2023 Composition Fellowship Application

DEADLINE: March 15, 2023 at 11:59pm Eastern Time

Winners of the Composition Fellowship will receive a stipend of $1000, three performances of their works, audio/video recordings of the premiere performance, and workshops with Transient Canvas.

Application Process: Please submit two sample scores from your existing portfolio (plus two recordings if available) alongside a short proposal outlining your vision for a collaboration with Transient Canvas. Only one application per person. If you have any questions, see the FAQ below or email us at tc@transientcanvas.com.

FAQ

Do I have to submit a new piece for bass clarinet and marimba?

No, please do not compose a new piece for this application. Out of respect for your time, this application is meant to be relatively quick to submit. If selected for a fellowship, we will collaborate on a new work for bass clarinet and marimba for a premiere in 2024.

What are you looking for in a proposal?

The proposal should give us insight into your artistic vision and/or what kind of music you might write for us. This is your chance to get us excited about what you do. Though there is no specific word limit, please keep it brief.

Where do I put my bio?

For this application, we do not need to see your bio, CV, or resume. This information is not part of the application for good reason – we really only want to know about your work! Please do not feel compelled to add biographical information to the proposal.

Can I propose a project that uses electronics?

Yes, we are happy to work with electronics. Feel free to look at our repertoire page for examples of some of our repertoire that uses electronics.

Can I submit a fixed media piece that does not have a score?

What you submit should best represent your work. Keep in mind that, if selected for a fellowship, we will work with a score.

Can I submit a link to a YouTube video of a live performance?

If the video element is crucial to your piece, yes. If not, please just send audio.

Can I link to my Soundcloud for the recordings?

If your file is already hosted on another platform and easily accessible via a link, this is fine.

What is the time commitment if selected for a fellowship? Do I need to relocate for the year?

The time commitment is up to each fellow. We supply fellows with ample rehearsal time, workshops, etc. all on Zoom and recorded on ECamm for higher quality audio during our collaboration together. There is no requirement to be physically present for any part of the collaboration, including the performance. We offer flexible deadlines, with a goal of a world premiere performance in 2024.

How are fellows selected?

Each year we have an independent panel score each application, with the highest scored applicants moving to the second round. Then we score the second round applicants and choose our final winners. The score each applicant receives is determined by the quality of the portfolio samples and the proposal narrative. Panelists change every year. A list of previous panelists is below.

How many fellows are selected each round?

We aim for 2-4 winners each round, varying depending on funding. As of now, we have not determined the exact number of fellows for the 2023 round.

2022 Composition Fellows

Luis Quintana

Luis Quintana (b. in Puerto Rico, 1988) is an instrumental, vocal and electronic music composer.

Often inspired by caribbean and african music — where rhythmical pulse and playful figures intermingle with suggested, effaced and disseminated imagery — he seeks a sense of fluidity and purity of material that brings out the expressive and poetic power in music.

He studied composition with Alfonso Fuentes at the Music Conservatory of Puerto Rico where he was awarded the conservatory's composition award and the Roberto I. Ferdman prize in 2010. He continued his studies in Paris at the École Normale de Musique supported by the Zaleski Foundation where he received his composition diploma in 2012, and was unanimously awarded the first prize in orchestration (2013) and analysis (2014) at the Schola Cantorum in Paris.

Later, he would follow Jean-Luc Hervé’s composition course and Yan Maresz’ class of new technologies at the conservatory in Boulogne-Billancourt, where he received his diploma with honours in 2016 before integrating the Ircam Cursus (2017 - 2018). He holds a masters degree in composition from the National Conservatory in Pairs (CNSMDP) where he studied with Gérard Pesson. During this time he was a laureate of the Société Générale Foundation, the Meyer Foundation as well as the France Foundation.

His music has been performed by ensembles like Ensemble Intercontemporain, TM+, Orchestre des lauréats du CNSM, Duo Jeu d'Anches, Studio for New Music Ensemble, Instant donné (among others); and has been played in such festivals like Festival Manifest, Darmstadt Ferienkurse für Neue Musik, Biennale de Musiques Exploratoires, Variations Numériques Stéphanoises, Soirée Sonore at the National Museum of Modern Art in Paris (Centre Pompidou)…

In 2019 - 2020 he was the visiting composer at the Jean Monnet University of Saint-Étienne (France) and composer in residence at the Conservatory of Le Mée-sur-Seine (France). Recently he was awarded the first prize at the 'New Classics' International Composition Competition in Moscow (2020), as well as the first prize at the Iannis Xenakis International Electronic Music Competition, the Martirano Award and the Grand Prize of the Ise-Shima art committee in 2021.

