The festival celebrates visionary American composers Charles Ives (1874–1954) and Ruth Crawford Seeger (1901-1953) - both recognized and often unheard. Special events will include dances with Alex Cummings and Adah Hetko, residencies with guest artists Raven Chacon and Theo Bleckmann, and a four-night run of John Musto and Mark Campbell’s opera, “Later the Same Evening.”

Schedule of Events:

Sunday, November 10, 2024

2 pm: Community Barn Dance with Contemporary Music Arts American Roots and Jewish Music Ensembles

Featuring guest dance teachers Alex Cumming and Adah Hetko

Join us for an afternoon of traditional American and Jewish dancing with great live music by the American Roots and Jewish Music ensembles. Dances will be taught by world-renowned teachers Alex Cumming and Adah Hetko - no partners or previous experience is needed, just pull on some comfy shoes, grab your family and friends, and come join the party!

Location: Brown Hall

Monday, November 11, 2204

10 am: American Ledger No. 1 Open Rehearsal with Raven Chacon

American Ledger No. 1 by Raven Chacon is a narrative score for performance, telling the creation story of the founding of the United States of America. In chronological descending order, moments of contact, enactment of laws, events of violence, the building of cities, and erasure of land and worldview are mediated through graphic notation, and realized by sustaining and percussive instruments, coins, axe and wood, a police whistle, and a match. This work will be performed in Jordan Hall on Tuesday, Nov 12th as a part of the CMA Department performance "I Too, Sing America".

Location: Pierce Hall

2 pm: Demonstration: SANLIKOL Renaissance 17 with Mehmet Sanlikol

At this event Mehmet Ali Sanlikol will talk about and demonstrate the SANLIKOL Renaissance 17, a digital microtonal keyboard with 17 keys per octave, conceived and designed by him (patent pending). The event will also include his jazz trio which will play a few compositions using the keyboard.

This event is co-sponsored by the Music History & Musicology department.

Location: Brown Hall

2 pm: Roots + Culture + Spirit: Music and the Black Church, Pt. 1 with Special Guest Nedelka Prescod

Exploring the music and musical practices of two eras within the ever-expanding legacy of the American Black Church. Part griot-style, multimedia lecture, part community gathering time, Roots + Culture + Spirit: Music and the Black Church is a workshop that tells a story of the integral role of music and its inherent spirituality in the lives of Black Americans during trying times. Selected instrumental and vocal students will receive live coaching as they participate in small ensemble practices and offer live demonstrations of an African American Spiritual and a contemporary Gospel music selection. Attendees will also engage in the collective practice and expression of elements found within contemporary Gospel repertoire.

Location: Eben Jordan Ensemble Room

4 pm: African American Spirituals: Music and the Black Church, Pt. 2 with Special Guest Nedelka Prescod

A continuation from the earlier workshop, part two of Roots + Culture + Spirit: Music and the Black Church offers a more in-depth exploration of the African American Spiritual. Students will learn of the history, evolution, elements and practices, roles and relevance, and legacy of Spirituals within Black American religious and performance communities across time. Students will read through Spirituals and engage in their rehearsal and performance practices.

Location: Eben Jordan Ensemble Room

6 pm: American Ledger No. 1 Open Rehearsal with Raven Chacon

American Ledger No. 1 by Raven Chacon is a narrative score for performance, telling the creation story of the founding of the United States of America. In chronological descending order, moments of contact, enactment of laws, events of violence, the building of cities, and erasure of land and worldview are mediated through graphic notation, and realized by sustaining and percussive instruments, coins, axe and wood, a police whistle, and a match. This work will be performed in Jordan Hall on Tuesday, Nov 12th as a part of the CMA Department performance "I, Too, Sing America".

Location: Williams Hall

7:30 pm: NEC Chamber Orchestra Performs Works of Ives, Seeger, and Haydn

NEC's Chamber Orchestra performs Charles Ives' Symphony No. 3 and Ruth Crawford Seeger's Andante for Strings in the first concert of a week-long NEC Festival highlighting these two composers. Also on the program is Haydn's Symphony No. 44.

Artist(s)
The NEC Chamber Orchestra was created to provide the students with an opportunity to apply the principals of chamber music in a small orchestral setting.  The participants are chosen by audition at the beginning of the academic year and remain together throughout. As the ensemble rehearses and performs without a conductor, leadership responsibilities are rotated for every work performed. This affords the students an opportunity to develop communication skills, take responsibility for musical decisions and broaden their aural and score reading capabilities. Participation in the program also allows them to explore a wide range of the incredibly rich chamber orchestra literature.

