Daniel Getz '11 Joins BSO

Violist Daniel Getz ’11 Becomes Newest NEC Graduate to Join the Boston Symphony Orchestra

Studied with Kim Kashkashian Whom He Praises in Recent Boston Globe interview

Daniel Getz ’11 is the latest New England Conservatory graduate to join the Boston Symphony Orchestra (bringing the total to 22). A violist, who studied with Kim Kashkashian on a Presidential Scholarship at NEC, Getz took his seat in the viola section as the BSO’s season opened last week.

Raised in Bethesda, Maryland, Getz began studying violin at age eight and switched to the viola at sixteen. After graduating from the Conservatory, he earned his Master of Music degree at the Juilliard School this past spring as a student of Heidi Castleman and Robert Vernon. He was one of six Robertson Prizewinners in the 2011 Primrose Competition, a finalist in the National Symphony Young Soloists' Competition, and a recipient of the Steven Brewster Scholarship from the Youth Fellowship program of the National Symphony Orchestra.

He has performed the Walton and Stamitz viola concertos as a soloist with the National Philharmonic and the Landon Symphonette, and has frequently served as principal viola of the Juilliard Orchestra. Prior to joining the BSO, Mr. Getz performed as a substitute with the orchestra as well as with the New York Philharmonic. His festival appearances have included the Tanglewood Music Center, Aspen Music Festival, Kneisel Hall, and the Perlman Music Program.

As a new member of the BSO, Getz was interviewed in the Boston Globe on September 22 and was asked about his important inspirational influences. He replied: “When I was an undergrad at New England Conservatory, my instructor was Kim Kashkashian, one of the most brilliant people I’ve ever met. She taught me a lot about how to be comfortable with my instrument, with performing, and being in my own skin. Discovering music through her eyes and ears was incredibly riveting — every lesson was inspiring.”

While at NEC, Getz played in a quartet with Yoojin Jang, Mari Lee, violins and Linor Katz, cello. You can see and hear them playing the fourth movement from Schubert’s Quartet in d-minor “Death and the Maiden” at YouTube.

For further information, check the NEC Website.

ABOUT NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY
A cultural icon approaching its 150th anniversary in 2017, New England Conservatory (NEC) is recognized worldwide as a leader among music schools. Located in Boston, Massachusetts, on the Avenue of the Arts in the Fenway Cultural District, NEC offers rigorous training in an intimate, nurturing community to undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate music students from around the world. Its faculty of 225 boasts internationally esteemed artist-teachers and scholars. NEC alumni go on to fill orchestra chairs, concert hall stages, jazz clubs, recording studios, and arts management positions worldwide. Half of the Boston Symphony Orchestra is composed of NEC-trained musicians and faculty.

NEC is the oldest independent school of music in the United States. Founded in 1867 by Eben Tourjee, an American music educator, choral conductor and organist, its curriculum is remarkable for its wide range of styles and traditions. On the college level, NEC features training in classical, jazz, and Contemporary Improvisation. Graduate and post-graduate programs supplement these core disciplines with orchestral conducting and professional chamber music training. Additional programs, such as the Sistema Fellows, a professional training program for top postgraduate musicians and music educators that creates careers connected to music, youth, and social change, and Entrepreneurial Musicianship, a cutting-edge program integrating professional and personal skills development into the musical training of students to better develop the skills and knowledge needed to create one’s own musical opportunities, also enhance the NEC experience.

Through its Preparatory School, School of Continuing Education, and Community Programs and Partnerships Program, the Conservatory provides training and performance opportunities for children, pre-college students, and adults. 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, jazz, and Contemporary Improvisation. Currently more than 750 young artists from 46 states and 39 foreign countries attend NEC on the college level; 1,400 young students attend on the Preparatory level; and 325 adults participate in the Continuing Education program.

The only conservatory in the United States designated a National Historic Landmark, NEC presents more than 900 free concerts each year. Many of these take place in Jordan Hall (which shares National Historic Landmark status with the school), world-renowned for its superb acoustics and beautifully restored interior. In addition to Jordan Hall, more than a dozen performance spaces of various sizes and configurations are utilized to meet the requirements of the unique range of music performed at NEC, from solo recitals to chamber music to orchestral programs to big band jazz, Contemporary Improvisation, and opera scenes. Every year, NEC’s opera studies department also presents two fully staged opera productions at the Cutler Majestic Theatre or Paramount Center in Boston, and a semi-staged performance in Jordan Hall. This past 2012-2013 season, the operas produced were Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, and Rossini’s La Gazzetta.

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
Senior Communications Specialist
New England Conservatory
290 Huntington Ave.
Boston, MA 02115
617-585-1143
Ellen.pfeifer@necmusic.edu