Time to Open House - Seth Boustead

Header Background Image

Blog

Time to Open House

This is a terrible photo and I apologize but it was tough to get a good shot with those obnoxious light bulbs strung overhead and this was the best angle I could find.

ACM musicians are performing Tim Corpus’ piece Letters Home in a long-shuttered part of Union Station as part of Open House Chicago. In the 1920’s and ’30’s this was the ‘Women’s Lounge’ as waiting areas were actually segregated back then by gender.

In just the hour or so that I was here there were well over 400 people who heard Tim’s music. Since the musicians were there for three hours total playing the music every 15 minutes, and traffic was steady, that means that Tim’s piece was heard by 1,200 people more or less.

Open House Chicago is my favorite time of the year. This year we had composers write music for five different spaces and had musicians playing the music every 15 minutes in all of them. It’s just an incredible experience to play newly commissioned music for so many people who are so appreciative of what’s happening.

This year two of the composers traveled to be present, one from Texas and the other all the way from Edinburgh Scotland. I’ll have the videos soon and will post them.

The other great thing about Open House is the launch party they throw every year in unique spaces that most of us would otherwise never see. This year it was in this former law library turned bar.

Written by: Seth Boustead
On: October 23, 2014

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

News

‘The Silence’ Performed as Part of Art of the Art Song Concert on 11/25

I’ve just made a new arrangement of a song I wrote years ago for soprano, trumpet and string quartet and Read More
Meditate Mondays for November

I’m repeating the concert I did in October again on November 11 as part of the ongoing Meditative Mondays series. Read More
‘Black Onyx’ to be Premiered on 10/25

A brand new piece I wrote for cello, bass and piano will be performed as part of a Composers Concordance Read More
Meditative Mondays Performance on 10/14

I’m playing two early John Cage piano works and three of my pieces for the next Meditative Mondays concert in Read More
RAM Performances on 9/28 and 9/29

My latest piece Great Aspectations will be performed by Random Access Music in Manhattan on 9/28 at the legendary Martha Read More
World Premiere of ‘Semantics’ on October 11

My new piece for electric guitar, violin and cello will be performed live at Symphony Space in Manhattan as part Read More
‘Emerald Blue’

A new string trio I wrote will be performed at Steel Wig Music in Manhattan as part of the next Read More
‘Reciprocity Failure’ Film Score Performance

My score for Ben Westlake’s short film Reciprocity Failure will be performed as part of the Thirsty Ears Festival in Read More
‘La Cascade’ Performance

La Cascade, one movement of my work On Motion for alto saxophone and piano, will be performed by Todd Rewoldt Read More
Guitar Quartet Performance

A new work I wrote for guitar quartet called the Sincerest Form will be performed by four wonderful guitarists at Read More

Blog Archives

Footer Background Image