On Monday April 15, the Boston Marathon Bombings -- just a few blocks away from NEC -- irrupted into our school's activities. There were the terrible events of the day itself: ambulances screaming up and down Huntington Avenue all afternoon; uncertainty and worry about the wellbeing of our Conservatory family...

Have you ever seen the 1970's movie with Dustin Hoffman called Little Big Man? It's a rather improbable story of the only person to survive Custer's Last Stand and is told in...

The sirens are still screaming past my home in Cambridge. They did the same on Monday outside my office just before 3:00 p.m. when the news was not yet known but the portent of something momentous suspected. The sound then grew and grew until thinking was difficult. Meeting faces and...

Photo: Andrew Hurlbut for NEC

Recently my wife and I found ourselves involved in multiple rehearsals and a performance of Façade, a musical extravaganza composed in 1923 by the English prodigy, William Walton on the hallucinogenic poetry of Edith Sitwell. It was a...

Outside NEC's Jordan Hall, there is a giant poster depicting one of our students, a young violinist playing with obvious emotion and concentration on a superbly sculpted, Picasso-esque electric violin. She is surrounded by at least a dozen...

From time to time I find myself in discussions with trustees asking very detailed questions about the future of NEC. The last question they ask, though, is almost invariably the same. "So Tony, what keeps you awake at night?"

Why do we love terrifying ourselves? I am sure we've all experienced those spine-tingling moments as a child telling the most frightening stories late at night when parents are asleep: Friends invited for a special sleep over, reciprocal storytelling, each yarn topping the next, each with its own blend of...

I first wrote an analysis of the Berlin Philharmonic a couple of years ago. It was widely read but seemed to create some confusion. Was I making a direct comparison between a European orchestra that enjoys substantial amounts of government subsidy and American orchestras which receive virtually none? Actually I...

We all hear so much about China -- second largest economy in the world, massive annual growth, building programs on a stupendous scale, burgeoning military might. It is a colossal country that is stretching its influence across the world and is likely to...

"As far as boundaries are concerned, we are always looking for new ones."--Hankus Netsky

Recently, I attended a class by Hankus Netsky, who heads up the Contemporary Improvisation Department (CI) at New England Conservatory. This is the department Gunther Schuller created in...

I had an argument last year with someone who, hand on heart, maintained there was no crisis affecting the future of American orchestras. And this was asserted despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary of orchestras facing closure, bankruptcy or lock-out strikes, the high profiles being the long...

The greatest investment any society can make is in the education of the young. I think the Founding Fathers would have agreed with this, as would the ancient Greeks.

Without education, there is ignorance and where there is ignorance there is...

El Sistema is one of the greatest teaching phenomena in the world, and it was created some 35 years ago in Venezuela through the inspiration and vision of one man, Dr. Jóse Antonio Abreu.

The system is based...

The London School of Economics is no slouch when it comes to understanding the real world in all its fiscal glory (or calamity).

Several of its researchers have been working with three of the top music schools in London--the Royal Academy,...

It was always my greatest ambition to become a performer. Someone so technically and musically prepared that they can provide the unforgettable magic that inspires joy and hope. At its best, my violin playing inspired sympathy and the need to improve. Still, it was my passion. But at some point,...

Do you ever buy CDs or download music used in movies? Great scores like Out of Africa, Harry Potter, Chariots of Fire, the Batman series? And do you also go for some of the music scored for television series such as 24 or The Sopranos? The music of 24, composed...

Do you know the French phrase "coup de foudre?" It literally means "hit by lightning" and it's often used to express love at first sight. In The Godfather: Part 1, the young Michael Corleone suffers a "coup de foudre" when he spies a beautiful young woman in...