The Juventas Podcast

Episode 5

podcast@juventasmusic.com (Juventas Music) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:09:29 +0000

The Juventas Podcast is back! In Episode 5, you will hear a recording of last spring’s production of Matthew Vest’s opera The Hourglass. In addition, I will introduce you to Lorelei Ensemble, a group of women’s voices dedicated to promoting little-known repertoire of yesterday and today. Juventas will be collaborating with Lorelei in an upcoming concert series entitled One Light: New Holiday Music with Women’s Choir.

Lidiya Yankovskaya, Associate Conductor

Juventas New Music Ensemble announces a Call for Chamber Operas

podcast@juventasmusic.com (Juventas Music) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:10:40 +0000

Juventas New Music Ensemble announces the Call for Chamber Operas. One opera will be selected from this call for performance in the Juventas Opera Project 2010 the Cambridge YMCA Theater on Thursday, May 20 through Saturday, May 22 at 8 PM and Sunday, May 23 at 3 PM.

Juventas is seeking Chamber Operas 45 minutes in length or longer scored for vocalists and up to 13 instrumentalists. Additionally, all composers must be age 35 or under as of Janurary 1st of the present year to be eligible for consideration.

Act fast! The application deadline is November 14, 2009.

Details and application instructions are available at http://www.juventasmusic.com/submissions.php. Any additional questions or comments can be directed to info@juventasmusic.com.

Here are a couple images from the Juventas Opera Project 2009:

Murmurs from Limbo Article

podcast@juventasmusic.com (Juventas Music) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:08:17 +0000

Boston Theatre Review wrote an article on our recent concert series titled Murmurs from Limbo. Check it out here.

For those of you who missed it, here’s a little details about what we performed:

Juventas New Music Ensemble opens its 2009-2010 concert season with “Murmurs from Limbo: A Musical Exploration into the Human Mind.” The production showcases chamber music by six up-and-coming composers, including the world premiere of Erich Stem’s Revisited. Each piece offers a lens into the imagination of a different composer as he engages with ideas about the human mind.

Program:

Tim STULLMAN: Deaf Ears Hear No Crying (2007)

Erich STEM: Revisited (2008)

Michael BOYD: Bit of Nostalgis (2006)

Øystein BAADSVIK: Fnugg (2002)

Ethan GREENE: The Mind is Like a Monkey, Swinging From Branch to Branch Through the Forest (2007)

Steven RICE: Murmurs from Limbo (2004)

Episode 4: Fierce

podcast@juventasmusic.com (Juventas Music) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 18:34:06 +0000

This podcast features a variety of music including a preview of the upcoming Fierce concert series, September 12-14th in Boston. Composers featured in this episode are Isaac Schankler, Quentin Kim, Dante De Silva, Joni Greene, and Yoomi Paick. Enjoy!

Episode 3: Peter McMurray’s new opera

podcast@juventasmusic.com (Juventas Music) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 01:36:20 +0000

This episode features Peter McMurray’s A Rooster for Asclepius which was premiered in March as part of the Juventas Chamber Opera Project. The opera recounts the last days of the Greek philosopher Socrates. For a synopsis and composer notes, please see the program. Stay tuned for the other two operas in the coming months.

