Boston’s Collage New Music Ensemble Hires New Artistic Director 

Composer Eric Nathan will assume the role as of the 2024/25 season for an initial three-year term

Founded in 1972, the GRAMMY-nominated Collage New Music is the longest-standing ensemble of its kind in New England and has performed many 20th- and 21st-century composers to great acclaim. 

Eric Nathan will succeed David Hoose, who has served the role for the last 32 years. Hoose will become Collage New Music’s (CNM) music director emeritus as of the 2024/25 season. 

“In David Hoose, we have had a marvelous musical leader and conductor. His thoughtful and engaging programming, thorough musical preparation, superb work with our instrumentalists and soloists, musical integrity, and vivid performances have maintained Collage’s highest standards,” said Frank Epstein, CNM’s founder and board chair. “We all owe him an immense debt of gratitude.”

In his new role, Nathan will oversee CNM’s artistic planning and programming for its annual concert season in Boston, in addition to conducting the ensemble, commissioning new works, selecting annual guest conductors and guest soloists, and creating new local and national partnerships. 

Prior to his official tenure, he designed and appointed an Artistic Advisory Panel at CNM — including musicians Tony Arnold, Matthew Aucoin, Marcos Balter, Anthony Cheung, Tania León, and Joan Tower — with whom he will collaborate to ensure the CNM’s impact and commitment to supporting a diverse range of voices.

A 2013 Rome Prize Fellow and 2014 Guggenheim Fellow, Nathan has garnered acclaim internationally through performances by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Scharoun Ensemble Berlin, Dawn Upshaw, Jennifer Koh, Stefan Jackiw, and Gloria Cheng. He serves as an associate professor of music at Brown University and is currently the New England Philharmonic’s Composer-in-Residence. 

Nathan’s relationship with CNM began in 2012, when the ensemble presented the first professional Boston performance of his music, Walls of Light, since his student days.

“I remember playing trumpet under David’s baton as a high school student at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and how inspiring that moment was for me,” Nathan said. “It has been especially meaningful working with him in recent years on thrilling performances of my music with Collage, which have been meticulously and insightfully crafted. I look forward to our future collaborations.

“I have so enjoyed working with and getting to know Collage’s highly accomplished musicians, and I look forward to the meaningful performances that we will create together in the years to come,” he added. “I’m excited to build on Collage’s rich history of championing contemporary music and supporting local composers, and to introduce diverse new voices from New England and beyond to Collage’s audiences.”

“We think we have found the perfect person to take the reins of Collage into its next half-century,” Epstein said. “Eric is an excellent composer, as well as a highly respected figure in American music. He has a deep understanding of what makes Collage unique, and we are excited by his ideas for the future. We look forward to working with Eric and the Artistic Advisory Panel to create partnerships that will expand on Collage’s commitment to commissioning new work.”

“Eric’s becoming Collage’s next leader pleases me very much,” Hoose added. “He is an imaginative composer whose energy will undoubtedly carry this wonderful ensemble to new and exciting places. I look forward to Collage’s future with him.”