THE NEW VOICE
COMPOSERS STUDIO

Composing for voice

The New Voice Composers Studio, directed by Jake Landau, offers emerging composers the invaluable experience of working directly with singers on their own music. Guided by our composition and vocal faculty, each composer works with a small group of singers and instrumentalists to workshop and premiere a two-character scene. Composers additionally receive lectures, masterclasses, and private lessons on their music and attend the rehearsals, stagings, and performance of their original work.

Composers in The New Voice program will premiere a scene to be prepared and submitted to the Festival no later than May 1:

• One scene for premiere in concert

  • For operatic or musical theater singers

  • Instrumentation: two singers (voice types assigned upon acceptance) with a pit consisting of viola, cello, and piano

  • The libretto must be in English and is entirely of your own choosing. Texts must be either written by you, in the public domain, or submitted with the express written consent of its owner.

  • The piece will be learned and practiced beforehand but assembled over the course of just one week. This is important to keep in mind as you are thinking about level of virtuosity and rehearsal time needed to perform your piece satisfactorily.

Please reach out to thenewvoicefestival@gmail.com with any questions.

2022 season spotlight

Larry Edoff’s scene “Come With Me,” was workshopped and premiered at the 2022 Festival, and later recorded by alums Claire Leyden and Jason Detwiler.

2024 Composers Studio

Pokee Chan

Laurence Freed

Gail Harris

Louis Horvath, IV

Gordon Rose