New England Conservatory Festival

About the Event

Schedule of Events:

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, 241 St. Botolph Street, Boston, MA 02115

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, 30 Gainsborough Street, Boston, MA 02115

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, 30 Gainsborough Street, Boston, MA 02115

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