Memory and Hope

Juventas New Music Ensemble opens its 17th season with Memory & Hope, September 11 at the Multicultural Art Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The concert’s centerpiece is the world premiere of Millennial Elegy by Stephanie Ann Boyd, commissioned by Juventas to mark the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the United States and honor everyone lost to COVID. “These two tragedies have been the moments for those of my generation and culture where time stopped,” shares Ms. Boyd. “Writing this piece has been a very tender, at times difficult process, and how could it not be? The far off memories of twenty years ago, being ten years old and asking my grandfather what was happening and having him, a man who I felt knew everything, solemnly tell me ‘Stephanie…I don’t know,’ mingled with the much more vivid memories of being in New York City in the spring of 2020, watching Covid cases grow exponentially every day.” Boyd partnered with award-winning poet Jessica Lynn Suchon, a long-time collaborator, who wrote original lyrics to speak to the moment.

The concert also includes Is There a Word That Means Return?, by Juventas Artistic Director Oliver Caplan, with lyrics by local author Mehgan Guidry; and music by three composers selected from an international call for scores: Robert Ruohola (Finland), Joe Jaxson (Virginia) and Cole Reyes (New York). “At ages 21-26, these three composers are rising lights,” says Mr. Caplan. “They have so much to say already, and we can’t wait to see how their voices develop in the years ahead.”

Memory & Hope is Juventas’s first-ever hybrid concert, welcoming both an in-person audience in Cambridge, and viewers around the world, watching a simultaneous high-definition live stream on YouTube. The ensemble has been busier than ever through the pandemic. Its online virtual concerts have been watched by over 30,000 people in 45 U.S. States and 49 countries. And it’s June program Music in Bloom at Tower Hill Botanic Garden was attended by over 1,000 people.

Audience members must be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to attend the concert in-person, and masks will be required at all times. The Multicultural Arts Center is equipped with a MERV-14 air filter, and the audience will be limited to 75 people, 50% of the venue’s capacity.