Juventas New Music Ensemble


The Juventas New Music Ensemble is an instrumental ensemble located in Boston, Massachusetts devoted to performing musical works by composers under the age of 35. Their programming focuses on composers who actively blur the boundaries between popular musical genres and traditional art music. Since its inception, Juventas has received favorable reviews from several Boston publications.

History

Juventas was founded in 2005 by Erin Huelskamp, Julia Scott Carey and Mark David Buckles. The three musicians decided to create the ensemble after realizing the difficulties young, unknown composers face in securing performance venues for their works. Huelskamp stated, "We felt young and underrepresented in a musical world that highly values the wisdom and experience that comes with age....the lack of professional opportunities for young composers and musicians is a real problem to which Juventas hopes to provide some solution." The Latin word juventas, was chosen to reflect the ensemble's mission.
Since 2005, Juventas has regularly performed concerts of new works, including many premieres. The ensemble has also collaborated with other Boston music groups and organizations. In December 2009, Juventas collaborated with the Lorelei Ensemble on a holiday concert entitled "One Light," which featured seven new works by young composers. The works spanned a variety of subjects including Christmas, Hanukkah, the winter solstice, and Nietzschean philosophy.
In September 2010, Juventas performed a concert entitled "The Exquisite Corpse" which utilized dancers from the Boston Conservatory to supplement and accentuate the musical works. The choreography and relevance of the dance to the music received mixed reviews, though on the whole the concert was deemed a success. On this particular program, the oldest composition dated from 2005.
Juventas is currently an Ensemble-in-Residence at Boston Conservatory and a visiting Ensemble-in-Residence at Middlebury College.

Core members

Juventas consists of nine "core members" who perform in each concert. Other guest artists participate if required for a particular work. The current core members are Oliver Caplan, Nicholas Southwick, Wolcott Humphrey, Julia Scott Carey, Olga Patramanska-Bell, Minjin Chung, Kelley Hollis, and Anne Howarth.

Past members

Administrative Staff

Oliver Caplan
Chris Beagan
Meg Hastings
Ethan Poe
Chris Petre-Baumer
Erin Huelskamp
Board of Directors
John Carey, Chair
Leslie Jacobson Kaye
Cashman Kerr Prince
Ose Schwab
Peter Van Zandt Lane
Oliver Caplan, ex officio