Boston Musica Viva is a Boston, Massachusetts-based music ensemble founded by its Music Director, Richard Pittman, in 1969 and dedicated to contemporary music.

Composers and compositions

In its 44-year history, Boston Musica Viva has performed more than 600 works by over 250 composers. These include over 150 works written specifically for BMV, over 160 world premieres, and over 75 Boston premieres. Among the composers whose work the ensemble has performed are

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

-winners

Ellen Taaffe Zwilich Ellen Taaffe Zwilich ( ; born April 30, 1939) is an American composer, the first female composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music. Her early works are marked by atonal exploration, but by the late 1980s, she had shifted to a postmodernist, ne ...

John Harbison John Harris Harbison (born December 20, 1938) is an American composer, known for his symphonies, operas, and large choral works. Life John Harris Harbison was born on December 20, 1938, in Orange, New Jersey, to the historian Elmore Harris Harb ...

Joseph Schwantner Joseph Clyde Schwantner (born March 22, 1943, Chicago, Illinois) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer, educator and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 2002. He was awarded the 1970 Charles Ives Prize. Schwantner ...

and

Steven Stucky Steven Edward Stucky (November 7, 1949 − February 14, 2016) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer. Life and career Stucky was born in Hutchinson, Kansas. At age 9, he moved with his family to Abilene, Texas, where, as a teenager, he ...

World premieres

Boston Musica Viva has presented the world premieres of

Thea Musgrave Thea Musgrave CBE (born 27 May 1928) is a Scottish composer of opera and classical music. She has lived in the United States since 1972. Biography Born in Barnton, Edinburgh, Musgrave was educated at Moreton Hall School, a boarding independent ...

’s opera ''The Mocking-Bird'',

’s ''A Full Moon in March'',

Theo Loevendie Johan Theodorus Loevendie (born 17 September 1930 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch composer and clarinet player. Loevendie studied composition and clarinet at the music academy (Conservatorium) of Amsterdam. Initially he concentrated on jazz music. A ...

’s ''Gassir, the Hero'', Martin Brody’s ''Heart of a Dog'', and

John Eaton John Eaton may refer to: * John Eaton (divine) (born 1575), English divine *John Eaton (pirate) (fl. 1683–1686), English buccaneer *Sir John Craig Eaton (1876–1922), Canadian businessman *John Craig Eaton II (born 1937), Canadian businessman an ...

’s ''Traveling with Gulliver''.

Touring

In addition to its Boston concert season, Boston Musica Viva’s touring engagements have taken them to

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

, the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

, the Weill Recital Hall at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

, the

92nd Street Y 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) is a cultural and community center located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the corner of East 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Founded in 1874 as the Young Men's Hebrew Association, the ...

Tanglewood Tanglewood is a music venue in the towns of Lenox and Stockbridge in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. It has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937. Tanglewood is also home to three music schools: the T ...

, the

University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...

, and the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. The ensemble has made eight tours of Europe, making appearances that included the Settembre Musica Festival in

Turin, Italy Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

. Boston Musica Viva has recorded for the Albany, Neuma, Delos, CRI, Nonesuch, Newport Classic and Northeastern Records labels. Boston Musica Viva received an

Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Com ...

Fund grant in 1993 and in 2003, the ensemble received the

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

/Chamber Music America Award for Adventurous Programming.

Partial list of composers with works premiered or performed by Boston Musica Viva

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading fi ...

Elliott Carter Elliott Cook Carter Jr. (December 11, 1908 – November 5, 2012) was an American modernist composer. One of the most respected composers of the second half of the 20th century, he combined elements of European modernism and American "ultra- ...

Peter Child Peter Burlingham Child (born 6 May 1953) is an American composer, teacher, and musical analyst. He is Professor of Music at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and was a composer in residence with the New England Philharmonic. Educat ...

Osvaldo Golijov Osvaldo Noé Golijov (; born December 5, 1960) is an Argentine composer of classical music and music professor, known for his vocal and orchestral work. Biography Osvaldo Golijov was born in and grew up in La Plata, Argentina, in a Jewish family ...

* Patrick Greene *

* Donald Harris *

Bernard Hoffer Bernard Hoffer (born October 14, 1934) is a Swiss-born American composer and conductor. He is best known for his work on American cartoons such as '' ThunderCats'' and ''SilverHawks''. He worked on several of Rankin/Bass' television series and ...

