by Mike Telin

Many times in life an event sparks the beginnings of an idea. For Groupmuse founder Sam Bodkin, that event was his first hearing of Beethoven’s Grosse Fuge, Opus 133 in December of 2008. “I had never seriously listened to classical music before, and the piece shattered all of my preconceptions about what the genre was. It opened up an entirely new universe that had existed beside my own for so long but that I had never accessed, despite the fact that both my parents have always been classical music lovers.”

Once he got hooked on classical music, Bodkin fell in with a group of musicians studying at the New England Conservatory who would regularly put on house concerts. “Obviously this type of event has been happening for as long as there have been houses,” he said, “but it is such a departure from how most people experience classical music.

“For me, and for so many people, music isn’t just about the sound — it’s about the social scene that goes along with it. Anyone can have a string quartet perform in their home because you don’t need amplification, all you need are four chairs. Push the coffee table aside and you can have great masterpieces performed in just about any apartment in any city. [Read more…]