Encore!

The ensemble’s program celebrates audience favorites from 20-year history March 22, 2025 at the Multicultural Arts Center, East Cambridge.

Boston | Juventas New Music Ensemble continues its 20th anniversary season “Legacy” with Encore!, a program of audience favorites. The concert features the works of six living composers Catarina Domenici, Juventas Artistic Director Oliver Caplan, Michael-Thomas Foumai, Joe Jaxson, Jorge Sosa, and Steven Sérpa. It will be presented on March 22, 8pm at the Multicultural Arts Center in East Cambridge, MA, and live-streamed on YouTube. 

Encore! celebrates new music as repertoire. The program was curated from years of “Play It Again!” cards, a survey that audience members are invited to complete after a Juventas Mainstage program. In keeping with Juventas’ commitment to presenting socially resonant works, each piece in the concert explores events and emotions that speak directly to our shared experiences.

Amazonia by Catarina Domenici is inspired by the ongoing destruction of the Amazon rainforest; Steven Sérpa’s Canciónes de Desamor explores the feelings of lost love; Maori Lament was written immediately after the terrorist attack in Christ Church, New Zealand; Persevering by Joe Jaxson was written to cope with the composer’s depression; and My Elephant Cloud by Oliver Caplan and Olmsted Gardens by Michael-Thomas Foumai take inspiration from the soul’s joyful connection with nature, celebrating its beauty and serenity.

“Juventas believes contemporary music deserves repeat performances, just like the classical greats,” says Artistic Director Oliver Caplan. “A great piece of music reveals itself in layers; each time we listen, we notice something new.”

Encore! will feature performances by Nicholas Southwick, Celine Ferro, Anne Howarth, Julia Scott Carey, Ryan Shannon, Sam Kelder, Thomas Schmidt, Kelley Hollis, and Justus Ross, led by guest conductor Kristo Kondakçi.