Young Concert Artists Seeks Next Composer-in-Residence; Applications Now Open

Young Concert Artists (YCA) is now accepting applications for its 2025-2027 Composer-in-Residence Program. The winning composer will receive three commissions totaling $18,000 as well as a minimum three-year management contract with YCA.

The Composer-in-Residence will be a key artistic collaborator to the newest artists to receive the YCA Jacobs Fellowship, a holistic three-year program offering career support, industry connections and performance opportunities to exceptional early-career musicians. Past Composers-in-Residence include Kevin Puts, Mason Bates, YCA President Daniel Kellogg, and most recently Nina Shekhar and Alistair Coleman. The selection process is open to U.S. citizens and permanent residents aged between 20 and 28 years of age as of March 31, 2025. The deadline for applications is January 20, 2025. Complete information and application link are available on the YCA website.

YCA President Daniel Kellogg commented: “I experienced the unparalleled opportunities this excellent program provides first hand when I was the YCA Composer-in-Residence in 2002. I am proud that YCA continues launching the careers of bright young composers who will go on to have a lasting impact on the Classical Music world.”

To be considered, composers must submit an application form, a résumé or bio and two letters of recommendation, along with three original scores: a work for solo piano, or for solo instrument/voice + piano; a work for chamber ensemble; and one additional work of the composer’s choice. (Additional materials and an interview may be requested as the selection process proceeds.) Applications will be reviewed by a panel of distinguished proponents of contemporary music, including YCA alumni, performers and composers.

In the course of their time on the YCA roster, the next Composer-in-Residence will receive three commissions totaling $18,000 ($6,000 each). Each of the first two commissions will be written for a current YCA artist, who will work closely with the Composer-in-Residence through the composition process and warm-up concerts before premiering the new work as part of a debut recital in New York or Washington D.C. The third commission will be written in collaboration with a YCA alumnus, who will perform the world premiere. YCA will later secure 1-3 other artists of the same instrumentation from within the YCA family to perform the work in concert, ensuring multiple performances.

In one of the program’s unique features, the Composer-in-Residence is also provided with a minimum three-year management contract through YCA. Backed by the program’s longstanding reputation for discovering and launching the careers of extraordinary young artists, YCA’s management team promotes each composer’s career through connections with the industry’s managers, concert presenters, conductors of major orchestras and financial supporters. Through this alliance, YCA Composers-in-Residence develop opportunities for performances of existing works and new commissions, while opening doors to residency programs with orchestras and new music institutions nationwide. Management services include a full package of publicity materials and services, travel arrangements, extensive professional development and educational residency experience, as well as overall career guidance and mentorship.

Renowned for identifying and investing in musicians of “exceptional caliber” (The New York Times), Young Concert Artists established its Composer-in-Residence Program in 1994 with support from the YCA Alumni Association. Created to discover and support exciting young composers while forging collaborative opportunities with outstanding performers, the program has now brought 14 exceptional composers to public attention: Dan Coleman, Kevin Puts, Kenji Bunch, Mason Bates, Daniel Kellogg, Benjamin C.S. Boyle, Andrew Norman, Chris Rogerson, David Hertzberg, Tonia Ko, Katherine Balch, Saad Haddad, Nina Shekhar, and most recently YCA’s current Composer-in-Residence, Alistair Coleman.

YCA Composers have been recognized with numerous prizes and distinctions including the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s 2020 Career Advancement Award, a GRAMMY® Award, The Grawemeyer Award for Music, a Pulitzer Prize, a Heinz Medal in the Humanities, four Rome Prizes, two Berlin Prizes, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the first Benjamin H. Danks Commission from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, five Charles Ives Fellowships, more than 20 ASCAP awards, numerous BMI prizes and a Koussevitsky Prize. Among them, these composers have earned prestigious commissions from such performers as Evelyn Glennie, Yo-Yo Ma, Anne Akiko Meyers and Jeremy Denk, and from orchestras and presenters including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera.

YCA Composer-In-Residence Application Information
Eligibility: U.S. citizens and permanent residents ages 20-28 as of March 31, 2025
Deadline: January 20, 2025
Link: yca.org/composer-program/

About Young Concert Artists

For more than 60 years YCA has stood at the forefront of discovering and launching the careers of the future leaders of classical music – stars who combine world-class talent with creative vision to bring new reach and relevance to the art form. YCA invests in its artists by providing them with the support, clarity, and confidence to tell their stories, as well as with the tools, opportunities, and infrastructure to take their careers to the highest level.

With a legacy of artistic excellence recognized around the world, YCA alumni include such luminaries as Emanuel Ax, Julia Bullock, Anne Akiko Meyers, Jeremy Denk, Ray Chen, Anne-Marie McDermott, Richard Goode, Dawn Upshaw, Mason Bates, Zlatomir Fung, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Kevin Puts, Pinchas Zukerman, Randall Goosby, Sasha Cooke, and many more.

Named for YCA’s Founder, the annual YCA Susan Wadsworth International Auditions are a rigorous process that calls on the most extraordinary young musicians from around the globe to join the YCA Jacobs Fellowship program. This transformative three-year program takes artists to new levels of creative growth, offering a holistic combination of resources including artist management services, digital tools, mentorship, project development, training in education and community engagement, and performance opportunities at top venues around the globe. With debut recitals presented in New York and Washington, DC, YCA artists establish their individual artistry for industry leaders and media, opening doors and fostering key relationships that fundamentally change the trajectory of their careers.

YCA believes that modern musicians are more than gifted, highly-trained musicians – they are cultural ambassadors who must be well-equipped to communicate the vitality of the art form to the widest possible audience. Learn more at www.yca.org.

*Photo Credit: Bianca Jenkins