C. Neil Parsons

Education is a conversation. We listen to be heard.

C. Neil Parsons is a collaborative performance artist who joined the Conservatory faculty in 2017. A bass trombonist, choreographer, and director, Parsons has spent a lifetime onstage, appearing in his first professional theater production at age three. Extensive touring has taken him to 40 states, with engagements at major performing arts centers, residencies at numerous universities, and guest appearances with symphony orchestras, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Beyond his versatility across music, theater, and dance productions, Parsons is best known for blending his talents in interdisciplinary artworks.

In 2010, Parsons cofounded the hybrid arts ensemble The Fourth Wall. Praised by the Wall Street Journal for their “deft choreography,” the trio has toured widely with their neo-vaudeville production Fruit Flies Like a Banana and their circus show Without a Net. For nine seasons, Parsons performed with Tales & Scales, an ensemble which devised and toured innovative “musictales” for children and family audiences, serving as co-artistic director from 2006 to 2008. In 2019, Neil premiered his solo show A Thousand Words. Combining his father’s stories and photographs from the Vietnam War with original music and dance, Parsons recounts “tales of danger, resilience, and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to.”

Parsons is a graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy and Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, where he declared an individual major in interdisciplinary performance and education. In 2015, he joined the inaugural class of Boston Conservatory’s graduate program in contemporary classical music performance, from which he received a master’s degree in 2017.

Highlights

• Film director—Blue Dancers, punk rock ballet by Clover Nahabedian (Cheap City, 2024)
• Stage director—Ipsa Dixit, chamber opera by Kate Soper (Seattle Modern Orchestra, 2023)
• Film director, choreographer—Symmetrical Lives (The Flute on Its Feet, 2021)
• Film director—October Surprise (Strange Trace Opera, 2021)
• Choreographer, performer—Without a Net (national touring, 2023–present)
• Creator, performer, writer, composer, choreographer—Solo show premiere, A Thousand Words (IndyFringe Festival, 2019)
• Choreographer, composer, performer—Off-Broadway debut, Fruit Flies Like a Banana: World Tour (SoHo Playhouse, 2017)

Professional Awards and Recognitions

• Berklee Faculty Fellowship (with Ryan Suleiman, PhD, 2024)
• Best of the Fest, Orlando International Fringe Theater Festival (with The Fourth Wall, 2020, 2023)
• Gala Performance, National Flute Association Convention (with The Fourth Wall, The Flute on Its Feet, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023)
• Featured Ensemble, College Music Society Summit (with The Fourth Wall, 2016)
• Gala Performance, New Music Gathering (with The Fourth Wall, 2016)
• Grand Prize, The Savvy Musician

Notable Recent Engagements

• Guest soloist, stage director—Corporeal Worlds (Seattle Modern Orchestra, 2024)
• Performer, choreographer—Without a Net (Chamber Music Society of Little Rock, 2023)
• Performer, choreographer—Fruit Flies Like a Banana (Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 2022)