Terri Lyne Carrington Receives Luise Vosgerchian Teaching Award from Harvard

Terri Lyne Carrington, founder and artistic director of the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice, was recently named the fall 2023 recipient of the Luise Vosgerchian Teaching Award from Harvard University. The acclaimed drummer, composer, producer, educator, and justice advocate was presented with the award at Paine Hall at Harvard on Monday, November 27. The ceremony included remarks by Vijay Iyer, professor of music at Harvard, a performance by student musicians from the Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice, a Q&A with Carrington, and the presentation of the award by Jack Megan, director of the Office for the Arts, and Carolyn Abbate, chair of Harvard's Department of Music. 

The Luise Vosgerchian Teaching Award honors a nationally recognized educator. The award 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 in 1990, was the Walter W. Naumberg Professor of Music Emerita in the Department of Music. 

The guidelines for this prestigious honor 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 tutorials, classes, lectures, and other forums engaging Harvard undergraduates and the public. 

“It is an absolute honor to be recognized by Harvard University as the recipient of this fall’s Luise Vosgerchian Teaching Award,” said Carrington. “Luise Vosgerchian was tirelessly committed to the arts for her entire life, and, as a recipient of this award in her memory, I am dedicated to fulfilling her vision of consciousness, positivity, and constant renewal as an artist and educator. I look forward to engaging more with the Harvard community as part of this award.”

Previous recipients of the award have included Gustav Meier, music director of the Greater Lansing Symphony Orchestra and Greater Bridgeport Symphony; Joan Panetti, professor of music at the Yale University School of Music; Phyllis Curtin, opera singer and dean emerita of Boston University’s School for the Arts; Curt Cacioppo, professor of music at Haverford College; 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; and the late André Watts, legendary pianist, Grammy Award winner, and Boston Conservatory at Berklee honorary doctorate recipient.