Sooyun Kim Wins Grant from Solti Foundation, Beppu in "Beauty and the Beast"
Yuki Beppu (Andrew Hurlbut photo)
Flutist Sooyun Kim ’04, ’07 M.M., who studied with Paula Robison, has won a $4000 grant from the Georg Solti Foundation in Waterloo, Belgium. As a winner, she will be mentored by the foundation. Sooyun has been the principal flutist for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Chamber Orchestra and has been invited to serve as a principal flutist for the New York String Orchestra, and the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra in Spain. Her special interest in the visual arts led her to perform in Variations on a Theme, a groundbreaking collaborative project with the acclaimed conceptual artist, Sol Lewitt, and her teacher Paula Robison.
Ten-year old violinist Yuki Beppu, who studies with BSO violinist Kazuko Matsusaka in NEC’s Preparatory School, will perform as soloist and member of the orchestra in the Lexington Players’ production of Beauty and the Beast, Aug. 31—Sept. 9 at Cary Memorial Hall in Lexington Center. Her participation was spotlighted in the Lexington Minuteman, July 23.
Soprano Rochelle Bard ’03 M.M. won the First Prize of $5000 and the Audience Choice Award in Classical Singer Magazine’s 2007 AudComps, May 24-25. The competition took place at the Classical Singer Competition in San Francisco. Bard won in the Professional Division category and will also receive a leading role in an upcoming Sacramento Opera production and a full-length feature article in a 2007-08 issue of the magazine. Another NEC alumna, Maria Alu ’05 M.M. won Third Prize of $500 in the Emerging Professional Division of the contest. Anton Belov ’00 was also among the Certified Singers selected in the Professional Division.
Jazz pianist Francois Bourasssa ’87 M.M., the son of the former Prime Minister of Quebec, Roger Bourassa, won the Prix Oscar Peterson for contributions to Canadian jazz at the Montreal International Jazz Festival in June. While at NEC, Bourassa studied with composer and theorist George Russell.
Two ensembles that have graduated from NEC's Professional String Quartet Training Program will be featured performers at Chicago’s Music from the Loft Series in the fall. The Biava Quartet kicks off the season Sept. 29 and 30 with works by Beethoven, Brahms and series Composer-in-residence Zhou Tian. The Jupiter Quartet will appear Nov. 17 and 18 in works of Beethoven, Tian, Mendelssohn and Britten. Advance word has it that the Parker Quartet, the current ensemble in NEC’s training program, will perform at the series next year.
New England Conservatory is one of 24 higher education institutions chosen to be profiled in a Dana Press publication Transforming Arts Teaching, which will feature case studies and profiles of higher education “best practices” around the nation. The Dana Foundation initiative Transforming Arts Teaching: The Role of Higher Education will examine the role of teacher education colleges, conservatories, fine arts colleges, and other higher education institutions in preparing those who teach the arts to children in grades preK-12. NEC's Performance Outreach Program, Music-in-Education Program, Continuing Education courses for teachers and the Music-in-Education National Consortium/Research Center will all be described in the publication.
Past and present jazz faculty members Jimmy Giuffre, George Russell and Herb Pomeroy are among 10 audio Jazz Portraits now featured on WGBH 89.7 FM’s website. The portraits stem from Achievement in Jazz Awards that were bestowed from 1993-1997 by the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA). Produced by Jazz from Studio Four host Steve Schwartz (with co-producers Margot Stage and Margo Melnicove), the Portraits are audio documentaries in which the honored artists talk about their lives and music with musical illustrations of their most characteristic work. The archived Portraits will be permanently available on the website. To access them, click here and click on Jazz Portraits link.
Evan Harlan’s Andromeda4 played and coached in Iceland for 10 days earlier this month. The group (Harlan on accordion, Andy Blickenderfer, bass, Ima Jonsdottir, violin; Andrew Stern, guitar and banjo) played the opening concert of the Siglufjordur Folk Festival, led a two-day workshop on Klezmer, then performed with the students of the workshop. They rounded out their trip with a performance at Domo, a new music bar in Reykjavik.