Boston Conservatory at Berklee Announces Center Stage Performances for Fall 2022

The four fall performances include several regional and world premieres.

August 29, 2022

Boston Conservatory at Berklee is pleased to announce the return of Center Stage, a curated performance collection that showcases four of the Conservatory’s most dynamic and innovative productions in dance, music, and theater, and spotlights the remarkable talent of the school’s performers. This fall’s Center Stage lineup includes several world premieres, inventive reimaginings of classic works, and celebrations of notable artists.

The fall series opens on Thursday, September 29 with Wind Ensemble: Heavy Metal (and Wood), an immersive concert experience fusing rock ’n’ roll, heavy metal, funk, and groove with the traditional wind ensemble. Featuring works by Frank Zappa, Sally Lamb McCune, John Mackey, Steven Bryant, and Katahj Copley performed by Conservatory woodwind, brass, and percussion students, this multigenre performance combines surround-sound electronics, electric guitar, rock drum kits, light displays, and more for a spectacular musical presentation.

From October 20 through 23, Boston Conservatory theater students will perform Shaina Taub and Laurie Woolery’s contemporary adaptation of the beloved Shakespeare comedy As You Like It. Named one of the New York Times's best shows of 2017, As You Like It is an immersive, dream-like tale of faithful friends, feuding families, and lovers in disguise. Forced from their homes, Orlando, Duke Senior, his daughter Rosalind, and niece Celia escape to the Forest of Arden, a fantastical place of transformation where all are welcomed and embraced. This production will be directed by faculty member and alum Laura Marie Duncan, music directed by faculty members José Delgado and Isaac Leaverton, and choreographed by musical theater alum Misha Shields. 

Next, Boston Conservatory will present its annual fall dance concert, From the Ground Up, from November 3 through 6. The performance will be composed entirely of world premieres by acclaimed guest artists Brian Brooks, Levi Marsman, Crystal Perkins, Heather Stewart, and dance faculty members Kurt Douglas and Daniel Pelzig. The pieces will be performed by senior, junior, and sophomore contemporary dance students.

The fall Center Stage season will close with a free performance on Thursday, December 8 at Old South Church. Boston Conservatory's chorus and orchestra will welcome famed guest soloist, soprano Karen Slack, to present the New England premiere of Florence Price's Song of Hope. Written in 1929, Price had recently fled the Jim Crow South only to encounter the uncertainty of the Great Depression. A work of remarkable beauty and inspiring optimism, Song of Hope has, for far too long, been absent from concert stages. Boston Conservatory is honored to share Price’s work with audiences in this moving concert led by conductors Stephen Spinelli and William Cutter.

Tickets for fall performances can be purchased online beginning Monday, August 29, 2022, and, beginning Tuesday, September 6, in person at the Berklee Performance Center, located at 136 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston. For questions about purchasing tickets or attending a performance, contact the Berklee Box Office at boxoffice@berklee.edu or at 617-747-2261. Learn more and view all upcoming Boston Conservatory events at bostonconservatory.berklee.edu/events.