{"id":5764,"date":"2025-05-20T12:12:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T16:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/?p=5764"},"modified":"2025-05-20T13:17:21","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T17:17:21","slug":"michelle-wu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/2025\/05\/michelle-wu.html","title":{"rendered":"Michelle Wu"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My introduction of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu at New England Conservatory\u2019s Commencement ceremony on Sunday May 18, 2025. She received an honorary degree.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michelle Wu<\/a> was a musician, a pianist, before she was a politician\u2014and she remains a  musician today.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might have heard her play George Gershwin\u2019s Rhapsody in Blue <\/em>across the street at Symphony Hall with the Boston Pops, or music by Mozart with the Boston Symphony.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the way, this morning, I confirmed that Michelle Wu is <\/em>the mayor of Boston. As I was walking into the hall, up the stairs, I saw a flag hanging outside\u2014a sign with a photo of a pianist (to be honest, it\u2019s  an NEC student)\u2014and it says \u201cBe Inspiring,\u201d and then at the bottom of the  sign, it says, Michelle Wu, Mayor. So that\u2019s how I was sure\u2026she was.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michelle Wu has a piano in the mayor\u2019s office<\/a> in City Hall. Playing music can help you think. She\u2019s said: \u201cWhen you really get into the flow, brain memory and muscle memory and the keys kind of meld together and it’s almost as if you are part of the instrument.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michelle Wu came to Massachusetts and attended Harvard, and then Harvard Law\u00a0 School. There she met Elizabeth Warren<\/a>. Of Michelle Wu, Senator Warren later said, \u201cShe gets out and does the work that needs to be done to make a difference in people’s lives.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2022, NEC President Andrea Kalyn and Mayor Wu announced a new partnership between New England Conservatory and the City of Boston to substantially increase access to music education for Boston\u2019s children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This partnership, a collaboration with Ellis Early Learning and ABCD Head Start, is made possible by an anonymous gift of more than 14 million dollars. In a single year,\u00a0nearly 600 children received music lessons. This gift and partnership increased available NEC Prep School scholarships by 150%.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor Wu has championed the NEC Community Performances and Partnerships program, which annually serves close to 15,000 people through hundreds of events. People from many neighborhoods, of many ages, many ethnicities, and in many economic circumstances are served.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor Wu, New England Conservatory is<\/em> inspired by you, and deeply grateful for your  partnership, your leadership, and advocacy for music.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Kalyn, it is my honor to present Michelle Wu for the Honorary Degree\u2014Doctor of Music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michelle Wu was a musician, a pianist, before she was a politician\u2014and she remains a\u00a0 musician today.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

You might have heard her play George Gershwin\u2019s Rhapsody in Blue across the street at Symphony Hall with the Boston Pops, or music by Mozart with the Boston Symphony.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5766,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1625,1621,1620,1623,789,1614,1274,1617,1619,1615,1622,1624,1612,1613,1610,1609,1277,205,1402,404,1616,1618,1611],"class_list":{"0":"post-5764","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-1625","9":"tag-andrea","10":"tag-andrea-kalyn","11":"tag-andrew-li","12":"tag-boston","13":"tag-commencement","14":"tag-doctorate","15":"tag-elizabeth","16":"tag-elizabeth-warren","17":"tag-honorary-degree","18":"tag-kalyn","19":"tag-massachusetts","20":"tag-mayor","21":"tag-mayor-of-boston","22":"tag-michelle","23":"tag-michelle-wu","24":"tag-nec","25":"tag-new-england-conservatory","26":"tag-pianist","27":"tag-piano","28":"tag-senator","29":"tag-warren","30":"tag-wu","31":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5764"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5780,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5764\/revisions\/5780"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}