemporary Improvisation department (both students and faculty) together to explore and confront the problems and possibilities inherent in creating a global music for the 21st century.
Thursday, May 3 – Jazz Ensemble Concerts: Zaleski Jazz Non-Majors, Eisenmann and Leake Ensembles
7, 8 and 9 p.m. Eben Jordan Ensemble Room
Discover the musical innovators of tomorrow with these one-hour concerts featuring NEC’s student ensembles, each coached by a member of NEC’s renowned faculty. Tonight’s ensembles coached by Mark Zaleski, Henrique Eisenmann, and Jerry Leake.
NEC's Jazz Studies Department was the first fully accredited jazz studies program at a music conservatory. The brainchild of Gunther Schuller, who moved quickly to incorporate jazz into the curriculum when he became president of the Conservatory in 1967, the Jazz Studies faculty has included six MacArthur "genius" grant recipients (three currently teaching) and four NEA Jazz Masters. The program has spawned numerous Grammy winning composers and performers and has an alumni list that reads like a who's who of jazz. As Mike West writes in JazzTimes: “NEC's jazz studies department is among the most acclaimed and successful in the world; so says the roster of visionary artists that have comprised both its faculty and alumni.” The program currently has 101 students; 52 undergraduate and 49 graduate students from 18 countries.
Founded in 1972 by musical visionaries Gunther Schuller and Ran Blake, New England Conservatory's Contemporary Improvisation (CI) program is “one of the most versatile in all of music education” (JazzEd). CI trains composers, performers, and improvisers to broaden their musical palettes and develop unique voices. It is unparalleled in its structured approach to ear training and its emphasis on singing, memorization, harmonic sophistication, aesthetic integrity, and stylistic openness. Under Blake's inspired guidance for its first thirty-three years, the program grew considerably and has expanded its offerings under current co-chairs Hankus Netsky and Eden MacAdam-Somer. Alumni include Don Byron, John Medeski, Jacqueline Schwab, Aoife O'Donovan and Sarah Jarosz; faculty include Carla Kihlstedt, Blake, Dominique Eade, and Anthony Coleman. “A thriving hub of musical exploration,” (Jeremy Goodwin, Boston Globe), the program currently has more than 50 undergrad and graduate students from 14 countries.
