This year’s honorary doctorate recipients were recognized for their profound influences on the worlds of music, production, and dance.
On Saturday, May 9, 246 graduates from around the world came together at the Berklee Performance Center for Boston Conservatory at Berklee’s 2026 commencement ceremony. At the event, Berklee President Jim Lucchese and Boston Conservatory at Berklee Executive Director Michael Shinn presented honorary doctorates to two outstanding artists: Grammy-nominated opera producer Beth Morrison and acclaimed choreographer and dancer Moses Pendleton.
Morrison was recognized for her groundbreaking entrepreneurship in the world of opera, as the president and creative director of Beth Morrison Projects (BMP). She is also the artistic and cofounding director of the PROTOTYPE: Opera | Theatre | Now festival. Under her leadership, BMP has commissioned, developed, produced, and toured more than 65 works in 19 countries, including the Pulitzer Prize–winning operas Angel’s Bone and p r i s m. A champion for living composers, Morrison is redefining contemporary opera for today’s audiences.
In her address to the graduating class, Morrison reflected on the great work happening at Boston Conservatory, highlighting its forward-looking artistic training. She described the need for artists to hear the word “yes” from others in order to execute a creative vision, one that might take time. She also spoke about how, upon receiving her own degree, she noticed a lack of contemporary operas incorporating sound design, technology, and various modern elements, so she created her own company— and forever changed the art form.
“You are the future, and you have the power to write it,” Morrison said. In her speech, she discussed three major themes essential to creating a new future: dream, build, and community. She spoke about the need to work together, saying, “Most people who have succeeded in this field want to pay it forward. Use that window. No one hands you a career—build one.”
Her theme of community reflected the diversity of the graduating class when she emphasized, “Find your people across disciplines: designers, directors, musicians, singers. We are stronger together.” In closing, she instructed the graduates to close their eyes and imagine the world they want to live in, and the people who can help make it into a reality. “I have so much hope for how you will change our world,” she concluded.
Pendleton was recognized for his innovation and breadth in the world of choreography. A cofounder of the groundbreaking Pilobolus Dance Theater in 1971, he formed his own company, MOMIX, with Alison Chase in 1980, rapidly establishing an international reputation for inventive and often illusionistic choreography. The troupe has been creating new work under his direction and touring worldwide for four decades. He has also worked extensively in the worlds of television, film, and opera, collaborating with a host of global performers and organizations to achieve their creative visions.
Pendleton began his remarks by thanking past and present Boston Conservatory faculty for their incredible teaching of more than a dozen alumni who joined MOMIX throughout the years. He discussed how aesthetics grow over time, sharing his experience photographing and working in nature before transitioning to the dance world. “I learned movement from momentum,” he said, “And that matters … nature has no bad choreography.”
He offered advice to the graduating class, sharing his hopes for audiences and how they approach his work. “I wanted an audience to say ‘What the hell was that? What did I just see?’ Not because confusion is fashionable, but because wonder expands perception,” Pendleton said. He also reflected on what makes an artist original in his remarks. “Stop trying to be original. Be observant instead. Originality often arises disguised as sincerity. The more honestly you respond to what fascinates you, the more distinctive your voice becomes,” he shared.
He emphasized the importance of humor in art, and not taking oneself too seriously, saying, “Delight opens the mind much faster than instruction.” In conclusion, Pendleton advised graduates to “build an aesthetic so alive that people leave your work seeing the world differently than when they first entered it.”
The senior speaker for Boston Conservatory’s graduating class was Joshua Alexander Griffin, who received his BFA in musical theater with a dance emphasis. Griffin most recently choreographed a performance of “Backstage Romance” from Moulin Rouge for this year’s Berklee Career Jam concert. He has been recognized for his accomplishments in dance and musical theater, respectively, at the two most recent Career Jam events.
Commencement senior speaker Joshua Alexander Griffin (BFA ’26, musical theater) addresses the audience.
Mike Spencer
Past honorary degree recipients for Boston Conservatory at Berklee include Debbie Allen, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Betty Buckley, André De Shields, Cynthia Erivo, Sutton Foster, LaChanze, Tania León, Victoria Livengood (MM ’85, voice), Lar Lubovitch, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Kelli O’Hara, Nicholas Paleologos, Billy Porter, Awadagin Pratt, Leontyne Price, and Chita Rivera, among others.
