Stephen Friedlaender Elected Chairman of the Board
Tony Woodcock (l),Steve Friedlaender (Miro Vintoniv photo)
For Immediate Release:
May 1, 2008
Cambridge architect Stephen Friedlaender, a longtime friend and Trustee of New England Conservatory, has been elected Chairman of the Board. He will serve a three-year term that began officially at the conclusion of the Conservatory’s Annual Meeting, April 24. Elected unanimously, he succeeds Jack Vernon, who is stepping down after six years in office. Vernon’s accomplishments will be celebrated at NEC’s annual Leadership Dinner tonight (May 1).
A music lover with a special interest in opera and chamber music, Friedlaender was brought into the NEC family by his late mother, Overseer emerita Clara May Friedlaender, who served as a trustee from 1969-1988 during the tenures of Presidents Gunther Schuller and Laurence Lesser, and established an endowed scholarship fund in 1987.
For his part, Friedlaender has served three 3-year terms as an NEC Trustee, after a term as an Overseer. As a trustee, he has been Chair of the Institutional Master Planning Task Force since 2004 and has served on the Facilities Committee since 2005. He has been a participant in the Mentor-Mentee program for three years and currently acts as mentor to three students. He has also been a member of the Executive Committee for the past year.
Friedlaender’s musical interests extend beyond NEC into other Boston organizations and he is currently President of the Boston Chamber Music Society and served as President of the Harvard Musical Association from 2003-06.
A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Graduate School of Design, Friedlaender is a founding principal of HMFH Architects, located in Central Square, Cambridge. His firm specializes in historic urban renovations and campus design. He has been responsible for several of the firm's award-winning educational projects, including the Brewster Elementary School and the ground-breaking Chelsea Schools Project. Over the last decade, Friedlaender has applied his particular expertise to envisioning a campus master plan for NEC.
In accepting his new position, Friedlaender stated as one of his goals to “take the Facilities Master Plan from the talking stage to the action stage.”
Friedlaender also committed himself to leading the financial campaign that will make a master plan possible. “I look forward to leading the effort to identify and attract new Board members who have the wherewithal and the interest to raise our ‘board development’ to the next level,” he said.
"I’m delighted that Steve has become our new Board Chair,” said NEC President Tony Woodcock. “With his longtime involvement in NEC, his generous donation of time and imagination, he is a worthy successor to Jack Vernon who set the bar very high. I look forward to working with Steve, particularly as we plan a state-of-the-art campus for our outstanding students.
For further information, check the NEC Website
ABOUT NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY
Recognized nationally and internationally as a leader among music schools, New England Conservatory offers rigorous training in an intimate, nurturing community to 750 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral music students from around the world. Its faculty of 225 boasts internationally esteemed artist-teachers and scholars. Its alumni go on to fill orchestra chairs, concert hall stages, jazz clubs, recording studios, and arts management positions worldwide. Nearly half of the Boston Symphony Orchestra is composed of NEC trained musicians and faculty.
The oldest independent school of music in the United States, NEC was founded in 1867 by Eben Tourjee. Its curriculum is remarkable for its wide range of styles and traditions. On the college level, it features training in classical, jazz, Contemporary Improvisation, world and early music. Through its Preparatory School, School of Continuing Education, and Community Collaboration Programs, it provides training and performance opportunities for children, pre-college students, adults, and seniors. Through its outreach projects, it allows young musicians to engage with non-traditional audiences in schools, hospitals, and nursing homes—thereby bringing pleasure to new listeners and enlarging the universe for classical music and jazz.
NEC presents more than 600 free concerts each year, many of them in Jordan Hall, its world- renowned, 100-year old, beautifully restored concert hall. These programs range from solo recitals to chamber music to orchestral programs to jazz and opera scenes. Every year, NEC’s opera studies department also presents two fully staged opera productions at the Cutler Majestic Theatre in Boston.
NEC is co-founder and educational partner of “From the Top,” a weekly radio program that celebrates outstanding young classical musicians from the entire country. With its broadcast home in Jordan Hall, the show is now carried by National Public Radio and is heard on 250 stations throughout the United States.
Contact: Ellen Pfeifer
Public Relations Manager
New England Conservatory
617-585-1143
epfeifer@newenglandconservatory.edu