The Luise Vosgerchian Teaching Award

The Luise Vosgerchian Teaching Award, which honors a nationally recognized educator and is administered by the Office for the Arts at Harvard’s

Learning From Performers program, was established by Professor and Mrs. Ray A. Goldberg and the Max Goldberg Foundation in order to perpetuate the values and teaching skills represented by the late Professor Vosgerchian, who, at her retirement from Harvard University in 1990, was the Walter W. Naumberg Professor of Music Emerita in the Department of Music.

The guidelines require that the recipient embody the following qualities: selfless commitment; artistic conscience; a constant renewal of approach to subject matter; ability to motivate in a positive and creative way; a sincere interest in the development of the whole person; and the ability to present musical knowledge in a way that is applicable to other disciplines. The Award provides an honorarium and arranges for recipients to conduct master classes, lectures and other forums engaging Harvard undergraduates and the public.

The Luise Vosgerchian Teaching Award honors individuals who reflect Professor Vosgerchian’s values and dedication to music and arts education, including the 2015 recipient, Marin Alsop, Conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Principal Conductor of the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra. Recipients have included:

Gustav Meier, Music Director, Greater Lansing (MI) Symphony Orchestra and Greater Bridgeport (CT) Symphony;

Joan Panetti, professor of music at the Yale University School of Music;

Curt Cacioppo, professor of music in the Music Department of Haverford College;

Phyllis Curtin, opera singer and Dean Emerita of Boston University’s School for the Arts;

Lowell E. Lindgren, professor of music at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology;

Elma Lewis, arts educator, activist and founder of Boston’s Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts;

Claire Mallardi, Lecturer on Dramatic Arts and Artistic Director Emerita of the Office for the Arts at Harvard Dance Program;

Robert Mann, founder and first violinist of the Juilliard String Quartet and a member of the Juilliard School Music Division faculty;

Co-recipients Mark Churchill, educator, conductor, cellist and Dean of New England Conservatory’s Division of Preparatory and Continuing Education, and Marylou Speaker Churchill, violinist and member of the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music (College and Preparatory School) and the Heifetz International Music Institute;

Thomas G. Everett, Director of Bands at Harvard University and Jazz Advisor to the Office for the Arts at Harvard;

Aaron Dworkin, Founder and President of the Sphinx Organization, which focuses on youth development and diversity in classical music performance and education;

Sweet Honey in the Rock, the a cappella vocal group founded by Bernice Johnson Reagon that is committed to creating music out of the rich textures of African American legacy and traditions;

Marin Alsop, Conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Principal Conductor of the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra.

Gustavo Dudamel, Music and Artistic Director, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Music Director, Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela.

André Watts, legendary pianist, Grammy Award winner and professor at Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University.