He currently lives and works in Paris and his scores are published by BabelScores.

Christian Quiñones

Christian Quiñones (b.1996) is a Puerto Rican composer whose music explores concepts such as cultural identity and the intersection between vernacular music, electronic textures, rock, and Latin music.

Recently Christian was selected as a composer in residence at the Copland House and as a fellow for the Cabrillo Music Festival, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Workshop, and the Bang on a Can Summer Festival. In 2020 he was selected for the Earshot Underwood Orchestra Readings with the American Composers Orchestra. He also has received commissions from the Brooklyn Arts Council, the icarus Quartet, the Bergamot String Quartet, and the Victory players where Christian was the 2018-2019 composer in residence.

His music has been performed by Dal Niente, Hub New Music, Loadbang, Charlotte Mundy, Dither Quartet, Bergamot Quartet, icarus Quartet, Onix Ensemble, Chromic Duo, Unheard-of Ensemble, Trio Sanromá, Victory Players, Chromic Duo, the American Composers Orchestra, and Cuban virtuoso René Izquierdo. He has also been a fellow in festivals and residencies such as the Rednote Music Festival, DePaul University Summer Residency, CCI Initiative, Connecticut Summerfest, MIFA Festival, and The Zodiac Festival in France where Christian was awarded the Distinguished Composer award.

He obtained his BM in Music Composition at the Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico, studying composition and orchestration with Alfonso Fuentes, and in 2019 Christian was a recipient of the Graduate College Master’s Fellowship at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where studied with Carlos Carrillo and Reynold Tharp. Currently, Christian is a Ph.D. President’s fellow at Princeton University where he studies with Steve Mackey, Donnacha Dennehy, and Juri Seo

Leah Reid

Dr. Leah Reid is a composer, sound artist, researcher, and educator, whose works range from opera, chamber, and vocal music, to acousmatic, electroacoustic works, and interactive sound installations. Her primary research interests involve the perception, modeling, and compositional applications of timbre. In her works, timbre acts as a catalyst for exploring new soundscapes, time, space, perception, and color. In recent reviews, Reid’s works have been described as “immersive”, “haunting”, and “shimmering”.

Winner of a 2022 Guggenheim Fellowship, Reid has also won the American Prize in Composition (Vocal Chamber Music Division), first prizes in the 8th KLANG! International Electroacoustic Composition Competition, the Tesselat Electronic Music Competition, and the Franz Schubert Conservatory International Composer Competition, Sound of the Year’s Composed with Sound Award, the Film Score Award in Frame Dance Productions’ Music Composition Competition, theInternational Alliance for Women in Music’s Pauline Oliveros Award, and second prizes in the Iannis Xenakis International Electronic Music Competition and the 13th International Destellos Competition. She has received fellowships from the Guerilla Opera Company, the MacDowell Colony, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA), the Ucross Foundation, and the Hambidge Center.

Reid has worked with and received commissions from ensembles such as Accordant Commons, Blow Up Percussion, Concavo & Convesso, Ensemble Móbile, Guerilla Opera, the Jack Quartet, McGill’s Contemporary Music Ensemble, Neave Trio, Sound Gear, Talea, and Yarn/Wire. Her compositions have been presented at festivals, conferences, and in major venues throughout the world, including including Aveiro_Síntese (Portugal), BEAST FEaST (England), Espacios Sonoros (Argentina), EviMus (Germany), Forgotten Spaces: EuroMicrofest (Germany), the International Computer Music Conference (USA & Chile), IRCAM’s ManiFeste (France), LA Philharmonic's Noon to Midnight (USA), the Matera Intermedia Festival (Italy), the New York City Electronic Music Festival (USA), the OUA Electroacoustic Music Festival (Japan), the San Francisco Tape Music Festival (USA), Série de Música de Câmara (Brazil), the Society of Composers National Conference (USA), Soochow New Voice Concert Series (China), the Sound and Music Computing Conference (Germany), the Tilde New Music Festival (Australia), the Toronto International Electroacoustic Symposium (Canada), and the Workshop on Computer Music and Audio Technology (Taiwan), among many others. Her works are published with Ablaze Records, New Focus Recordings, Parma Recordings, RMN Classical, and BabelScores.