Shirish Korde Shirish Korde (born June 18, 1945), is a Ugandan composer of Indian ancestry. He is the Chair of the Music Department at the College of the Holy Cross (Worcester, MA) and has previously been on the faculty of the Berklee College of Music, the New ...

William Kraft William Kraft (September 6, 1923 – February 12, 2022) was an American composer, conductor, teacher, timpanist, and percussionist. Biography Early life and education (1923–1954) Kraft was born in Chicago, Illinois. He was awarded two Anton Seid ...

* Gyorgy Kurtag * Joyce Mekeel *

Frederic Rzewski Frederic Anthony Rzewski ( ; April 13, 1938 – June 26, 2021) was an American composer and pianist, considered to be one of the most important American composer-pianists of his time. His major compositions, which often incorporate social an ...

Gunther Schuller Gunther Alexander Schuller (November 22, 1925June 21, 2015) was an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, educator, publisher, and jazz musician. Biography and works Early years Schuller was born in Queens, New York City, ...

Ralph Shapey Ralph Shapey (12 March 1921 – 13 June 2002) was an American composer and conductor. Biography Shapey was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is known for his work as a composition professor at the University of Chicago, where he taught ...

Rand Steiger Rand Steiger (born June 18, 1957, in New York City) is an American composer, conductor, and pedagogue. Steiger attended the Manhattan School of Music and the California Institute of the Arts, where he became a faculty member in 1982. In 1987, he j ...

* Andy Vores *

Jörg Widmann Jörg Widmann (born 19 June 1973) is a German composer, conductor and clarinetist. In 2018, Widmann was the third most performed contemporary composer in the world. Formerly a clarinet and composition professor at the University of Music Freibu ...

Chen Yi Chen Yi may refer to: * Xuanzang (602–664), born as Chen Yi, Chinese Buddhist monk in Tang Dynasty * Chen Yi (Kuomintang) Chen Yi (; courtesy names Gongxia (公俠) and later Gongqia (公洽), sobriquet Tuisu (退素); May 3, 1883 – June ...

Evan Ziporyn Evan Ziporyn (b. Chicago, Illinois, December 14, 1959) is an American composer of post-minimalist music with a cross-cultural orientation, drawing equally from classical music, avant-garde, various world music traditions, and jazz. Ziporyn h ...

Current and former members of Boston Musica Viva

Violin

* Bayla Keyes * Danielle Maddon * Cecile Garcia-Moeller *Mary Crowder Hess

Viola

* Willine Thoe * Katherine Murdock

Cello

* Jan Mueller-Szeraws * Ronald Thomas * Bruce Coppock

Contrabass

* Carolyn Davis Fryer

Flute

* John Heiss (1969–74) *

Fenwick Smith Fenwick Smith (1949 – July 19, 2017) was an American flutist. He studied under Joseph Mariano at the Eastman School of Music, graduating from there in 1972. Shortly thereafter he became a member of the New England Woodwind Quintet and began a ...

* Renee Krimsier * Mauricio Garcia * Alicia DiDonato (2003–2008) * Ann K. Bobo (2008–present)

Oboe

* Nancy Dimock

Clarinet

* William Kirkley

Bassoon

* Greg Newton

French horn

* Rick Menaul * Bob Marlatt * Jean Rife

Trumpet

* Steve Banzaert

Trombone

* Robert Couture

Timpani

* Jeffrey Fischer

Percussion

* Robert Schulz * Dean Anderson

Piano

* Hugh Hinton * Geoffrey Burleson *

Bruce Brubaker Bruce Brubaker is a musician, artist, concert pianist, and writer from the United States. Concepts Brubaker's work uses and combines Western classical music with postmodern artistic, literary, theatrical, and philosophical ideas. He is associat ...

* Evelyn Zuckerman

Performers who have appeared with Boston Musica Viva

* Composer, conductor and pianist Rob Kapilow * Vocalist

Dominique Eade Dominique Frances Eade (June 16, 1958) is an American jazz singer and composer. She has taught at the New England Conservatory. Career She attended Vassar College and the Berklee College of Music before finishing her degree at New England Con ...

* Mezzo-soprano Janice Felty * Pianist Randall Hodgkinson * Mezzo-soprano Pamela Dellal * Soprano Elizabeth Keusch * Soprano Emily Thorner

References

External links

Boston Musica Viva web siteRichard Pittman web site
{{Laurel Leaf Award Culture of Boston Organizations based in Boston Contemporary classical music ensembles American classical music groups