The New England Conservatory has appointed cellist Natasha Brofsky (shown here) of the Peabody Trio to its faculty. Brofsky grew up in New York City and studied at the Eastman School of Music and Mannes College, where her teachers included Marion Feldman, Robert Sylvester, Paul Katz (currently NEC faculty and head of the conservatory's Professional String Quartet Training Program), and Timothy Eddy. In 1987, she was awarded a Fulbright Grant to study with William Pleeth in London, where she also won the Muriel Taylor Cello Prize. Brofsky has held principal positions in the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra. . . . Grammy-nominated bassist and composer John Clayton has been selected to lead the jazz programs at Centrum in Port Townsend, Washington. Founded in 1973 by the Washington State Arts Commission, the State Parks Commission, and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Centrum is a statewide center for workshops, residencies, and festivals in the visual, performing, and literary arts. Clayton served as the artistic director of Jazz for the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl from 1999 until 2001. His compositions have been performed by ensembles throughout the United States and Europe, including the American Jazz Philharmonic and the Carnegie Hall Big Band. He is the coleader, along with his saxophone-playing brother Jeff, of the Clayton Brothers Quintet. They also colead, together with drummer Jeff Hamilton, the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. . . . Kailin Yong, a violinist originally from Singapore, is the recipient this year of the Daniel Pearl Foundation Violin. Yong lives and works in Boulder and Denver and performs in a number of ensembles. The violin, crafted by Jonathan Cooper, is awarded annually to a promising young player. It is dedicated to the Wall Street Journal reporter and amateur violinist murdered by terrorists in 2002 while on assignment in Pakistan.

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