Donald Palma is the Chamber Orchestra's artistic director.

Location: Jordan Hall

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

12:00 pm: Artist Talk with Raven Chacon

As a part of his residency with the Department of Contemporary Musical Arts, Raven Chacon presents a talk about his work.

Artist(s)

Raven Chacon is a composer, performer, and visual artist, creating videos, prints, photographs and installations that bring sonic experimentation into the gallery. Score-based creation is fundamental to his practice, encouraging generous forms of collaboration among performers and audiences, sights of significance, nonhuman actors, found sounds, and natural elements. In this way, he connects Diné (Navajo) worldviews and relationship models with Western classical, avant-garde, and art-music traditions. Chacon’s own renown is increasingly cross-disciplinary and international, with artworks in museum collections from the Whitney Museum of American Art to the Los Angeles County Art Museum, and compositions commissioned for ensembles around the world. One of these, Voiceless Mass, commissioned for a cathedral in Wisconsin, won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for music, making him the first Native American and art-music composer to receive this honor. The piece, in his words, “considers the spaces in which we gather, the history of access of these spaces, and the land upon which these buildings sit.” Other honors include the American Academy’s Berlin Prize for Music Composition and a Creative Capital award in Visual Arts. From 2009 to 2018, he was a member of Postcommodity, a Native American interdisciplinary arts collective creating large-scale media installations for major international exhibitions and institutions. Since 2004, he has mentored hundreds of high schoolers as part of the Native American Composer Apprenticeship Project (NACAP).

Location: Pierce Hall

4:30 pm: Where are the Women? Highlighting Women and Gender-Marginalized Composers in the Classroom

Join Dr. Laura Colgate (NEC alum) and Kathryn Radakovich from the Boulanger Initiative for a discussion examining why, in the 21st century, the classical music industry is still not inclusive of music by women. Discover how we got here, what needs to be done, and how you can diversify content and repertoire in the classroom to create a more level playing field for the future of classical music. We will learn more about why the Boulanger Initiative developed their composer database, how they go about finding resources and researching composers, and how we explore using more underrepresented music in our classrooms.

Artist(s)

Dr. Laura Colgate currently is Concertmaster of The National Philharmonic at Strathmore in Bethesda, MD, and was formerly the concertmaster of Greenville Symphony Orchestra in South Carolina and the El Paso Symphony Orchestra. She frequently performs as a substitute with several major orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, and is a member of the IRIS Chamber Orchestra in her hometown, Memphis, TN. She completed her Doctorate from the University of Maryland (UMD) School of Music, focusing her thesis on Women Composers. Laura is passionate about being an innovator in the world of classical music, and in March 2018 co-founded the Boulanger Initiative, an advocacy organization for women composers based in D.C., for which she holds the position of Executive and Artistic Director. The Initiative champions the works of women composers through consulting, performance, education, and commissions and launched its performance series with the Women Composers (WoCo) Festival in Washington, D.C.

Kathryn Radakovich enjoys a varied career performing works from the modern, classical, baroque, and jazz idioms. She can be found singing with the nation’s top vocal ensembles including; Grammy and Pulitzer winning Roomful of Teeth, Lorelei Ensemble, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, and Opera Philadelphia Chorus, Oregon Bach Festival Berwick Chorus, and the Philadelphia-based vocal sextet Variant 6. Equally passionate about music education, Kathryn has nearly two decades of experience teaching classical and jazz voice with students of all ages and experience levels, from grade school (The Philadelphia School) through high school (East High School), to university (Metropolitan State University), and beyond. Whether teaching one-on-one lessons, directing an a cappella vocal ensemble, leading an early music ensemble, or leading masterclasses, Kathryn takes a varied, adaptable, and enthusiastic approach to working with students of music and is also passionate about creating equal access for everyone.

Location: Brown Hall

7:30 pm: NEC Contemporary Musical Arts: I, Too, Sing, America: Ruth Crawford Seeger and Other Untold Stories of America with Special Guest Raven Chacon

Tonight’s festival concert by NEC’s Department of Contemporary Musical Arts (CMA), produced by department Cochair Eden MacAdam-Somer, celebrates often untold American voices and perspectives, featuring works of iconoclast and visionary Ruth Crawford Seeger; American Ledger No. 1, by Guest Artist Raven Chacon, a narrative score telling the creation story of the founding of the United States of America; I, Too, a newly commissioned work by CMA faculty Farayi Malek inspired by Langston Hughes’ iconic poem; performances of John Zorn’s COBRA led by Anthony Coleman; a reimagining of Charles Ives’ songs by the Indie/Punk/Art Rock Ensemble (Lautaro Mantilla); and traditional and original works performed by CMA students.

