“Twenty-five years ago, word traveled quickly about a new orchestra in Boston entirely devoted to works created by living composers, and to music of the last 100 years,” writes Jeremy Eichler in Sunday’s (2/13) Boston Globe. “It would have an omnivorous conductor keen to actively collaborate, a core of crack freelance players … and a hunger to attract audiences far beyond the small niche of specialists and connoisseurs that typically support new music. To many observers back then, conductor Gil Rose’s original vision for his Boston Modern Orchestra Project sounded like a nobly intentioned pipe dream…. BMOP … has become an absolutely essential force in the field, a purveyor of not just new things to hear—but new ways of …. celebrating … American symphonic music of the last century. The group’s anniversary season officially kicks off on Feb. 18, with … a free concert in Symphony Hall showcasing the hall’s historic organ. More anniversary programs will follow.” Included is an interview with Rose, and a separate Boston Globe article asks six New England-based composers who have had music recorded by BMOP to weigh in on their favorite BMOP recordings.
