Private music school in Boston, MA — It is the oldest independent music conservatory in the United States and among the most prestigious in the world.

The conservatory is home to 750 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate studies, along with 1400 more in its Preparatory School as well as the School of Continuing Education. NEC offers bachelor's degrees with majors in classical performance, contemporary improvisation, composition, jazz, musicology, and music theory. The conservatory offers additional graduate degrees in accompaniment, conducting, and vocal pedagogy.

Also offered are five-year joint double-degree programs with Harvard University and Tufts University.[5] The New England Conservatory's faculty and alumni, which comprise nearly fifty percent of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, include 6 members of l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, 14 Rome Prize recipients, 51 Guggenheim Fellows, and prizewinners at nearly every major respected music forum in the world. As of January 2020, 11 MacArthur Fellows have been affiliated as faculty or alumni.

NEC is the only music school in the United States designated as a National Historic Landmark, and it is a pending Boston Landmark. Its primary concert hall, Jordan Hall, designed by Edmund M. Wheelright, has long been regarded as one of the world's top concert halls for its superb acoustical qualities.

At the center of Boston's rich cultural history and musical life, NEC hosts approximately 1,000 concerts each year.