New Music Calendar Boston
This entry is different from the sort of thing I will ordinarily post here, but it is intended to answer some basic questions about the “New Music Calendar Boston” that I manage, at http://newmusiccalendar.com/boston.html
This is an informational post only, unrelated to my activities as a composer. I’ll refer people here when they have questions about the calendar! (I’ll likely write more in other posts about things I’ve observed and learned through managing this calendar and how they relate to my composing…)
The “New Music Calendar Boston” is intended to be a fairly comprehensive, simple listing of public concerts/events in the greater Boston area that feature “new music,” loosely defined as ‘composed’ concert music by living and recently living composers. (See below for a more elaborate explanation.)
To have an event added to the calendar, just send an email with all the basic info about the event (especially what repertoire is being played) to bostonnewmusic@gmail.com
The calendar is updated quite regularly, and I try to respond to requests within a day. To see the most recent updates, you’ll generally need to reload or refresh the browser tab that you’re using to view the calendar.
The calendar is purposely very basic and bare-bones, essentially a public google spreadsheet. and it uses a format that was first set up by composer Todd Tarantino for the NYC region. It is composer-centric, meaning that the primary piece of data is the list of composers whose work will be performed on each event. Contemporary and recent composers are listed first, by full name, unless use of a single ubiquitous name allows little room for doubt as to the composer’s identity. Other composer names are sometimes also included parenthetically. Date, time, performers (or presenting organization), and location are also provided. Information about cost/tickets and a public-facing link to more information are included when possible. (Facebook or other social media links are not included, as they often require creating an account in order to view the information.)
Exclusions: While many of the criteria for the list are somewhat flexible, the calendar will not list any of the following -
events taking place outside of the greater Boston area, generally defined as within the orbit of Rt. 495 and/or accessible by public transportation within an hour’s travel from downtown Boston
events that are not fully open to the public (e.g.. fundraisers that are in private homes, by invitation only, or requiring membership in an organization or participation in a conference)
student composer concerts (i.e. concerts presented by educational institutions that include only works composed by students attending those institutions)
Beyond that, there are no stylistic restrictions that apply to the calendar. It is NOT a curated calendar and is not meant to be reflective of my taste or that of any other specific individuals. Some degree of subjective personal judgment is involved where the boundaries of what constitutes “new music” or “concert music” are fuzzy. (My own interests encompass a great deal of music that isn’t covered by the calendar.) The idea is for the calendar to be inclusive in many ways, while also keeping it focused enough to be useful for those who would otherwise potentially have to sift through many hundreds of event listings in other places to find “new music” events.
So, generally speaking, pop music and jazz events are not included unless there’s a specific identifiable crossover. There are other places online that have comprehensive listings for improvised music, including jazz. (Personally, I’m a big fan of music that exists at the interstices of avant-garde improvisation and composed “new music,” but unless that connection is made explicit I consider it my job to keep this calendar focused on the latter category!)
I do strive to make the calendar as accurate as possible, and to make corrections when necessary, but I can’t be held responsible for incorrect information. I encourage people using the calendar to always follow the links provided, to verify that a concert is actually happening at the time and place listed, etc. I’m not always informed of when a concert has been cancelled or postponed, time-shifted etc. Most of the events on the calendar come from my actively seeking out concert listings online, through social media, by subscribing to email bulletins, and through word of mouth. But I also depend a great deal on people sending information directly to bostonnewmusic@gmail.com - There is so little consistency to how people promote concerts nowadays, or to the timetable by which they do it. Meanwhile, I’ve got no funding stream. This is an entirely voluntary service, and I’ll save any discussion of my motivation for doing it for a separate blog post! There’s the seldom-used option to Venmo me “a coffee,” i.e. a little donation to help me justify the time spent doing this work, but I don’t expect it or rely upon it! I’ve sometimes accepted offers of free tickets to concerts listed on the new music calendar, which I don’t regard as a conflict of interest as I am not in the business of reviewing concerts, curating according to my taste or preference, or using the calendar to promote any one concert more than another. I’m just including as many events as I can which meet the criteria.
Finally, and crucially, when in doubt as to whether to list a concert, I do err on the side of inclusion, and am dependent somewhat on events that self-identify as “new music” events. Concerts that consist mostly of standard and/or historic repertoire but include a small amount of “new music” may be listed but are not typically included by default, unless someone makes a good-faith request to have a specific event be included, or the new piece is a featured premiere, etc. Sometimes I’m just making an educated guess about what will include contemporary music, based on my familiarity with the performers or presenting organization.
The one area I do make SOME professional curatorial decisions has to do with certain historical repertoire. Concerts that feature seminal works of avant-garde or landmark boundary-redefining repertoire that remain highly influential among a critical mass of “new music” afficionados do get listed on the calendar, on a case-by-case basis, even if the works are more than a century old. (However, the calendar will never include concerts that are exclusively limited to 19th century and earlier repertoire.) The inclusion of such works is not indicative of any aesthetic preferences, nor intended to imply that works by living composers must be stylistically “avant-garde” in order to warrant inclusion on the calendar!
There are traces of previous iterations of a Boston “New Music Calendar” that can be found online still but which are no longer maintained, and which I have nothing to do with. The URL http://newmusiccalendar.com/boston.html is the only one to which all of this pertains, and the way to ask any questions about it that aren’t answered here is to email: bostonnewmusic@gmail.com
Thank you for your interest in the Boston new music scene!
— Curtis