Gia Greene Wins H&H Achtmeyer Award

Gia Greene, Voice Student of Barbara Winchester, Wins H&H Achtmeyer Award

Gia Greene, a 17-year old Handel & Haydn Society Vocal Apprenticeship student and senior at Medford High School, has won the H&H Candace MacMillen Achtmeyer Award with a cash prize of $1,500.  She is a student of Barbara Winchester, Co-Chair of Voice in NEC’s Preparatory and Continuing Education School.

The H&H Vocal Apprenticeship Program was established in 1994 to identify and nurture youngsters with special talent whose families lack the financial resources to pursue private instruction. Most of the students are given voice lessons, diction, piano and theory lessons based on need and potential. The Candace MacMillen Achtmeyer Award extends the Society's support to an outstanding senior who has participated for at least two years in the program (High School Soloists, Young Men's Chorus, Young Women's Chorus). The recipient is chosen on the basis of performance, teacher recommendations, and candidates’ letters explaining what they have gained from the program.

Gia, this year’s winner, has performed as a soloist with the H&H Women's Chorus, and participated in several of the Prep’s Contemporary Festivals.  She also placed in the recent Prep Competition and will sing with other winners in a joint concert.  In the most recent Prep concert in December, she sang Bel piacere from Handel’s Agrippina, and Roger Quilter’s Love's Philosophy.  The next concert will take place on June 15 at 7:30 in Williams Hall.

A musician who has been playing and performing since she was 3 years old, Gia enjoys playing guitar, bass guitar, piano, ukulele, and flute. She has always had a passion for performing and recording music. She was the lead singer and bassist of the band Midnight Blonde, and currently sings with the bands The Ferrets and DWELL. In 2007, Gia completed her solo CD Luna, and she is currently working on an untitled solo project. Gia is passionate about multiple music genres, including but not limited to classical music, alternative rock, indie singer-songwriters, shoegaze, electronica, jazz, and world music.

To hear Gia singing the Handel, click here

For further information on the NEC Preparatory School partnership with the Handel and Haydn Society, 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 720 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, 106-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
290 Huntington Ave.
Boston, MA 02115
617-585-1143
Ellen.Pfeifer@necmusic.edu