Composers who apply to the program must be nominated by one or more of the following:
YCA alumni and present artists, members of YCA's Composer Recommendation Panel, or ASCAP or BMI.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS:

Nominations must be received by Wednesday, January 25, 2012. The composer's complete application package must be received by Friday, February 24, 2012.

ELIGIBILITY:

Applicants for the Composer Program must be born before September 1, 1992 and after September 1, 1985 (between 20 and 26 years of age). The composer must be living in the United States and a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. Composers who have previously applied to the Program may reapply, but must submit different repertoire.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE:

Please ask the person recommending you to contact Young Concert Artists. You will then be sent the Application Form, which should be returned to YCA with: 1) recordings (any length) along with scores of a minimum of two works: one for piano OR a solo instrument with piano, and one for a chamber group or voice. An additional work of the composer’s choice is welcome; 2) a resumé or biography; 3) a photograph (any size); 4) an application fee of $50 in a check made payable to Young Concert Artists, Inc. Applicants will be notified of decisions in March.

History

The YCA Composer Program was originated in 1994 by YCA’s Alumni Association to discover and support exciting young composers and to provide opportunities for young performers to collaborate with them.  Since the inception of the Program, YCA has brought 8 exceptional composers to public attention: Dan Coleman, Kevin Puts, Kenji Bunch, Mason Bates, Daniel Kellogg, Benjamin C.S. Boyle, Andrew Norman, and most recently, Chris Rogerson.

Selection Process

Recommendations for new composers, between the ages of 20 to 26, are sought from all YCA alumni and present artists, a panel of nationally known composers and composition professors, ASCAP and BMI.  A selection panel comprised of YCA Alumni – many of whom are distinguished proponents of contemporary music – listen to CDs and review the submitted scores. Two or three finalists are selected. The final choice is made by the YCA artist who will premiere the composer’s first YCA commission the following season. 

Commissions

The new Composer-in-Residence receives two $5,000 commissions from YCA. The works are written for and premiered by YCA artists in the Young Concert Artists Series in New York and in Washington, DC, where they are reviewed by critics from The New York Times and The Washington Post, and also performed on the artists’ concert tours. Thus, the composers have their music performed by remarkable interpreters with whom they have worked directly, and are assured premieres in prestigious venues. A number of our composers sustain dynamic relationships with the YCA artists they were paired with.

Management Services

The most unique component of YCA’s Composer Program is that each composer is provided with career management services, including promotional materials. YCA’s managers promote each composer’s career and develop opportunities for new commissions and performances. In conjunction with performances of the commissioned works, YCA arranges interviews, pre-concert lectures and other publicity to help advance the composer’s career and the public’s appreciation of contemporary music.
 

YCA’s Composers

The talents of YCA’s composers have been recognized with numerous prizes and accomplishments including three 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, nineteen ASCAP awards, four BMI prizes, a Koussevitsky Prize and many prestigious commissions from renowned performers such as Evelyn Glennie and Yo-Yo Ma, and from orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Mobile Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

“In today’s world it’s nearly impossible to succeed on one’s own as a young concert music composer.  YCA has created a way to nurture talent  in a field where there has traditionally been little help.  What better idea for an organization known worldwide for its ability to promote the musicians of the future, than to help plant the seeds of  the music of the future.”

                                              – Kenji Bunch, Composer

2012 Deadlines

Nominations (verbal or faxed or e-mailed or mailed) must be received by Wednesday, January 25, 2012.

Composers' application package must be received by Friday, February 24, 2012.
 

SEND TO:  Jennifer DeCinque, Program Manager

Young Concert Artists, Inc., 250 West 57 Street, Suite 1222, New York, NY 10107

tel: (212) 307-6656      fax: (212) 581-8894      email:  jennifer@yca.org