On July 5, 2015 I was invited to speak at Church of the Covenant in Boston, as a precursor to a Benefit Community Sing/Play In and Concert for Students in Afghanistan on July 17th. These are the notes from my talk. In October of 2010, during my second year of study at New England Conservatory, I got an email from a friend, Robin Ryczek who was living in Kabul, Afghanistan. Robin had taken a year off from her MM at NEC to teach at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, and one of her first tasks there was to organize a Winter Music Festival. I, along with several other Boston-based musicians, was invited to attend. It was almost November when we got our official invitations, and I was concerned about the rush needed to get visas and plane tickets in time for a December festival. But when I suggested to […]

Available for purchase on June 23rd!!!!! Click here to sign up for my newsletter! Eden MacAdam-Somer – voice, violin, viola, percussive dance My First Love Story introduces the solo work of one of New England Conservatory’s newest faculty members and one of the most dynamic young artists performing today: composer, performer, and improviser Eden MacAdam-Somer. Recorded live in NEC’s Jordan Hall, this album is an incredible blend of contemporary and traditional art, moving fluidly between Appalachian folk song and cutting edge classical performance. The CD will be released June 23, 2015 on A-Side Records.

I wrote this note shortly after a suicide bombing took place in Kabul on December 11. This, sadly, is no rare occurrence in Kabul these days, nor, indeed, in many parts of the world, but it came close to home for me, because several of my students and colleagues from the Afghanistan National Institute of Music were there. As I talked over the event with friends, questions about our tolerance for violence came up: why are we vocal about violence overseas, but less so when it is right in our own backyards? More importantly, we began a serious discussion about our ability, as artists, to speak out and call for change. If we can strengthen the community around us, surely this will facilitate change. So this note is really the beginning of my thoughts in moving towards that goal… On Thursday December 11, a bomb was detonated at the French […]