What makes a piece of music special? with Hub New Music

Called “contemporary chamber trailblazers” by the Boston Globe , Hub New Music — composed of flute, clarinet, violin, and cello — is forging new pathways in 21st-century repertoire. The ensemble’s ambitious commissioning projects and “appealing programs” (New Yorker) celebrate the rich diversity of today’s classical music landscape. In recent seasons, HNM’s performances have been described as “gobsmacking” (Cleveland Classical), “innovative” (WBUR), and “the cutting edge of new classical music” (Taos News). Hub New Music brings its passion for adventurous and relevant programming to global audiences as both a quartet and as collaborative artists. Recent projects include Matsuri with shakuhachi player Kojiro Umezaki and the Asia / America New Music Institute (AANMI); The Nature of Breaking, a 30-minute collaborative work with composer/harpist Hannah Lash; Requiem for the Enslaved, an evening length mass by Carlos Simon supported by Georgetown University’s GU272 Project that honors the lives of 272 African American slaves and their descendants; and a choreographed production of Robert Honstein’s Soul House with Boston’s Urbanity Dance.
The Question of the Week is, "What makes a piece of music special?" This week, we discuss what makes a piece of music special to each of the group's members, the process of curating a concert program to optimize the audience experience, how to find the special quality within a piece of contemporary music, how delving into different areas of the classical music field affects your musicality, and the group's amazing new album, Soul House.
You can find out more about Hub New Music on their website, hubnewmusic.org and hear their new album, Soul House, on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music.