New England Conservatory Names 2023 Speaker and Honorary Degree Recipients

The renowned composer and musicologist George E. Lewis will give the commencement address, and will also receive an honorary doctorate

The New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts, will host its 152nd Commencement Ceremony on May 21, 2023.

Composer and musicologist George E. Lewis will be the guest speaker and also receive an honorary doctorate at the ceremony, along with harpist Ann Hobson Pilot and conductor David Zinman.

A composer, musicologist, and trombonist, George E. Lewis is presently the Edwin H. Case Professor of American Music at Columbia University, where he also holds the Area Chair in Composition, and is Artistic Director of the International Contemporary Ensemble.

He is the recipient of a number of honors, including a MacArthur Fellowship (2002) and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2015). Lewis's musicological work centers on the history and criticism of experimental music, computer music, interactive media, and improvisation, through the lens of gender, race, and decolonization.

Harpist Ann Hobson Pilot has retired from a 40-year career with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops Orchestra, during which time she broke boundaries of both race and gender. A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, Hobson Pilot became the first African-American principal player in an American orchestra in 1966, when she won the job of Principal Harp in the National Symphony in Washington, D.C.

Renowned conductor David Zinman was the Music Director of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich between 1995 and 2014. He has held similar positions with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Rochester Philharmonic, and the Baltimore Symphony. Having performed with many of the world's most prominent soloists, he is also an eminent pedagogue, and regularly gave masterclasses to students at the Sibelius Academy and Royal Academy of Music.

"Our annual commencement exercises offer a chance to celebrate, reflect, and look to the future," said NEC President Andrea Kalyn. "We are thrilled to welcome and honor genre-transcending composer/musicologist George E. Lewis, barrier-breaking harpist Ann Hobson Pilot, and venerable conductor David Zinman. We’re also excited to honor alumni speaker Mei-Ann Chen, an innovative conductor who set new standards at NEC."