Con Grad's Music Inspires Cultural Curiosity and Social Change

Ashleigh Gordon and her viola, (Courtesy of Monika Bach Schroeder)

Ashleigh Gordon '06 told the International Musician,"Find a career that makes you happy," and that is exactly what she did after graduating from BW's Conservatory of Music magna cum laude. After adding a degree from New England Conservatory of Music in Boston in 2008, she decided to take a risk and audition for International Ensemble Modern Academy in Europe, instead of taking the expected path playing classical music with an orchestra.

The risk paid off. Gordon was the only violist selected out of 18 applicants from around the globe and performed in many venues in Germany, Hong Kong, Paris and Switzerland before returning home to Boston.

(Courtesy of Monkia Bach Schroeder)

A long time advocate of social change through education, Gordon is now a viola instructor at Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra's Intensive Community Program, where she teaches students that are often not represented in the world of classical music.

When she is not leading educational workshops for kids, she's as much an entrepreneur as artist, as Co-Artistic Director and violist for Castle of our Skins,  a "concert and educational series devoted to celebrating Black Artistry through music."

In 2015, Gordon was awarded the St. Botolph Emerging Artist Award and still strives for change within her own community. Gordon performs regularly with Boston's Callithumpium Consort, NYC's ECCE Ensemble, and Providence's Ensemble Parallex, and is founder and violist of Sound Energy.

You can listen to her music anytime on her website, here.