Composers in Red Sneakers was a Boston-based composers collective founded in 1981 by

Thomas Oboe Lee Thomas Oboe Lee (born September 5, 1945) is a Chinese American composer. Life Lee was born in Beijing, China. His family left Communist China in 1949 and lived in Hong Kong until 1959, when he moved to São Paulo, Brazil. He emigrated to the ...

, Christopher Stowens, Robert Aldridge,

Roger Bourland Roger Bourland (born December 13, 1952) is an American composer, publisher, blogger, and Professor-Emeritus of Music at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. Biography Born in Evanston, Illinois, Bourland received a Bachelor of Music in Music T ...

, Amy Reich, and Gary Philo. Concerts were given in the

Old Cambridge Baptist Church The Old Cambridge Baptist Church is a historic American Baptist church at 400 Harvard Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The congregation was founded in 1844 when several members of First Baptist Church in Cambridge decided to start a new chu ...

and in Harvard University's Sanders Theatre. One of their early advocates was

Richard Dyer Richard Dyer (born 1945) is an English academic who held a professorship in the Department of Film Studies at King's College London. Specialising in cinema (particularly Italian cinema), queer theory, and the relationship between entertainment ...

, the music critic of '' The Boston Globe''. The group appeared at

Symphony Space Symphony Space, founded by Isaiah Sheffer and Allan Miller, is a multi-disciplinary performing arts organization at 2537 Broadway on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Performances take place in the 760-seat Peter Jay Sharp Theatre (also called Pe ...

in New York City in 1985 and produced an eponymous LP that same year. Their concerts were marked by an irreverent attitude including humorous, pre-recorded introductions and skits. The consortium subsequently recruited many new composers including Richard Cornell, Herman Weiss, Jean Hasse, Michael Carnes,

Lansing McLoskey Lansing McLoskey (born 1964) is an American composer of contemporary classical music. His ''Zealot Canticles: An Oratorio for Tolerance'' was a winner of the 61st Annual Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance by the ensemble The Crossing. M ...

, Margaret McAllister, Francine Trester,

Howard Frazin Howard Frazin (born 1962) is a composer based in Somerville, Massachusetts. His works are published by Edition Peters and he has served as president of Composers in Red Sneakers. He served on the faculty of the Longy School of Music and has taught ...

, Thomas Schnauber, Delvyn Case, Ronald Bruce Smith,

Ken Ueno Ken Ueno (born January 11, 1970 in Bronxville, New York) is an American composer. Career Ueno pursued initial studies in music at the United States Military Academy in West Point, NY, but soon transferred to Berklee College of Music, where he ea ...

, and

Peter Van Zandt Lane Peter Van Zandt Lane (born Port Jefferson, New York on May 13, 1985) is an American composer of acoustic and electroacoustic music. Biography Peter Van Zandt Lane is a recipient of a 2018 Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts a ...

. By 2010, Composers in Red Sneakers ceased operations.

References

Sources

*Cleary, David
"The Boston New-Music Scene: Present and Recent Past, with Special Emphasis on Composers in Red Sneakers"
''21st Century Music'', June 2000, Volume 7, Number 6 *Holland, Bernard

'' The New York Times'', 13 October 1985 *Page, Tim
"Numic Notes; Moderns in Red Sneakers"
''The New York Times'', 6 October 1985. *'' The Philadelphia Inquirer''
"Bostonians Make Their Own Album"
23 June 1985, (subscription access)

External links

*Boston Musicians Association �
Composers in Red SneakersComposers in Red Sneakers
on WorldCat Musical groups established in 1981 Musical groups from Boston 1981 establishments in Massachusetts {{US-orchestra-stub