Composer Institute

Composer Garrett Byrnes and Osmo Vänskä study the score.

The Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute, presented each season by the Minnesota Orchestra and American Composers Forum in cooperation with the American Music Center, provides the opportunity for up to nine composers from across the nation to participate in an intensive immersion into the world of a major American symphony orchestra. Read more »

The next Composer Institute is set for October 24-30, 2010.

Seven composers have been selected as participants in the Minnesota Orchestra's 10th Annual Composer Institute. Chosen from a pool of 167 candidates through a competitive process, these seven composers hail from locations throughout the U.S., and their works represent a variety of musical styles. They are:

Taylor Brizendine (Los Angeles, CA): MANDRAGORA OFFICINARUM
Wang Jie (Phildelphia, PA): SYMPHONY #1
Polina Nazaykinskaya (Austin, TX): WINTER BELLS
Clint Needham (Bloomington, IN): THE BODY ELECTRIC
Ben Phelps (Los Angeles, CA): OVERTURE MAXIMUS
Narong Prangcharoen (Kansas City, MO): NAMASKAR
David Weaver (Philadelphia, PA): MUTATIS MUTANDIS

These seven composers will travel to Minneapolis for six days of rehearsals, seminars and tutoring sessions from October 24 to 30, 2010, culminating in a public Future Classics concert of their works with The Minnesota Orchestra led by the Orchestra's Music Director Osmo Vänskä. The concert will take place at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis on Friday, October 29.

Event Details »

"We received dozens of exceptionally-crafted scores, which made the final choices difficult," says Composer Institute Director Aaron Jay Kernis. "The high quality of submissions confirms what we know from past Institutes: the future of new orchestral music is vibrant and strong." The distinguished jury consisted of composers Augusta Read Thomas, Bright Sheng, former Institute participant Stacy Garrop and Minnesota Orchestra Assistant Conductor Courtney Lewis. Aaron Jay Kernis chaired the panel.

In addition to the seven composers chosen to participate in the Composer Institute, the panel designated the following applicants as Runners-up:
Michael Djupstrom (Philadelphia, PA)
Max Giteck Duykers (Brooklyn, NY)
Irving Feng-Hsu Lee (West Hartford, CT)
Michael Gilbertson (New York, NY)
Tomas Ignacio Gueglio-Saccone (Syracuse, NY)
Robert Honstein (New Haven, CT)
Daniel Nelson (Lansdowne, PA)
Christopher Trapani (Paris, France)
Nicholas Vines (Cambridge, MA)

Cited for Honorable Mention are:
Karl Blench (Houston, TX)
Sung Hong (New York, NY)
Ann Millikan (St. Paul, MN)
Andreia Pinto-Correia (Quincy, MA)
Evan Ware (Ann Arbor, MI)

Past Composer Institutes

We thank the following for their generous support of the Composer Institute: Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Amphion Foundation, Argosy Foundation, ASCAP, ASCAP Foundation, BMI Foundation, Gerald B. and Catherine L. Fischer, the Jack and Linda Hoeschler Fund of The Saint Paul Foundation, Daniel Kunin, F. Bruce and Diana Lewis, Meet the Composer, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, David and Judy Ranheim, and Fred and Gloria Sewell.