Reid received her D.M.A. and M.A. in music composition from Stanford University and her B.Mus from McGill University. Reid’s principal teachers include Mark Applebaum, Jonathan Berger, Brian Ferneyhough, Sean Ferguson, Ana Sokolovic, and Brian Paul Harman. She has taught at Stanford University (Stanford, CA), University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA), and at the University of Silicon Valley (San Jose, CA). She is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia (Charlottesville, VA), where she teaches courses in music composition and technology.

LJ White

LJ White is a composer inspired by the physical voice (spoken, sung, emulated, and as metaphor,) popular culture, gender and sexuality, and sociopolitical conditions. He has worked with many of the leading performers in contemporary classical music, including Alarm Will Sound, Ensemble SIGNAL, Ensemble Dal Niente, the JACK Quartet, the Quince Ensemble, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Third Angle Ensemble, Third Coast Percussion, the Spektral Quartet, and members of the International Contemporary Ensemble, Roomful of Teeth, and the Bang on a Can All-Stars. Recent projects include collaborations with The Crossing, Steven Schick, Sleeping Giant, Chamber Project St. Louis, Mvstermind, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the San Francisco Symphony, Post:Ballet, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s “Live at the Pulitzer” series, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s “Music NOW” series.

White has won the Craig and Janet Swan Prize, the Margaret Blackburn Composition Competition, an Emil and Ruth Beyer Award from the National Federation of Music Clubs, the Dolce Suono Ensemble Young Composer Competition, the North American Saxophone Alliance Composition Competition, and the American Prize, as well as grants from the American Composers Forum and Chamber Music America. He has held residencies at MacDowell, Yaddo, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, the Banff Arts Centre, the Manship Artist Residency & Studios, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and his work has been featured at venues and festivals including the Bang on a Can Marathon in New York, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, CULTIVATE at Copland House, the Ecstatic Music Festival, the Resonant Bodies Festival, REDCAT, Omaha Under the Radar, the Breckenridge Music Festival, and the Composers Conference at Wellesley College. White earned a doctorate in composition from Northwestern University in 2017 and taught from 2017-2020 at Washington University in St. Louis. He is currently the Consortium for Faculty Diversity Visiting Assistant Professor in Music at New College of Florida, where he teaches courses in composition, music theory, and intersections of music, voice, and gender.

2021 Composition Fellows

Brittany J. Green

Brittany J. Green (b. 1991) is a North Carolina-based composer, creative, and educator. Described as “cinematic in the best sense” and “searing” (Chicago Classical Review), Brittany’s music works to facilitate collaborative, intimate musical spaces that ignite visceral responses. The intersections between sound, video, movement, and text serves as the focal point of these musical spaces, often questioning and redefining the relationships between these three elements. Recent works engage sonification and black feminist theory as tools for sonic world-building, exploring the construction, displacement, and rupture of systems.

Brittany’s research and creative interests includes contextualizing the work of Julius Eastman through the lens of queer and critical race theory, mapping aural gestures to gestural recognition technology, and exploring virtual reality platforms as a tool for experiencing immersive, intimate musical moments. Her music has been featured at concerts and festivals throughout the United States and Canada, including the Society of Composers National Conference, New York City Electronic Music Festival, SPLICE Institute, the West Fork New Music Festival, Music by Women Festival, and Electroacoustic Barn Dance Festival. She has presented research at the North Carolina Music Educators Association Conference, East Carolina University’s Research and Creative Arts Week, Darkwater Women in Music Festival, and the Intersection@ Art and Science Symposium. Her recent projects include collaborations with the International Contemporary Ensemble, Mind on Fire, Experimental Sound Studio, Kate Alexandrite, and The JACK Quartet as an inaugural member of JACK Studio Artists, along with an artist residency with TimeSlips. Brittany is currently in residence at Duke University, pursuing a Ph.D in Music Composition as a Deans Graduate Fellow.

Yi-Ting Lu

Yi-Ting Lu is a Taiwanese composer. Her compositions focus on exploring the experience of timelessness evoked through fragmented musical materials. She has received numerous prizes, awards, scholarships, grants, and commissions, including the Carl Kanter Prize, the 4th Ilsuono Contemporary Music Academy’s Choice to be published by AltrEdizioni Casa Editrice, the nominated exchange composer of the Académie Voix Nouvelles (Royaumont), the Representative Piece of Taiwan in the 66th International Rostrum of Composers, among others. She is also a finalist of Talea Ensemble Emerging Composer Commissioning Program, National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra Competition, and the Young Composers’ Competition of Annual Rudolph Award. Her music has been performed, and/or commissioned by performers and ensembles, including Arditti Quartet, Ensemble Mise-en, Ensemble Suono Giallo, Ensemble vocal Les Métaboles, Mivos Quartet, MSM Orchestra (under the baton of George Manahan), PushBack Collective, Quatuor Tana, 3PeopleMusic, and many others. Yi-Ting is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in composition and music technology at Northwestern University.