The live stream of this event is available to NEC Community members only. To watch the stream, please click the “Streaming Access” button at the top of the page and enter the NEC Community streaming password on the video window labeled “NEC-Produced Stream” when prompted.

Artist(s)

Contemporary Vocal Ensemble (Farayi Malek, director)
Indie/Punk/Art Rock Ensemble (Lautaro Mantilla, director)
CMA Chamber Ensemble (Eden MacAdam-Somer, director)
COBRA Ensemble (Anthony Coleman, director)

Gabe Boyarin, guitar
Solomon Caldwell, bass
Tom Chiu, electric guitar
Jamie Eliot, banjo
Agne Giedraitye, voice, piano
Eden MacAdam-Somer, violin
Anju Madhok, voice
Elfie Shi, percussion
Jake Wise, clarinet

Location: Jordan Hall

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

10 am: Jazz Forum with Caroline Davis and Sarah Charles

This combination of duo and solo performances by Sarah Elizabeth Charles and Caroline Davis will be centered around composers who have been marginalized as a result of their gender identity, or sexual orientation. Voices of those who have dedicated their lives to the intersectionality between gender identity, race, age, sexual orientation, ability, and class will be included in this performance, interspersed with interactive performer-audience dialogue.

Artist(s)

Caroline Davis is active as both a side-person and a leader in a diverse set of expressions, having shared the stage with Lee Konitz, Rajna Swaminathan, Michelle Boulé, Angelica Sanchez, John Zorn, Bari Kim, The Femme Jam, Matt Mitchell, Terry Riley, Miles Okazaki, and Billy Kaye.

Sarah Elizabeth Charles is a vocalist/composer based in Brooklyn, NY. She has worked and studied with artists such as Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah, George Cables, Geri Allen and Sheila Jordan and has released four critically acclaimed albums with her band, SCOPE between 2012 and today.

Location: Eben Jordan Ensemble Room

12 pm: Presentation: The Works by Ruth Crawford Seeger with Sid Richardson

NEC Department of Composition Chair, Michael Gandolfi, and Composition Faculty Sid Richardson, offer a presentation on Ruth Crawford Seeger’s String Quartet and Suite for Wind Quintet, with live performances by student chamber music ensembles.

Location: Eben Jordan Ensemble Room

2 pm: CEB Panel Discussion: Jazz and Gender Justice with Caroline Davis and Sarah Charles

A collaborative panel discussion between Caroline Davis, Sarah Elizabeth Charles, Anna Webber, and representatives from NEC's Center for Cultural Equity and Belonging will discuss current issues on the intersection between gender identity, race, age, sexual orientation, ability, class, and beyond. The discussion will be centered around the industry of performance and education in musical spaces.

Location: Eben Jordan Ensemble Room

7:30 pm: The NEC Symphony Orchestra Presents Works by Ives and Dvo?ák

David Loebel and the NEC Symphony perform Dvo?ák's Symphony No. 9 "From the New World" and salute Charles Ives with a performance of his Symphony No. 2.

The live stream of this event is available to NEC Community members only. To watch the stream, please click the “Streaming Access” button at the top of the page and enter the NEC Community streaming password on the video window labeled “NEC-Produced Stream” when prompted.

Location: Jordan Hall

Thursday, November 14, 2024

10:30 am: Workshop with Suzy and Eric Thompson

Suzy and Eric Thompson have devoted their lives to the pursuit of weird and obscure old-time American music – warped fiddle tunes in odd tunings, cinematic ballads, country blues songs that contain mysterious metaphors, early Cajun music with incomprehensible French lyrics and backward chords. Using fiddle, mandolin, guitars, Cajun accordion, banjo (and the occasional odd instrument such as the ten-stringed cuatro), they bring these early 20th-century sounds right into the present day. This morning’s event begins with a workshop (bring your instruments!) followed by a lecture/demo with these two great artists.

