Concertmaster is a collaboration between musicians and software engineers from around the United States seeking to build a platform that facilitates the creation of new, innovative, and safe performances. A concertmaster is the first violinist in the first violin section of an orchestra. It is their job to serve as a link between the conductor and the orchestra. The idea of Concertmaster is to link communities with their pool of artists and venues and in doing so, facilitate the safe public performance of live music during and beyond this new pandemic era.

 

Concertmaster was started in the summer of 2020 by violinist Tom Yaron and composer Trevor Bumgarner. Tom had just returned from a stint as a piano quintet violinist on a cruise ship in New Zealand where he thought of the idea of a network to facilitate performance planning. He came back to the states, just as the virus hit in full force. In the following months, it became apparent that in this new environment, the performing arts would be in dire straits. Unable to safely house an audience indoors, most American arts organizations and festivals cancelled or postponed their seasons.

 

Tom and Trevor met up one day for drinks (outdoors and at a safe distance from each other!) and decided to try and do something about the unfortunate state of the performing arts. After much planning, they were joined by a trio of web developers who hail from Silicon Valley. Together, they are developing a platform for the music scene of tomorrow.