Nine Boston Conservatory Alumni Featured on Grammy-Nominated Albums

Nine Boston Conservatory at Berklee alumni are featured on nominated albums at the 2025 Grammy Awards, taking place Sunday, February 2. Graduates of Boston Conservatory’s musical theater program appeared on three nominated Broadway cast recordings and two vocal arts graduates sang on nominated classical and opera albums. The classical solo vocal category also included an album featuring two Boston Conservatory cellists. An additional 28 Berklee College of Music alumni and faculty received nominations or contributed to nominated projects.

Best Musical Theater Album

Broadway’s 2023 revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along was a smash hit with an all-star cast. As a winner of four 2024 Tony Awards and countless other honors, it comes as no surprise that the cast album would be nominated for a Grammy Award as well. Merrily was Boston Conservatory alum Morgan Kirner’s Broadway debut as dance captain and swing. Kirner graduated from the Conservatory’s musical theater program in 2016, and has enjoyed a well-rounded career, including three solo shows and a national tour of Hello, Dolly! 

Director Michael Greif and composer Ingrid Michaelson take Nicholas Sparks’s The Notebook to the next level with their musical rendition of Allie and Noah’s love story. Boston Conservatory alum John Cardoza (BFA '16, musical theater) performed as the original Young Noah when the show opened on Broadway in March 2024 and is featured on the Grammy-nominated cast recording. He left the show in fall 2024 to perform as Christian in Broadway’s Moulin Rouge. 

Lauded by the New York Post as “the best musical of the season,” The Outsiders beautifully reimagined S.E. Hinton’s poignant novel about classism, family, and belonging. The Outsiders already won four Tonys (among many other awards) so it seems to be having no trouble “staying gold” this season. Three Boston Conservatory musical theater alumni sing in the ensemble of this all-star cast recording: Sean Harrison Jones (BFA '18), Renni Anthony Magee (BFA '17), and Victor Carrillo Tracey (BFA '21). Tracey made his Broadway debut with The Outsiders, while Jones and Magee both have been enjoying successful Broadway careers, appearing in Hamilton (Jones, as ensemble, Samuel Seabury, and Charles Lee) and MJ the Musical (Magee, as a swing and Little Marlon understudy). 

Listen to Cardoza’s clear, ringing voice as Young Noah falls in love with Young Allie:

Best Opera Recording

Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas made history as the first Latin American opera to grace the Metropolitan Opera’s stage. It tells the mystical story of an operatic diva who journeys through South America to a legendary opera house in order to find her lost lover. Themes of passion, magic, and discovery shine through Catán's lyrical, romantic music and Marcela Fuentes-Berain’s libretto. 

Gabriella Reyes (BM '16, voice) also made history as the first Nicaraguan American to sing with the Met. The illustrious soprano made her Metropolitan debut in 2018, and was featured as Musetta in Santa Fe Opera’s La Boheme shortly thereafter. Since then, she has been dazzling upon some of the most prestigious operatic stages. She sings the role of Rosalba in the Met’s recording of Florencia. 

Listen to Reyes and Mario Chang sing Rosalba and Arcadio’s Act II duet: 

Best Classical Solo Vocal Album

Palaver Strings’s A Change Is Gonna Come celebrates the historical and continuing legacy of American protest songs. Individual experiences of oppression and stories of our right to protest are told, drawing on various stylistic methods. The centerpiece of the album is Errollyn Wallen’s Protest Songs: two newly commissioned works with texts set by Wallen and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, a powerful abolitionist and poet. The Palaver Strings ensemble, based in Portland, Maine, works to make classical music accessible to all by playing for and with their community. 

Matthew Smith (MM '15, cello), is the coartistic director and managing director of education for Palaver Strings. In addition to playing chamber music at some of the most prestigious venues in America, he has been committed to making music accessible for young people, becoming an accomplished music educator with the Palaver Music Center and Longy School of Music. Nathaniel Taylor (BM '15, GPD '17, PSC '18, AD '20, cello) has been passionate about classical music from a young age. As coartistic director of Palaver Strings, he has been able to explore music making and the cultural possibilities that music creates.

Listen to the title track of A Change Is Gonna Come featuring Farayi Malek:

Best Classical Compendium

Mythologies II, by French and Greek composer Danaë Xanthe Vlasse, follows her Grammy award–winning album Mythologies. In both albums, Vlasse retells ancient stories and characters to explore truths about the human condition, society, and character archetypes. She partnered with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, including sopranos Sangeeta Kaur (MM '08, voice) and Hilá Plitmann as well as tenor Omar Najmi and pianist Robert Thies to make this tour de force recording. 

The Grammy award–winning Vietnamese American soprano Kaur’s discography is highly acclaimed and spans many genres. Since graduating from Boston Conservatory’s voice graduate program in 2008, she has produced and facilitated multi-disciplinary performances, from the 2016 opera Niguma to her one-hour PBS show Sangeeta Kaur and Friends. Her commitment to connection and innovation sets her apart as a well-rounded, accomplished musician. 

Listen to Kaur on “Medusa & Perseus,” the first track of the album Mythologies II: 

Learn more about the top-ranking degree programs in musical theater, voice/opera and strings that have helped put Boston Conservatory alumni on a path to Broadway and beyond.