Praised by the Boston Musical Intelligencer as “among the finest artists of contemporary (or any other) music,” the musicians of Collage New Music include some of the most outstanding instrumentalists and singers skilled in the musical intricacies, technical virtuosity, and emotional depth that new music requires. The ensemble includes some of the East Coast’s finest musicians, including members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the area’s extraordinary freelance community. Guest performers who have appeared with Collage represent a who’s-who of brilliant artists, including conductors Seiji Ozawa and Gunther Schuller, jazz trumpeter Clark Terry, violist Roger Tapping, pop vocalist Cory Dargel, actors Vanessa Redgrave and Walter van Dyck, and singers Tony Arnold, Janna Baty, Judith Bettina, Charles Blandy, Janet Brown, Ilana Davidson, William Hite, Dominique Labelle, Mary Mackenzie, and Susan Narucki. 

Collage’s four decades of compelling music-making have placed it as a leader among adventurous ensembles that nurture that vital intersection of composer, performer and listener. The ensemble’s repertoire, both wide and deep, reaches from classical twentieth century works, to extraordinary less-known older works, and to marvelous, brand-new creations of American composers. Its diverse programs include solo repertoire, music for larger ensembles, theatrical works, fully-staged chamber operas, and music with extensive electronics.

Collage New Music champions both young and established composers, and it has become a passionate advocate for the music of Donald Sur, Andrew Imbrie, Elliott Carter, Charles Fussell, Fred Lerdahl, John Heiss, John Harbison, Stephen Hartke, and many other American composers. The ensemble appears on the New World, Koch, and Albany labels, and its recording of Harbison’s Mottetti di Montale was a 2005 Grammy Nominee for Best Performance by a Small Ensemble. Each season, Collage also hosts a different emerging Composer-in-Residence, and hosts its Collage Composers Colloquium, a day-long examination of young composers’ music.