New England

New England is an area of the United States of America with diverse geography. The region's Blackstone Valley was key to the industrial revolution in the USA. New England consists of six states in the north east of the country - Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont, and its largest city is Boston, home to the New England Conservatory, Boston Conservatory at Berklee and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

New England is an important centre of American classical music, with John Coolidge Adams and Charles Ives coming from this region. Historically there were two schools of New England composers - the first school, also called the Yankee tunesmiths, were self-taught and active from 1770 for about forty years. The Second New England School - also called the New England Classicists - were active in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. A sub-group of this second school was the Boston Six - John Knowles Paine, Arthur Foote, George Chadwick, Amy Marcy Cheney Beach, Edward MacDowell and Horatio Parker.

 

A selection of articles about New England

Ensemble. Robust Voices - Susan Hampton visits Boston for Puccini's 'La bohème'