juventas new music ensemble

Since its founding in 2005, Juventas has performed the music of more than 200 living composers. The ensemble has earned a reputation as a curator with a keen eye for new talent. It opens doors for composers with top-notch professional performances that present their work in the best possible light.

Recognition for the ensemble’s work includes the American Prize in Opera Performance and support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Massachusetts Cultural Council, and Boston Foundation. Juventas is featured on albums by Innova Recordings, Parma Records, and New Dynamic Records, and has held residencies at Boston Conservatory, Harvard University, Longy School of Music, Middlebury College, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Juventas has a storied history of dynamic collaboration with artists in other media, including dancers, painters, scientists, poets, puppeteers, and robotics engineers. A leader in the field, Juventas also facilitates the Boston New Music Festival, a week-long showcase of Boston’s contemporary music scene.

oliver caplan

Award-winning American composer Oliver Caplan writes melodies that nourish our souls, offering a voice of hope in an uncertain world. Inspired by the resiliency of the human spirit and beauty of the natural world, his music celebrates stories of social justice, conservation and community.

Mr. Caplan’s works have been performed in over 175 performances nationwide. He has been commissioned by the Atlanta Chamber Players, Bella Piano Trio, Bronx Arts Ensemble, Brookline Symphony Orchestra, Columbia University Wind Ensemble, and New Hampshire Master Chorale, among others. Winner of a Special Citation for the American Prize in Orchestral Composition, additional recognition includes two Veridian Symphony Competition Wins, the Fifth House Ensemble Competition Grand Prize, eight ASCAP Awards, and fellowships at Ragdale, VCCA and the Brush Creek Foundation.

Recordings of Mr. Caplan’s music include his 2017 release You Are Not Alone, which has been featured on Apple Music’s Classical A-list and streamed over 200,000 times; 2012 debut album Illuminations; and tracks on Trio Siciliano’s Exploring Music (2018, U07 Records) and the Sinfonietta of Riverdale’s New World Serenade (2016, Albany Records).

Mr. Caplan holds degrees from Dartmouth College and the Boston Conservatory, is a voting member of the Recording Academy. He resides in Medford, Massachusetts.

For more information, visit: www.olivercaplan.com

olga patramanska-bell, violin

Olga Patramanska-Bell was born and raised in Ukraine, where she received her musical education. After finishing her Bachelor’s degree at the R.M. Glier Kyiv State Higher Music College and studying a few years at the National Musical Academy of Ukraine, she came to Boston to continue her education at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, MA. She received her Masters of Music degree under the guidance of Mr. Mark Lakirovich. Olga is an active performer and participant in numerous concerts, projects and festivals. She is a winner of Concerto competition and Honors competition at the Longy School of Music, and has performed as a soloist with the Longy Chamber Orchestra, National Pops Symphony Orchestra, and Philharmonia Orchestra in Ukraine. Olga is a winner of several competitions in Ukraine and has travelled through Europe performing solo recitals and playing in violin ensemble.

In addition to teaching violin at Winchester Community Music School, Olga is currently a member of Zefira trio, Grand Harmonie, and Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, and is an assistant member of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and Symphony New Hampshire. Olga has performed with such groups as Boston New Music Initiative, Equilibrium Ensemble, Walden Chamber Music Players, ECCE ensemble, and Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra. She has served as a concertmaster for Boston Opera Collaborative, Harvard’s Lowell House Opera, and Commonwealth Lyric Theater. This year’s engagements include performances with Juventas New Music Ensemble and Sound Icon.

ryan shannon, violin

Ryan Shannon began his musical journey in the mountains of Colorado at five years old when his father, an amateur pianist, gave him his first violin. Sensing his love of music, his parents made it possible for him to attend the Walnut Hill School for the Arts. Ryan continued his studies at the New England Conservatory, where he studied with Lucy Chapman and Nicholas Kitchen, graduating in 2014. As a student, Ryan had the life-changing opportunity to attend the Center for the Development of Arts Leaders program at From The Top. Through this year-long partnership with the Hope Lodge, a residence for cancer patients, He learned that music can bring together those who are struggling through difficult circumstances. In recent years he has worked to bring this love to as many people as possible. He does this as an educator, as a member of Palaver Strings, and as an explorer of new music with Juventas New Music Ensemble, whose vivacious energy creates a powerful connection between music and the hearts of those who listen.

