By Jason M. Rubin

Juventas’s commitment to classical music in the present tense makes it the only professional ensemble of its kind devoted specifically to the music of emerging composers.

Anne Howarth (horn), Julia Scott Carey (piano), and Celine Ferro (clarinet) of Juventas New Music. Photo: courtesy of the artist

If you’re not generally a fan of classical music, it might be because you’ve bought into the canard of it being all about the music of dead white men. As the locally based Juventas New Music Ensemble’s name implies, it ain’t necessarily so. Now celebrating its 20th-anniversary season, Juventas has performed the music of more than 300 living composers from six continents. This commitment to classical music in the present tense makes it the only professional ensemble of its kind devoted specifically to the music of emerging composers.

Says Medford-based composer Oliver Caplan, who serves as artistic and executive director, “For me, this season is about the Juventas family in the broadest sense of that word. I’m talking about all of the musicians, composers, staff, board, and audience members who have been part of this incredible 20-year journey. We have performed extraordinary works that tell the stories of our time: joy and grief, war and peace, nature, technology, mental health, climate change, love, heartbreak, immigration, persecution, abuse, perseverance, equality, and above all, visions of a better tomorrow.”

Reflecting the ensemble’s commitment to uplifting diverse voices, 53 percent of this season’s composers identify as BIPOC and 47 percent as women or gender nonbinary. This is well in keeping with the goals of the Juventas founders: pianist Julia Scott Carey, composer Erin Huelskamp, and conductor Mark David Buckles. Caplan became involved in 2007 — two years after its founding — first as director of marketing and communications, then as a board member, and was appointed artistic director in 2017. In his seven-year tenure as artistic director, Juventas’s budget has quadrupled, the number of annual performances has grown, and the audience has ballooned from 300 total to more than 3,000 in person and more than 1,000 online.

“Juventas is the only contemporary ensemble with a specific focus on emerging voices,” says Caplan. “A developing poet or painter, wherever they are in their evolution, can share their work exactly as they’ve created it. The same, however, is not true of emerging composers — they need musicians to perform their scores, and the quality of those musicians makes a difference because many new classical compositions are quite challenging to play. Juventas offers a bridge, uplifting composers with top-notch professional performances that realize their work to its fullest potential. We also help to advance their careers by making recordings for their portfolio, mentoring, and audience exposure.”

This season will be the ensemble’s most ambitious yet, featuring a record number of performances; adding new venue partnerships with First Parish Sudbury and the Brattleboro Music Center in Vermont; and expanding its relationship with the New England Botanic Garden (NEBG). The collaboration with NEBG will reach full blossom in winter and spring 2025, with two new programs that have yet to be announced.

It’s true that new music can be challenging to unfamiliar ears, but the unusual venues and original programming go a long way to making the music more accessible. Furthermore, Juventas is continuing its Music for All program, which offers $1 tickets for anyone who can’t afford the regular prices — for any reason, no questions asked. Try getting into Symphony Hall for a buck.

Despite a challenging time for arts groups, the new season is larger than any in its history: 11 concerts featuring the music of 34 living composers, nine of them new to the Juventas stage. The full ensemble comprises nine core members plus guest artists performing in a range of configurations. The core players are Thomas Barth, cello; Lu Yu, viola; Julia Scott Carey, piano; Kelley Hollis, soprano; Anne Howarth, horn; Celine Ferro, clarinet; Thomas Schmidt, percussion; Ryan Shannon, violin; and Nicholas Southwick, flute.

The 2024-25 schedule includes a program of highlights from the ensemble’s recorded catalog, concerts celebrating works inspired by the New England region, and, of course, its official 20th-anniversary celebration in East Cambridge on November 16, 2024, with live YouTube broadcast.

For more information, to purchase tickets, and/or to donate, visit the Juventas website.

Jason M. Rubin has been a professional writer for 40 years. He has written for Arts Fuse since 2012. His books include Villainy Ever After (2022), a collection of classic fairy tales told from the villains’ point of view; and Ancient Tales Newly Told (2019), a pairing of two historical romances: The Grave & The Gay, based on a 17th-century English folk ballad; and King of Kings, about King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, told primarily from the Ethiopian tradition. In addition, Jason teaches journaling workshops and is a member of the New England Indie Authors Collective. He holds a BA in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He can be reached at http://www.jasonmrubin.com.