George Wein To Receive Honorary Doctorate ....

George Wein To Receive Honorary Doctorate At Boston University Commencement On Sunday, May 17

SOURCE: CAROLYN MCCLAIR PUBLIC RELATIONS,
Published: 2015-05-13
NEW YORK, NY: George Wein, music impresario, NEA Jazz Master and Grammy Award winner, will receive an Honorary Doctorate at Boston University’s (BU) 142nd Commencement on Sunday, May 17.

The founder of the Newport Jazz Festival (1954), Newport Folk Festival (1959), New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (1970) and countless other events around the world, Wein forever changed how music is presented and, at 89, continues to build new audiences for emerging and established artists at the iconic Rhode Island events.

Journalist and TV personality Meredith Viera will deliver Boston University’s Commencement Address and Cornell William Brooks, president of the NAACP, will deliver the Baccalaureate Address. Both will receive honorary degrees along with Wein and Allen and Kelli Questrom, entrepreneurs, philanthropists and University benefactors.

The graduation ceremony, including the commencement address and awarding of honorary degrees, can be watched via live webcast at bu.edu or listened to on Boston radio station WBUR 90.9FM at 1:00 pm on Sunday.


Wein enrolled in premed courses at BU to please his father, Barnet Wein, who graduated from the university with a medical degree in 1920. However, the younger Wein, whose heart was in jazz and performing, soon realized that it was “a mistake” and graduated in 1950 with a degree in history. Shortly after graduation, he opened a jazz club, Storyville, in Boston’s Copley Square Hotel. Already an accomplished pianist, Wein performed in his club, and quickly turned it into a music Mecca for some of the world’s greatest musicians.

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