Seth Boustead is a composer, broadcaster, arts manager, writer, concert producer, and cultural innovator whose work is driven by a singular mission: to revolutionize how and where classical music is created, performed, and perceived. Known for his adventurous programming and cross-disciplinary imagination, he has forged a highly personal artistic identity through a prolific body of work spanning chamber, orchestral, film, multimedia, and site-specific contexts.
His music has been performed throughout the United States and Europe and broadcast on radio and television stations in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Paris, among others. The New York Times has praised his work as “lyrical and full of whimsy,” while The A/V Club notes that “Boustead has a penchant for writing dark, angsty scores.”
As founder and Executive Director of Access Contemporary Music (ACM), Seth has built one of the most imaginative ecosystems for contemporary music in the United States. Under his leadership, ACM has grown into a national cultural force with programs that integrate performance, film, architecture, education, and community engagement, all rooted in the belief that contemporary music is a living, accessible art form.
He launched the now-legendary Weekly Readings project, in which musicians read, recorded, and published new works by living composers every week for six years, attracting press from NewMusicBox, Chamber Music Today, and the Chicago Sun-Times. From there he created a suite of ambitious programs that remain ACM flagships, including:
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Composer Alive, an international commissioning series presenting new works in real time as they are being composed.
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The Sound of Silent Film Festival, founded in 2005 and now a renowned annual event pairing new music with modern silent films, with sold-out performances in Chicago, New York, Austin, and Mexico City.
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Thirsty Ears Festival, Chicago’s first—and only—classical music street festival, drawing thousands each August for live music, vendors, food trucks, and family activities.
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Songs About Buildings and Moods, a multimedia series exploring architecture through original music and film, co-produced with the Chicago Architecture Foundation and now a nationally broadcast PBS television series for which Seth is creator, host, and executive producer.
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The ACM School of Music, a network of storefront music schools in four Chicago neighborhoods that emphasize creativity, access, and community, serving more than 300 students annually.
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The CheckOut, ACM’s newest initiative: a nonprofit music venue and bar built in a former convenience store, dedicated to intimate classical and jazz programming in a welcoming, community-minded space.
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Additional creative ventures including Concept Lab, Sonic Walkabout, Classical Excursions, Relevant Tones Live, Meditative Mondays, and a wide range of collaborative concerts in Chicago, New York, Mexico City, and Milwaukee.
A prolific composer, recent premieres include Concordia (2025), Dead Reckoning (2025), The Inverse (2024), and The Sincerest Form (2024). His work for film includes Dreaming Grand Avenue, Foil, The Mime and the Black Butterfly, and multiple seasons of Songs About Buildings and Moods. His 2017 piano concerto premiered to acclaim with the Chicago Composers Orchestra and pianist Marta Aznavoorian.
Seth is the creator and longtime host of Relevant Tones, his award-winning contemporary music program that aired on WFMT and syndicated internationally to more than 200,000 listeners weekly across the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines. In 2016, the program won the prestigious ASCAP Deems Taylor Award. Relevant Tones has also inspired live concert series at venues including National Sawdust and (Le) Poisson Rouge.
A noted public speaker and advocate for the arts, Seth has presented lectures and panels worldwide—including in Mexico City, Rotterdam, Seoul, Berlin, Barcelona, Paris, Bogotá, and at institutions such as Stanford University, Northwestern University, Peabody Conservatory, New England Conservatory, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago to name a few.
In 2011 he delivered a TEDx talk, The Future of Classical Music. His writings have appeared in Newcity Magazine, NewMusicBox, Chamber Music Magazine, and other publications, and he has been a guest on numerous radio and television programs including WTTW’s Chicago Tonight, WBEZ, WGN, CBS, and WQXR.
His productions have earned acclaim for their creativity and accessibility, from the architecture-inspired Songs About Buildings and Moods to the Chicago-recorded 1,001 Afternoons in Chicago (later a PBS film), to landmark concerts such as Sounds from the Floating World, Gnarly Buttons: John Adams at 65, and Into the Mystic. Chicago Classical Review has hailed him as “one of our most creative concert programmer/producers.”
Seth currently splits his time between Chicago and New York City, continuing to champion contemporary music as a composer, curator, producer, educator, and visionary arts leader.
