July 16 - July 30, 2023
NEC Summer Orchestra Institute (SOI) is a two-week full symphony orchestra program, open to intermediate to advanced-level strings, brass, winds, and percussion students between the ages of 13-18. Program activities include full orchestral rehearsals, sectional rehearsals, chamber music reading/coaching sessions, masterclasses, workshops, mock auditions, individual practice time, and two concerts in NEC's historic Jordan Hall. Please note: students must be 14 years old on July 1, 2023 to participate in the program as an on-campus boarding student.
The Summer Orchestra Institute (SOI) experience emphasizes intensive musical preparation, with special focus on concentration, practice and performance techniques, interpretation, phrasing, and general musicianship. Students will also develop communication and leadership skills through their musical collaborations, learning the joy of music making while developing lasting friendships. Musical off-campus trips are scheduled throughout the two-week session.
Faculty* for the 2023 program include (bios located further down on page):
- Nathaniel Efthimiou, Guest Conductor, Week 1
- Sameer Patel, Guest Conductor, Week 2
- Marielisa Alvarez, Violin
- Natalie Boberg, Violin
- Gregory Newton, Bassoon
- Jackie Bartling-John, Flute
- Camden Ward, Oboe
- Ryan Yure, Clarinet
- Burt Mason, Low Brass
- Stanford Thompson, Trumpet
- Ina Zdorovetchi, Harp
*Additional faculty confirmations forthcoming.
NEC SOI 2023 Repertoire Highlights
- Tchaikovsky, Romeo and Juliet
- Bunch, Supermaximum
For answers to questions regarding Summer Orchestra Institute (SOI), the application, or anything further, please contact our team at soi@necmusic.edu!
How to apply to SUMMER ORCHESTRA INSTITUTE (SOI)
Audition Requirements and Suggested Excerpt List
Important application Deadlines
Applications are still being accepted on a rolling basis as space in the program allows.
First Priority Application Deadline: February 17, 2023
Priority Deadline to Apply: March 1, 2023
Rolling Application Deadline: May 1, 2023 (or space permitting)
Results will be sent beginning the week of March 15, 2023
Due Date for Financial Aid Application and Initial Deposit for Priority Applicants: April 1, 2023
Full Payments Due: May 1, 2023
Seating Auditions Due: June 15, 2023
summer orchestra institute (Soi) Program information
2023 Workshop and Course Highlights:
College Audition Preparation | Score Study Seminars | Music Theory | Musicology | Art of Practice & Performance | Mock Audition | Contemporary Improvisation | Chamber Music
Please check back soon for more information regarding faculty and repertoire for Summer Orchestra Institute 2023! To join our mailing list for more information when available, please email soi@necmusic.edu.
summer orchestra institute (soi) Tuition and fees
Application Fee: $40
Tuition: $1950 (Please note: initial deposit of $600 due April 1, 2023)
Housing: $1680 (Double rooms, includes full meal plan); Additional $200 for single room
*Students have the option of choosing to be a day student or boarding student in our state of the art NEC dormitory located in the heart of Boston. Additional evening activities are planned for boarding students.*
Day Student Lunch Fee: $150
Health Fee: $80
Financial aid opportunities are available for accepted students.
summer orchestra institute (Soi) FACULTY BIOS
Nathaniel Efthimiou (Guest Conductor, Week 1) is the Assistant Conductor of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra & Music School and an Assistant Professor of Music at Berklee College of Music. He is a two-time recipient of The Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award and was a quarter-finalist in the 2021 Donatella Flick Conducting Competition with the London Symphony Orchestra. In March 2023, he will conduct the Hong Kong Sinfonietta in the 2nd Hong Kong International Conducting Competition. As a fellow at the Aspen Conducting Academy, he won the James Conlon Conducting Prize in 2015.
He has conducted orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra, the Amarillo Symphony, and the Rhode Island Philharmonic. As an assistant, he has worked with the B.B.C. Concert Orchestra, Portland Symphony, and Plymouth Philharmonic Orchestra, covering conductors such as Leonard Slatkin, David Robertson, Bramwell Tovey, and Stefan Asbury. In 2017, he completed an Artistic Administration internship with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, assisting Robert Moody and serving as a symphony’s artistic team member. In the opera pit, he has participated in masterclasses with Nicolas McGegan and Patrick Summers and has assisted productions ranging from Debussy’s Pelleas et Melisande, Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, and Donizetti’s L’elisir d ’amore.
Nathaniel’s advocacy for new music is rooted in his background as a composer. He has studied composition with Joel Hoffman, David Ludwig, and David Davies. His work has been featured in composition festivals such as the Atlantic Music Festival, “UPBEAT” in Milna, Croatia, and WSKG’s television program, Expressions, in Binghamton, New York.
Nathaniel’s conducting teachers have included Bramwell Tovey, Robert Spano, Larry Rachleff, and Hugh Wolff. He holds a Bachelor of Music in Composition and Master of Arts from Houghton University and a Doctor of Musical Arts from Boston University.
Internationally recognized for his deep musicianship and passionate communication, Sameer Patel (Guest Conductor, Week 2) is one of America's most exciting conductors. Equally at home conducting world premieres and traditional classical works, Patel’s infectious enthusiasm for music is felt by musicians, audiences, and students alike.
In the 2022-23 Season, Sameer Patel makes debuts with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Princeton Symphony, as well as return appearances with the Florida Orchestra and La Jolla Symphony and Chorus.
Patel is the newly appointed Artistic Director of the San Diego Youth Symphony, a transformational organization that reaches more than 3,000 students in its community through its thirteen ensembles, El Sistema-inspired classroom programs, and early childhood music classes. He also served for six seasons as Associate Conductor of the Sun Valley Music Festival and recently concluded an acclaimed tenure as Associate Conductor of the San Diego Symphony, where he reinvigorated the orchestra's programming and connection with its community.
Recent performances include Puccini’s Tosca with Houston’s Opera in the Heights, as well as concerts with the orchestras of Toronto, St. Louis, Detroit, New Jersey, Sarasota, Phoenix, Grand Rapids, Sacramento, Toledo, New Hampshire, Bozeman, Savannah, Fresno, Knoxville, Alabama, Naples, Reading, and Jacksonville. He has also appeared with the National Symphony Orchestra, the Florida Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the Chicago Sinfonietta. Abroad, Patel has conducted performances with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Sanremo, the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana, and the Leipziger Sinfonieorchester.
With an unending enthusiasm for the music of our time, Patel has championed music by living composers such as Adam Schoenberg, Anna Clyne, Gabriela Lena Frank, Mason Bates, Ellen Reid, Hannah Lash, Tan Dun, and many others.
Patel’s impressive work has led to recognition from the Solti Foundation U.S., which granted him three consecutive Career Assistance Awards and an Elizabeth Buccheri Opera Residency with North Carolina Opera. In 2016, he was recognized by Daniele Gatti as a top conductor at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy, which led to his acclaimed debut with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Sanremo. In 2013, Kurt Masur, the late Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, recognized Patel’s talents with a prize from the Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Foundation, which allowed him to study with and assist Maestro Masur in his appearances with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. That same year, Patel was one of only six conductors selected by the League of American Orchestras for the Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, which led to subsequent, multiple engagements with that orchestra. In the early stages of his career he held conducting positions with the Chicago Sinfonietta and the Fort Wayne Philharmonic.
Patel studied at the University of Michigan and furthered his training across Europe with some of the greatest conductors of our time, including Gianandrea Noseda, Daniele Gatti, David Zinman, Paavo Järvi, and the late conductors Kurt Masur and Bernard Haitink. Additionally, Patel has assisted and learned from leading conductors Gustavo Dudamel, Charles Dutoit, Edo de Waart, Robert Spano, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Stéphane Denève, Jaap van Zweden, Thomas Wilkins, Larry Rachleff, and Mei-Ann Chen, among many others.
Summer orchestra institute (soi) Vaccination policies
NEC requires documentation of up to date COVID-19 vaccinations (completion of the primary series plus one booster vaccination when eligible) for all students (ages 5 and older) who are studying on campus. The COVID-19 vaccination requirement is critical for NEC to maintain an environment of in-person teaching and learning. Students who fail to submit this documentation, unless a religious or medical exemption has been approved or there is a valid reason that it is not possible to receive the vaccine (e.g. a student living in a country where there is not access to a vaccine), may be prohibited from attending in-person courses and denied access to NEC facilities, including classrooms and performance spaces. If you have questions regarding this requirement, please be in touch with us at 617-585-1160 or prep@necmusic.edu. Please note that our COVID-19 policies are subject to change.
Students requesting a medical or religious exemption for Summer Orchestra Institute (SOI) from the COVID-19 vaccination requirement must complete a vaccine exemption form and submit it electronically through the NEC Prep secure email portal on or before March 1, 2023. Families can request the vaccine exemption form by emailing prep@necmusic.edu. Medical exemption requests must be verified by the student’s primary care or specialty care provider. The Director of Health Services and relevant administrators in the NEC Prep Office will review requests for exemption and may consult with other relevant administrators as necessary. Students will be notified whether or not the request is approved.