Workshop: 10:30-11:30 am
Lecture/Demonstration: 12:00-1:20 pm

Location: Eben Jordan Ensemble Room

2 pm: Discussion: Ives in Jazz with Ken Schaphorst

Charles Ives was actively composing at the same time that jazz was first recognized as a uniquely American music. And Ives's music shares many of the same influences, including marches, ragtime, and American popular songs. Ives was also an experienced improviser and often included multiple options in his scores, reflecting the multiple directions in which he could imagine his music going. Recordings of Ives playing his own compositions were often at odds with the notated score. Ives’s music will be analyzed along with treatments of his music by jazz musicians.

Location: Room G-01

6 pm: NEC Opera Presents Later the Same Evening (Night 1)

New York City, 1932: Elaine plays piano while her husband ignores her. Jimmy is over the moon to see his first Broadway show. Estelle prepares for her first date since her husband’s death.

Figures from five Edward Hopper paintings come to life through intimate vignettes as imagined by John Musto and Mark Campbell in this chamber opera, based on "Room in New York," "Hotel Window," "Hotel Room," "Two on the Aisle," and "Automat.”

NEC’s Joshua Major is the stage director and Robert Tweten conducts the members of the NEC Philharmonia.

There will be no late seating for this production. Please make every effort to arrive on time, as we cannot accommodate late entry.

The live stream of this event is available to NEC Community members only. To watch the stream, please click the “Streaming Access” button at the top of the page and enter the NEC Community streaming password on the video window labeled “NEC-Produced Stream” when prompted.

Artist(s)

Thursday cast:

Sydney Pexton - Elaine
Johan Hartman - Gus
Brianna Davies - Estelle
Dani Jingdan Zhang - Ruth
Carlos Arcos - Ronaldo
Maklyn Baley - Thelma
Sohyun Cho - Valentina
Alexis Reese - Rose
KaiLiang Wei - Sheldon
Suowei Wu - Jimmy
QingLin Liu - Joe

Location: Plimpton Shattuck Black Box Theatre

8 pm: Jazz Studies and Song Lab Present Ives in Song

NEC's Jazz Studies department collaborates with NEC's SongLab in a program exploring Charles Ives’s songs as originally scored, along with arrangements of some of them for jazz orchestra by Ken Schaphorst and Theo Bleckmann.

Songs include In the Mornin', Songs My Mother Taught Me, Serenity, Children's Hour, The Sideshow, The Things Our Fathers Loved, Down East, Tom Sails Away, In the Cage, The See'r, and The Housatonic at Stockbridge.

Location: Jordan Hall

Friday, November 15, 2024

4:30 pm: Presentation: Echoes of Existence: Influence of Ives’s Unanswered Question on Adams’s On the Transmigration of Souls

In this presentation, Xiaofeng Jiang ’22 MM, ’25 GD will discuss the profound influence of Charles Ives’s “The Unanswered Question” on John Adams’ composition “On the Transmigration of Souls.” The discussion will focus on the thematic connections between the two pivotal works, highlighting how Ives’s exploration of existential questions inspired Adams’s reflection on life, death, and the spiritual journey.

Location: Pierce Hall

5:00 pm: NEC Exploring the Innovation in Music of Ruth Crawford Seeger: Diaphonic Suite I and Beyond

This event will honor the remarkable legacy of Ruth Crawford Seeger’s "Diaphonic Suite I" presenting a variety of student interpretations inspired by its third movement. The NEC community is invited to join students from the Post-Tonal Theories and Practices in composing and improvising short pieces that reflect Crawford's groundbreaking techniques. If you are interested in performing at this event, please reach out to Professors Efstratios Minakakis and Katarina Miljkovic for more details. Join us in celebrating this innovative composer and her enduring influence on contemporary music!

Location: Pierce Hall

6 pm: NEC Opera Presents Later the Same Evening (Night 2)

New York City, 1932: Elaine plays piano while her husband ignores her. Jimmy is over the moon to see his first Broadway show. Estelle prepares for her first date since her husband’s death.

Figures from five Edward Hopper paintings come to life through intimate vignettes as imagined by John Musto and Mark Campbell in this chamber opera, based on "Room in New York," "Hotel Window," "Hotel Room," "Two on the Aisle," and "Automat.”

NEC’s Joshua Major is the stage director and Robert Tweten conducts the members of the NEC Philharmonia.

There will be no late seating for this production. Please make every effort to arrive on time, as we cannot accommodate late entry.

The live stream of this event is available to NEC Community members only. To watch the stream, please click the “Streaming Access” button at the top of the page and enter the NEC Community streaming password on the video window labeled “NEC-Produced Stream” when prompted.

