New England Conservatory Names 2024 Honorary Doctorate Recipients

Singer-songwriter Paul Simon will be the featured speaker, and will receive an honorary doctorate alongside soprano Dawn Upshaw and conductor Robert Spano

The New England Conservatory (NEC) has announced that in 2024, three musicians will receive honorary doctorates at its May 19 Commencement ceremony. They are the acclaimed singer-songwriter Paul Simon; five-time Grammy-winning soprano, educator, and MacArthur Fellow Dawn Upshaw; and conductor and pianist Robert Spano. Paul Simon will also be the featured speaker at the ceremony.

Robert Spano is presently music director of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Aspen Music Festival and School, and principal conductor of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra. He spent twenty seasons at the helm of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and now continues as its Music Director Laureate.

Spano has also recently returned to composing. His newest work is a song cycle on Rilke’s Sonnets to Orpheus that was written for mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor.

A five-time GRAMMY Award winner, soprano Dawn Upshaw is featured on more than 50 recordings, including the million-selling Symphony No. 3 by Henryk Gorecki for Nonesuch Records. On the stage, she has frequently sung the great Mozart roles (Susanna, Ilia, Pamina, Despina, and Zerlina), as well as appearing in modern works by Stravinsky, Poulenc, and Messiaen.

Upshaw is presently Head of the Vocal Arts Program at the Tanglewood Music Center and was the founding Artistic Director of the Vocal Arts Program at the Bard College Conservatory of Music.

"We are honored to welcome Paul Simon, Robert Spano, and Dawn Upshaw to Jordan Hall for NEC’s 153rd Commencement," said Andrea Kalyn, NEC's President. "Each of these remarkable individuals has left an indelible mark on the world of music, their remarkable contributions spanning genres and generations. They are exemplars of excellence, creativity, and impact, and so are beacons of inspiration – for our graduating class, for artists broadly, and indeed, for humanity."

"It’s my distinct pleasure to receive this honorary degree from the esteemed New England Conservatory of Music, an institution which empowers and educates musicians for life, and instills in its students a pursuit of excellence," Paul Simon said.