lu yu, viola

Born in China, Lu Yu began her musical studies at the age of six on violin. She started to play viola as her principal instrument at age twelve at the Xinghai Conservatory of Music in Guangzhou, China. Her studies then took her to the Royal Academy of Music in London with a full scholarship where she learned under the tutelage of Matthew Souter for the Bachelor of Music degree. Ms. Yu then studied with Marcus Thompson at the New England Conservatory in Boston where she received her Master of Music degree. Among her numerous awards, she was granted “The Young Musician of 2008” in Hong Kong. Her performance career has led to being the founding violist of the Loki String Quartet which is in residence at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Ms. Yu is also principal violist of the Boston Civic Symphony, performs with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, was recently co-principal viola of the Missouri Symphony and frequently performs with many of the ensembles around the Boston area.

thomas barth, cello

Cellist Thomas Barth received his Master’s degree from The New England Conservatory of Music in 2019, where he was a recipient of the Gregor Piatagorsky Memorial Fund scholarship. In recent months, he has performed throughout New England with groups such as A Far Cry, The Juventas New Music Ensemble,The Boston Festival Orchestra Palaver Strings, the Atlantic Symphony, and the Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra. His primary teachers include Richard Aaron and Lluís Claret, and he has performed in masterclasses for leading concert cellists such as Truls Mørk, Anner Bylsma, and Johannes Moser. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in cello performance with highest honors from the University of Michigan with supplementary studies at the Royal Conservatory of The Netherlands. Thomas is passionate about bringing thoughtful musical programming to the widest possible audiences; as a chamber musician, he has performed in diverse venues such as schools, farms, churches, and community centers throughout North America and Europe. In addition to his performance schedule, he maintains a private teaching studio and serves on the faculty at the Brookline Public Schools and MusiConnects. For the past several years, Thomas has maintained regular yoga and meditation practices and is interested in the connection between mindfulness, music, and movement.

STEPHANIE ANN BOYD, COMPOSER

Michigan-born, Manhattan-based American composer Stephanie Ann Boyd (b. 1990) writes melodic music about women’s memoirs and the natural world for symphonic and chamber ensembles. Her work has been performed in nearly all 50 states and has been commissioned by musicians and organizations in 37 countries. Boyd’s five ballets include works choreographed by New York City Ballet principal dancers Lauren Lovette, Ashley Bouder, NYCB soloist Peter Walker, and XAOC Contemporary Ballet’s Eryn Renee Young.  Eero, a ballet commissioned by Access Contemporary Music and Open House New York, was written for the grand opening of the TWA Hotel at JFK Airport. Her music has been praised as “attractive lyricism” (Gramophone), “[with] ethereal dissonances” (Boston Globe), “[music that] didn’t let itself be eclipsed” (Texas Classical Review), “arrestingly poetic” (BMOP), and “wide ranging, imaginative” (Portland Press Herald).

Boyd’s music has been commissioned and performed by concertmasters of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Singapore Symphony, the New York City Ballet Orchestra, the Des Moines Symphony, the Faroe Islands Symphony, the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra, the Fort Smith Symphony, the Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra, and principal players in the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.  Her music has been commissioned and/or played by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the New England Conservatory Philharmonic, the Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra, the New York Jazzharmonic, the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, the Roosevelt University Orchestra, the Eureka Ensemble, the JVL Festival Orchestra, the Texas State University Symphony, the Cremona International Academy Orchestra, the UW La Crosse Symphony, the Detroit Civic Orchestra, and the El Paso Youth Symphony. Her work has been presented by the Thalia and her Sisters concert series, the Moirae Ensemble, and Sandcastle New Music in New York City; Æpex Contemporary Music in Michigan; Juventas New Music, Collage New Music, and the New Gallery Concert Series in Boston; Cincinnati Soundbox, and others. Stephanie has worked with conductors such as Andrew Litton, Lina Gonzales, Earl Lee, Nathan Aspinall, Cliff Colnot, Gill Rose, Julian Benichou, Kristo Kondakci, and Kevin Fitzgerald.

The 2020/2021 season includes commissions from the Wyoming Symphony, Astral Artists with cellist Tommy Mesa, violinist Megan Healy, pianists Lara Downes, Lise de la Salle, Marta Aznavoorian, Lucille Chung, Susie Maddocks, Adrienne Park, Diane Kaztenburg Braun and Music Street, Sarah Bob and the New Gallery Concert Series, Holly Roadfeldt, Marianne Parker, Eunbi Kim, the Kurganov-Finehouse Duo, and others. This season also includes performances by the Lincoln Trio, Juventas New Music, Jennifer Reason, Lisa Pegher, Shouthouse, Ayanna Witter-Johnson, including concerts at the Kaufman Center, the Boston New Music Festival, the Festival of New American Music, Pianoforte in Chicago, live on Chicago’s WFMT radio station, and elsewhere.

Stephanie holds degrees from Roosevelt University and New England Conservatory, and she was one of the last violin students of renowned pedagogue John Kendall.

http://stephanieannboyd.com