Artist(s)

Friday cast:

Josie Larsen - Elaine
ZhanQi Wang - Gus
Sara Zerilli - Estelle
Melissa Pereyra - Ruth
Hengzuo Yan - Ronaldo
Spencer Bailen - Thelma
Kaeul Autumn Ahn - Valentina
Isabel Merat - Rose
Dongchen Xu - Sheldon
Morgan Mastrangelo - Jimmy
Isaac Hall - Joe

Location: Plimpton Shattuck Black Box Theatre

8 pm: An Evening of Chamber Music with NEC’s Chamber Singers, Don and Vivian Weilerstein, and NEC’s Composition Department

Tonight's concert of chamber music features Donald Weilerstein, violin, and Vivian Hornik Weilerstein, piano, performing Ives' Third Violin Sonata and the NEC Chamber Singers, directed by Erica J. Washburn, singing Chant, 1930 by Ruth Crawford Seeger.  Additionally, Melissa Reardon, viola, will give the U.S. premiere of Kati Agóc’s Sun and Shield, Trio Eris - the newest NEC Piano Trio in Residence -  will perform Katherine Balch’s different gravities and Charles Ives’ Piano Trio, and the Meraki String Quartet will play Pozzi Escot's Jubilation.

Location: Jordan Hall

Saturday, November 16, 2024

7:30 pm: NEC Opera Presents Later the Same Evening (Night 3)

New York City, 1932: Elaine plays piano while her husband ignores her. Jimmy is over the moon to see his first Broadway show. Estelle prepares for her first date since her husband’s death.

Figures from five Edward Hopper paintings come to life through intimate vignettes as imagined by John Musto and Mark Campbell in this chamber opera, based on "Room in New York," "Hotel Window," "Hotel Room," "Two on the Aisle," and "Automat.”

NEC’s Joshua Major is the stage director and Robert Tweten conducts the members of the NEC Philharmonia.

There will be no late seating for this production. Please make every effort to arrive on time, as we cannot accommodate late entry.

The live stream of this event is available to NEC Community members only. To watch the stream, please click the “Streaming Access” button at the top of the page and enter the NEC Community streaming password on the video window labeled “NEC-Produced Stream” when prompted.

Artist(s)

Saturday cast:

Sydney Pexton - Elaine
Johan Hartman - Gus
Brianna Davies - Estelle
Dani Jingdan Zhang - Ruth
Carlos Arcos - Ronaldo
Maklyn Baley - Thelma
Sohyun Cho - Valentina
Alexis Reese - Rose
KaiLiang Wei - Sheldon
Suowei Wu - Jimmy
QingLin Liu - Joe

Location: Plimpton Shattuck Black Box Theatre

Sunday, November 17, 2024

3 pm: NEC Opera Presents Later the Same Evening (Night 4)

New York City, 1932: Elaine plays piano while her husband ignores her. Jimmy is over the moon to see his first Broadway show. Estelle prepares for her first date since her husband’s death.

Figures from five Edward Hopper paintings come to life through intimate vignettes as imagined by John Musto and Mark Campbell in this chamber opera, based on "Room in New York," "Hotel Window," "Hotel Room," "Two on the Aisle," and "Automat.”

NEC’s Joshua Major is the stage director and Robert Tweten conducts the members of the NEC Philharmonia.

There will be no late seating for this production. Please make every effort to arrive on time, as we cannot accommodate late entry.

The live stream of this event is available to NEC Community members only. To watch the stream, please click the “Streaming Access” button at the top of the page and enter the NEC Community streaming password on the video window labeled “NEC-Produced Stream” when prompted.

Artist(s)

Sunday cast:

Josie Larsen - Elaine
ZhanQi Wang - Gus
Sara Zerilli - Estelle
Melissa Pereyra - Ruth
Hengzuo Yan - Ronaldo
Spencer Bailen - Thelma
Kaeul Autumn Ahn - Valentina
Isabel Merat - Rose
Dongchen Xu - Sheldon
Morgan Mastrangelo - Jimmy
Isaac Hall - Joe

Location: Plimpton Shattuck Black Box Theatre

Date: November 10–17, 2024

Locations:

Brown Hall, Jordan Hall, Williams Hall, 30 Gainsborough Street, Boston, MA 02115

Eben Jordan Ensemble Room, Plimpton Shattuck Black Box Theatre, 255 St. Botolph Street, Boston, MA 02115

Pierce Hall, 241 St. Botolph Street, Boston, MA 02115

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