Partnerships Create Industry Inroads

Professional partnerships give Boston Conservatory at Berklee students game-changing opportunities to work with artists from locally and globally renowned performing arts organizations. With unique access to leading practitioners, students gain insights and performance experience while forging vital pathways for future careers. Here’s a look at some of the cutting-edge partnerships transforming Boston Conservatory’s educational landscape.

Silkroad

Through Boston Conservatory’s exclusive partnership with Silkroad—the Grammy Award–winning global organization founded by Yo-Yo Ma and led by acclaimed artistic director Rhiannon Giddens—students collaborate with and are mentored by a diverse range of internationally renowned artists. The partnership includes courses taught by Silkroad artists, performance opportunities, and workshops.

Boston Lyric Opera

Boston Conservatory’s partnership with Boston Lyric Opera (BLO) offers ongoing educational and artistic development for voice and opera students. Most notably, Boston Conservatory’s Opera Innovators Series engages leading performers and pedagogues in the field of opera and art song—such as Anne Bogart, Karen Slack, and Wendy Bryn Harmer—to present master classes, panel discussions, and more to students and members of BLO’s Jane & Steven Akin Emerging Artists program.

The Radio City Rockettes

Boston Conservatory is home to the first-ever college-level Rockettes Precision Dance Technique course, thanks to a partnership launched in 2023. Taught by a current Rockette, the course focuses on the Rockettes’ signature precision technique, which is based on a foundation of tap, ballet, and jazz.

Royal Academy of Dance

Boston Conservatory is the first and only performing arts institution in the United States to offer students a ballet teaching qualification from the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD), a global leader in dance education and training renowned for setting international standards in classical ballet training and dance teacher education. The program provides an excellent opportunity for dancers interested in teaching.

Speakeasy Stage Company

Noted for its cutting-edge Boston-premiere musicals and plays, SpeakEasy Stage Company immerses theater students in an array of experiential learning opportunities at one of New England’s most dynamic theaters. The partnership with Boston Conservatory formalized a longstanding creative relationship: scores of Conservatory students, faculty, and alums have contributed to SpeakEasy productions since its founding in 1992.

CJ Cultural Foundation

Berklee’s partnership with the CJ Cultural Foundation has made Boston Conservatory dancers regular performers at KCON Los Angeles, the world’s largest convention for Korean culture and music. Thanks to the foundation’s generous support, dance students have opened for K-pop superstars at KCON for the last three years.

Boston String Academy

Teaming up with Boston String Academy, an organization devoted to making classical music accessible to underrepresented communities, Music Division students learn what it takes to become impactful teachers, engaging in discussions, observing classroom teaching, giving and receiving mentorship, and performing collaboratively.

READ: STAGES 2025

“Partnerships Create Industry Inroads” first appeared in the 2025 issue of STAGES, Boston Conservatory’s annual magazine.