Boston Conservatory at Berklee Announces Music Division Leadership Changes
From left to right: Jonathan Bailey Holland, chair of composition, contemporary music, and core studies; Patty Thom, chair of voice; and Doug Perkins, interim chair of instrumental studies
As of fall 2017, the Music Division leadership structure has been revamped to include three music chairs that oversee various areas of study within the division. These chairs report to Michael Shinn, dean of music.
- Jonathan Bailey Holland, Chair of Composition, Contemporary Music, and Core Studies
- Doug Perkins, Interim Chair of Instrumental Studies
- Patty Thom, Chair of Voice
About the Chairs
Jonathan Bailey Holland joined the Conservatory in 2014. Holland's work has been commissioned and performed by numerous orchestras, and he was the recipient of a 2015 Fromm Foundation commission. He has received honors from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, American Music Center, American Society of Composers, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), the Presser Foundation, and other institutions. Holland received his B.M. from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied composition with Ned Rorem. He holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University, where he studied with Bernard Rands, Mario Davidovsky, Andrew Imbrie, and Yehudi Wyner. He is also a founding faculty member in the music composition program at Vermont College of Fine Arts and has served as professor of composition at Berklee College of Music.
Douglas Perkins joined the Conservatory in 2015. He has been declared a “percussion virtuoso” by the New York Times and founded the percussion quartet So Percussion and the Meehan/Perkins Duo. He also performs regularly with Ensemble Signal, Eighth Blackbird, Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s MusicNOW, and many other ensembles. Perkins is the director of the Chosen Vale International Percussion Seminar. He previously served on the faculty of Dartmouth College and was an artist in residence at the University of Chicago.
Patty Thom joined the Conservatory in 2003 as chair of the Voice/Opera Department. In addition to serving as chair of voice, she teaches private voice and performance skills classes. Prior to joining the Conservatory, Thom was director of music at the Walnut Hill School for the Arts in Natick, Massachusetts, where she was also director of the New England Conservatory-Walnut Hill joint program. She is a former teaching staff member of the Boston University (BU) Tanglewood Institute's Young Artists Vocal Program and BU's College of Fine Arts. Thom is a codirector and instructor of Boston Conservatory at Berklee’s Vocal/Choral Intensive, the Conservatory's summer program for high school-aged singers.
For questions regarding the new structure, contact music@bostonconservatory.edu.