Just numbers

podcast@juventasmusic.com (Juventas Music) — Wed, 28 May 2008 17:47:18 +0000

(Preamble: I am not on the board of Juventas, nor do I hold an administrative duty or position more official than blogger. Who plays guitar sometimes too.)For three seasons, Juventas has existed playing almost entirely the music of young composers. This is highly unusual for a new music ensemble and it is part of everything we do, from the mission statement to the name itself. However, our most recent call for scores sparked a lively debate on the Society of Composers listserve around whether or not this fundamental principle of our is ageism. By its strictest definition, it is. However the real question is whether this, and more generally age restrictions in general, are artistically beneficial. A post by Chamber Music Today duly notes that ageism is separate from other “-ism”s is that it is descrimination not in something you are but something you become. While there are many repugnant reasons that ageism comes up, the applicable one in this case is that through time one acquires skills, craft and most importantly connections that will get one’s music heard. As in the case of any “disadvantaged” group, it seems to make sense to give them a fair shake by excluding those that have such a skillset. Whereas drawing these lines along ethnic or gender terms more often than not comes across as pejorative, logic can be tricked into thinking it obvious that younger composers won’t have these attributes.Of course, the tricky part of this is that not all composers come to the profession along the same path. As many members of the SCI listserve note, many composers are in second careers after finding their initially chosen paths unfulfilling. These composers don’t have the practice or the connections that would expected of artists their age because they came to the clubhouse early. So the term “emerging composer” is bandied about which fits the spirit of the letters perfectly but is nearly impossible to quantify. Similiar programs for performers have an easier yardstick to use (lack of professional representation) but an essentially legal document like a call for scores needs something that draws a distinct line and a complicated definition of “emerging composer” is not particularly attractive.Some chatter on the SCI list called age restrictions hubris on the part of the ensemble, assuming that without them David Lang and Morton Subotnick would march in and win everything. Barring megalomania, this isn’t happening. There is something inherent about the call-for-scores that doesn’t appeal to the top echelon of composers, anyways. Why throw a score at a ensemble to likely don’t know if you have commissions and ensembles you’ve already worked with? So it should be the class of “emerging composers” that this entire construct appeals to anyways. Unfortunately, while prejudicial would be strong word I can feel comfortable calling people lazy. Reading a deluge of scores is taxing work, and even subconsciously is a name sounds vaguely familiar it can be enough to stand out. Hence the age restriction, which again does not help out our older emerging composers.It’s not like there is no precedent for this sort of program. Young artist programs for vocalists have existed for decades, mainly because what is implied for other artists is fact for singers. A singer’s voice is not going to be mature until their 30s, but if they work at Pizza Hut until they have the natural ability to stand a chance in an open audition they’ll lack any sense of musicianship or professional skills. While instrumentalists and composers do not have this natural cap, the career arc is not entirely different.Lastly, it is important that the age restriction is also to foster the celebration of music by our peers. We do not subscribe to the “cult of prodigy” as Kyle Gann describes it, the majority of us are current graduate students or recent alumni. This may make the age restriction seem more like a “No Adults Allowed!” sign, but our belief in the music of our time is not mere posturing. However this belief is not all-blinding, the majority of us play with other ensembles as well where we perform music by all shades of composers.Whether or not it can be deemed with a term as ugly as ageism, this is our mission and one we believe to be artistically valid. The music of our peers, the music of our time is something we look forward to continuing to explore.

A man of wealth and taste

podcast@juventasmusic.com (Juventas Music) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 04:06:11 +0000

It behooves me to introduce myself to the audience of this fine podcast before I start my incoherent ramblings. My name is Andy Hanson-Dvoracek, guitarist, amateur musicologist, and now mercenary new-music bloginista. Those of you who attended the Winter (whatever it was) concert series last December might recognize me as the guitar player desperately struggling with Tony Lanman’s righteous Sonata 46. More likely you’ve seen my haunting presence in the comments sections of various other new music blogs or my own place, The Black Torrent Guard.As a musicologist, I exist in a weird place as far as this bleeding-edge classical stuff goes. There aren’t many of us, first of all. Those few brave souls who do try to deal with this noise that has been happening for the past forty or so years have abandoned much hope of making any sense of it. Lacking any of my own, that it what I aim to do as well as further elucidate just what we of the Juventas! brood are trying to do by celebrating this fantastic music. I certainly hope it is as enjoyable for you as it is infuriating for me.

Composers: Get your music heard!

podcast@juventasmusic.com (Juventas Music) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 16:50:41 +0000

The Juventas podcast is now accepting submissions. Come share your work with your peers, and the world, on the only monthly podcast exclusively featuring music by composers 35 and under. If you want to have your recordings considered for inclusion, download this application form and email us your mp3s.

Episode 2

podcast@juventasmusic.com (Juventas Music) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:59:52 +0000

This episode features music by Stephen Yip, Anthony Joseph Lanman, Paul Dooley, and Julia Scott Carey, and an interview with Dooley and newly appointed Juventas music director Michael Sakir. Performers include the USC Thornton Symphony, Alexa Schmitz, Brandon Brooks, Heather Ash, and other members of the Juventas ensemble.

2008-09 BSO Schedule Arrives

podcast@juventasmusic.com (Juventas Music) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 21:02:35 +0000

The 2008-09 Boston Symphony Orchestra schedule arrived in my mail box today, and I’m excited. First, let me just praise James Levine for his continued bravery in programming modern music. I have been attending the BSO more regularly this season, and it has been a treat to hear the masterpieces of the 20th century and world premiers of the 21st by this dynamic ensemble. On next season’s schedule I counted 27 such works. Highlights include Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and Petrushka (1911 version), Mahler’s Symphonies Nos. 4 and 6, Ives’ Symphony No. 4, and Orff’s Carmina Burana. Four world premieres will also take place: Andre Previn’s Owls, which he will conduct himself, Leon Kirchner’s The Forbidden, Elliot Carter’s Interventions for piano and orchestra, and Gunther Schuller’s Where the World Ends. Oh, and for those who like old music, there’s also a whole lot of Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms.