|
Every academic year the Jonathan Keith Fund and the Boston Microtonal Society give a scholarship of $500 to a student at the New England Conservatory who is actively studying and creating music with microtones.
We are happy to announce David Fiuczynski (MM '08) and Jesse Ward (BM '08) as the 2008 Keith Scholarship recipients.
Past recipients include:
Noah Kaplan
Wes Matthews
Dominic Margaglione
Judy Yoo
Matana Roberts
Johanna Jenei
Judith Berkson
John Mallia
Julia Werntz
James Bergin
Jonathan Keith was an accomplished composer, award-winning organist, choir director and co-founder of the Boston Microtonal Society. He grew up in Middleboro, Massachusetts, was class valedictorian at his high school and a National Merit Sholar, and received his Bachelor of Arts from Yale University in 1987 as a Magna Cum Laude graduate and a Masters of Music in Third Stream from the New England Conservatory in 1989.
Jonathan gave solo performances on WGBH Radio, and at Boston's Mobius Performance Center, Yale, the New England Conservatory, and other venues throughout New England. He was organist and music director at the First Parish Church in Lincoln, MA, and had previously held several positions throughout New England as organist and choir director.
Jonathan died in September of 1990 at the age of 25, following a six-month battle with cancer.
 Parable (1989) for trumpet and trombone
John Fugarino, tpt
Chris Washburne, tbn
"Jonathan Keith was a pioneering microtonal soul who was crafting his unique artistic vision while at the same time he was avidly exploring the works of artists as diverse as Franz Schubert, Alan Ginsberg and Merce Cunningham. Jonathan sparked the creative fires of numerous fellow students at NEC, including myself, as well as artistic colleagues outside the school, who were fortunate enough to perform in many of his innovative musical creations which were theatrical in scope, inspiring us to march to the beat of a microtonally tuned drum. With Jonathan leading the way, using a specially designed 'space age' microtonal organ console as his musical palette—a blonde haired bespectacled pied piper who had the aura of a mischievous monk—we explored the marvelous and mystical land of microtonality. When Jonathan left us, I vowed to continue carrying the torch which he kept burning so brightly and have thus become a naturalized citizen of that beautiful microtonal land."
Meredith Borden
microtonal vocalist, NEC alumna MM '89
|
