{"id":80619,"date":"2021-07-30T10:13:33","date_gmt":"2021-07-30T14:13:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/?p=80619"},"modified":"2022-10-28T08:51:33","modified_gmt":"2022-10-28T12:51:33","slug":"bu-tanglewood-institute-alum-returns-to-direct-orchestra-program","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/news\/articles\/2021\/bu-tanglewood-institute-alum-returns-to-direct-orchestra-program\/","title":{"rendered":"BU Tanglewood Institute Alum Returns to Direct Orchestra Program"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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July 30, 2021<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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\"Joseph<\/a>
Photo by Kriston Jae Bethel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article was first published in <\/span><\/em>BU Today <\/span>on July 30, 2021. By Joel Brown<\/em><\/p>\n

EXCERPT<\/h5>\n

Listen to Joseph Conyers talk about his time as a student at the <\/span>Boston University Tanglewood Institute<\/a> <\/span>and you\u2019ll want to sign up yourself\u2014even if you\u2019re long past high school and don\u2019t play an instrument.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a magical summer\u2026that forever changed my life, for all kinds of reasons,\u201d says <\/span>Conyers<\/a> <\/span>(BUTI\u201998), acting associate principal bass in the Philadelphia Orchestra. \u201cIt introduced me to the Boston Symphony [Orchestra]. It was the first Big Five orchestra I\u2019d ever heard, so that was transformative. And the friends I met there, they\u2019re some of my dearest friends to this day.<\/p>\n

\u201cMusic for me was always an escape,\u201d he adds. \u201cI heard somewhere that artists don\u2019t do well in high school, because not everyone has that kind of mind. I went from a place [Savannah, Ga.], where very few people had that kind of mind, to a place where EVERYONE had that kind of mind! It wasn\u2019t strange that I was 18 hours from home by car, because I was at a place that I could call home and with people who were as revved up and excited about making music as I was. All the quirkiness that made me strange in Savannah made me popular at BUTI.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now Conyers has signed on as director of BUTI\u2019s Young Artists Orchestra, a central component of the renowned summer training program for gifted young musicians in Lenox, Mass. He will begin the newly created position this fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoseph knows BUTI because he was a student,\u201d says BUTI executive director <\/span>Hilary Respass. \u201cHe deeply understands the power that happens when you bring talent and potential in line with opportunity, and that\u2019s what happens in this very special place. When you see him teach, there\u2019s this exuberance, but also this precision. He knows his stuff. But he doesn\u2019t do it with pomposity, he just <\/span>brings it<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ebullient Conyers grew up in a musical family, playing piano and, from fifth grade on, bass. \u201cI have a lot inside, and the instrument is the only way I can get it out,\u201d he says. He had options for the summer after his junior year of high school, including a free ride to another prestigious summer program, but his high school choral teacher, Erin Freeman (CFA\u201997), and her husband, Drew Cahoon, were firm.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey said, \u2018You ARE going to BUTI,\u2019\u201d he says, sternly, then cracks up. \u201cAnd they raised the funds for me to go in the summer of 1998.\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t just the sense of belonging or the concerts at Tanglewood down the street that changed his life; he also learned to play the bass in a way that remains with him today, thanks to a Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) bassist and CFA lecturer in music who is also a BUTI alum and teaches the bass workshop there. \u201cI had a class with Todd Seeber (BUTI\u201980),\u201d Conyers says. \u201cBoston is known for their articulation because Symphony Hall is very boomy and warm, and I remember hearing Todd play\u2014I just had not heard playing like that before! It was so clear. And that\u2019s something I\u2019m known for in my playing today, is being clear. That\u2019s something I totally picked up from that experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also formative was meeting the college-age fellows at the Tanglewood Music Center (TMC), many of whom were on the path to successful careers. \u201cMeeting them as a BUTI high schooler gave me something to aspire to, and two summers later I was a TMC fellow, as soon as I could be. BUTI just began a long series of music\u2014even stronger than guideposts, I would say cornerstones\u2014that started the foundation of my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the full article<\/a><\/p>\n

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BOSTON UNIVERSITY TANGLEWOOD INSTITUTE (BUTI)<\/h5>\n

Created in 1966 at the invitation of then-BSO music director Erich Leinsdorf, BUTI was developed by Boston University College of Fine Arts as a summer program to complement the existing offerings of the BSO\u2019s Tanglewood Music Center (TMC). More than 50 years later, BUTI continues to build upon its legacy of excellence, offering a transformative experience to more than 400 young instrumentalists, composers, and singers who reside at its 64-acre campus in Lenox, Massachusetts. Its intensive programs, distinguished faculty, and the opportunities afforded through its unique affiliation with the BSO and TMC have combined to give BUTI a celebrated and distinctive reputation among summer music programs of its kind. BUTI alumni contribute to today\u2019s musical world as prominent performers and conductors, composers and educators, and administrators and board members. Currently, eleven members of the BSO are BUTI alumni.<\/p>\n

The program demonstrates great commitment to students from around the country and world, nearly half of whom are supported by the BUTI Scholarship Fund, made possible by contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporations. BUTI\u2019s season includes six performances at Seiji Ozawa Hall and more than seventy concerts and recitals in and around Lenox. For more information, visit bu.edu\/tanglewood<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bassist Joseph Conyers (BUTI’98) recalls his “magical summer” as a student at BU’s Tanglewood Institute. Now, he has signed on as director of BUTI’s Young Artists Orchestra, mentoring and working with the next generation of musicians. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8701,"featured_media":80628,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[],"bu-publication":[192],"magazine-article-category":[],"magazine-topic":[],"news-article-category":[313],"news-topic":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/80619"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8701"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80619"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/80619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94851,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/80619\/revisions\/94851"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80619"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=80619"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-article-category?post=80619"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-topic?post=80619"},{"taxonomy":"news-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-article-category?post=80619"},{"taxonomy":"news-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-topic?post=80619"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=80619"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=80619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}