Yaz Lancaster

Yaz Lancaster (they/them) is a transdisciplinary artist most interested in relational aesthetics, collage, and anti-oppression/liberatory politics. Yaz performs as a violinist, vocalist and steel pannist in a wide variety of settings from DIY/pop venues to orchestras; and they present work in many different mediums and collaborative projects. Most recently, they have been developing a pop/post-genre duo with guitarist-producer Andrew Noseworthy, and preparing for the release of their first full-length solo album "AmethYst" with people | places | records. Yaz is a contributing writer for ICIYL, the visual arts editor for Peach Mag, and a mentor/council member at Luna Composition Lab. They love chess, horror movies, and bubble tea.

Sid Richardson

Composer Sid Richardson writes concert music that imbues modern idioms with emotional grit and cerebral wit. His work explores the intersections of music and literature, drawing inspiration from a wide swath of authors, poets, and playwrights. Richardson leverages preexisting texts, which are used to create a metaphorical resonance with the source material in pieces that weave literary elements into their formal, rhythmic, and harmonic structures. Born and currently based in Boston, Sid Richardson completed his Ph.D. in composition in the Department of Music at Duke University. He also holds degrees from Boston Conservatory and Tufts University. Active as a music educator, he has taught at Wellesley College and MIT, and is currently on the composition faculty at the New England Conservatory of Music.

2020 Composition Fellows

Mikhail Johnson

Mikhail Johnson (1989-) born in the rural hills of Maroon Town in the parish of St. James, Jamaica, is one of the country’s most promising pianists and composers. He was winner of the Jamaica Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition for Young Musicians Senior Division in 2009, and in the same year, won the piano section of the Jamaica Music Teachers' Association Music Competition. He has won numerous gold medals and national awards in the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) Festival of the Performing Arts, and he was also a finalist in the 2017 American Prize Music Competition for Piano (collegiate division).

As a composer, Johnson’s music seeks to merge the avante-garde and traditional idiosyncrasies of European classical music and infuse this union with consummate Jamaican cultural flare. His compositional output is being published on his publishing label Johno Muzik and comprises of: sacred and patriotic choral works, African- American spiritual arrangements, song cycles and instrumental works. He has received several commissions and has made the finals/won several competitions and score calls which resulted in his works being performed by ensembles such as the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, The Cantus Ensemble in London, The North/South Consonance Ensemble, The Concordia Ensemble of the University of Notre Dame and the Departure Duo.

Johnson holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Science and a minor in music from Northern Caribbean University (NCU); Double Masters of Music degree in piano performance and composition from Bowling Green State University under the tutelage of Dr. Robert Satterlee (piano), Dr. Mikel Kuehn and Dr. Christopher Dietz (composition), and is currently reading for a Doctor of Music in piano performance at Texas Tech University under the tutelage of Dr. William Westney.

Caroline Louise Miller

Caroline Louise Miller’s practice explores affect, tactility, biomusic, and the materiality of digital production. She often works with electronics, theatrical elements, and sonic worlds that bridge genres. Current commissioned projects include a multimedia collaboration with Alarm Will Sound that explores intersections of human movement, stasis, and desire with post-industrial landscapes, a biomusic piece with Ensemble Adapter that explores zoological and ecological sound cultures, and an operetta for Guerilla Opera that blends inspiration from german expressionist films and childhood clapping games to find fantastical omens in skies, waters, and light. Her music appears across the U.S. and internationally, and she has most recently been honored with grants and awards from Chamber Music America (Ansible for SPLICE Ensemble) the Matt Marks Impact Fund, and Guerilla Opera. In 2018 she won the ISB/David Walter composition competition for Hydra Nightingale, created with free jazz bassist Kyle Motl. Caroline also works as a curator, and organized multimedia concerts at the Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography between 2012–2017. In 2019 she launched concerts focused on science-fiction and post-humanist themes. She holds a Ph.D in Music from UC San Diego, and currently resides in Oakland, California with her partner Elliot.

Teerath Majumder

Teerath Majumder is a Bangladeshi composer with extensive training in Hindustani as well as Western classical music. Much of his output utilizes a hybrid of acoustic and electronic processes that may lead to a gradual and organized metamorphosis of sounds or aggressive and chaotic outbursts. His interest lies in creating works that address socio-political issues of our time. He believes art has a way of inducing a visceral reaction to matters that don’t often shake us in reality. His pieces often provide an interactive platform for the audience to get involved. Throughout his career, Teerath has sought and worked in various interdisciplinary projects. His compositions for dance, theatre, and films comprise a significant portion of his oeuvre.

2019 Composition Fellows

Jen Wang

Jen Wang (b. 1980) is a Los Angeles-based composer. Her past commissions include works for Wild Rumpus, Spektral Quartet, Talea, Rootstock, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Firesong, the Iktus Percussion Quartet, the UC Berkeley Chamber Chorus, Coro D’Amici, NeXT Ens, flutist Janet McKay, and carillonist Tiffany Ng; she has also been performed by Gloria Cheng, Lucy Shelton, the California EAR Unit, Del Sol String Quartet, SoundGEAR, Onix Ensamble, the Eco Ensemble, the New Spectrum Ensemble, and the percussion ensembles of Mannes College, SUNY Purchase, and the University of California, Davis. Her first installation work, Black Cloud (for streaming data and electronics), premiered as part of Panorama, an evening-length multi-media performance featuring choreography by Merce Cunningham and Lisa Wymore. More info: http://jenwang.com/

Heather Stebbins

Heather Stebbins is a composer of acoustic and electroacoustic music that highlights her fascination with the kinetic and emotive properties of sound. Her music has been performed in North America, South America, Australia, Asia, and Europe by ensembles such as loadbang, Ensemble U:, the JACK Quartet, Dal Niente, Sound Icon, Transient Canvas, Ensemble L’Arsenale, eighth blackbird, and the Riot Ensemble. She has worked closely with performers Carlos Cordeiro, Will Lang, Andrew Kozar, Adam Vidiksis, and Sam Kelder to create highly personal pieces for solo instrument and electronics. “You Are Not Stone”, an EP released on Not Art Records, features works for viola and interactive electronics. Other recordings have been released on the SEAMUS and Coviello labels. Stebbins joined the faculty at George Washington University as an Assistant Professor of Music in 2019. More info: http://heatherstebbins.com/

2018 Composition Fellows

Todd Kitchen

Composer Todd Kitchen has written for many of the leading new music ensembles of today, including Loadbang, Ensemble Dal Niente, Talea Ensemble, Transient Canvas, ECCE, PRISM Quartet, Sound Icon, and the Lydian String Quartet. Recent awards include the 2018 Transient Canvas Fellowship and a Barlow Commission, as well as inclusion in numerous conferences and festivals. His music takes inspiration from the often-unseen complexities and processes that comprise our universe and adorn our lives, from something as seemingly mundane as the flavor development of toast, to the tenuous relationship between binary neutron stars. He is also the creator and co-host of the Contemporary ClassiCAST, a podcast that deals with new music issues in a very, very (read: not) serious manner. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate (ABD) in music theory and composition at Brandeis University, and he received his bachelor’s degree in Composition from Brigham Young University. Todd currently lives just outside of Boston with his wife and two children, where you can find him daydreaming about astrophysics and long-haul airliners.

Cindy Giron

Intrigued by textures, silences, journeys, contrasts and musical conversations, Cindy Giron’s music explores all instrumentations from solo, chamber, orchestral, electronic, and installations.

An avid collaborator, Cindy has been commissioned by the New York Youth Symphony, Loadbang, Joint Venture Percussion Duo, Transient Canvas, Ensemble Klang, Oerknal, Gavin Ryan, Cody Takacs, JACK Quartet, Kluster5, and others.

Her music has been extensively performed throughout the USA, UK, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, Luxembourg, Czechia, China and Japan.

Aaron Cecchini-Butler

Aaron Cecchini-Butler enjoys exploring consciousness through music composition. Using characters from various fantasy novels and the surrealism of Murakami as a springboard, he then conducts field studies in order to better understand the mental and emotional state of the characters. His music creates a space for the listener that walks the line between fantastical and realistic, with the intent of leaving the listener questioning where they were after a piece is played. He often incorporates electronics, a great deal of extended techniques and enjoys exploring the endless possibilities of notation.

He has attended a number of festivals including SICPP, Compositand IMPULS, where he was fortunate to work under Stefan Prins, Peter Ablinger, Jean-François Charles and Pierluigi Billone, among others.

His fixed media track, “Keep” was published on a CD through the Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt and Distract Fold, he was the recipient of a BMI Student Composer Award and a Fellowship with the Boston based ensemble Transient Canvas.