Emerging Composers Workshop
January - May 2027
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Driven towards advocacy for young composers, the Insight & TrouBaDours Emerging Composer Fellowship provides affordable, high quality training in collaboration with professional musicians and composers. This 5 month long mentorship gives young composers the tools to polish their craft to a professional level and will produce professional recordings, perfect for building a portfolio.
The entire program consists of 8 composition seminars, 9 informal cohort meetings, 5 one on one lessons with composition faculty, 3 workshops with professional musicians, and 1-2 professional recordings of the accepted Fellow’s pieces.
Part of Insight and TBD’s mission is to ensure affordability and fair pricing for all who wish to learn about classical music. Therefore, our classes have multiple tiers and payment schedules to encourage students of all backgrounds to attend. Our organization is also seeking additional funding to allow scholarship opportunities. An audit program is also available if students wish to only attend seminars.
We look forward to accepting 10 Fellows and producing over 10 new works in our first class!
Application window open from October 1st 12:00AM-December 1st 11:59pm PT
About Insight and TBD
The Boston TroubaDours
The Boston TroubaDours is a Boston-based composers collective founded by NEC students Alex Matheson and Yangfan Xu, and NEC alumnus Tomer Rozen. Inspired by the historical troubadours who traveled between regions carrying stories through song, the collective brings together storytellers, performers, composers, dancers, and audiences to explore intersections between contemporary creation and historical traditions. Drawing from diverse cultural backgrounds, we are committed to bringing meaningful musical experiences beyond traditional concert spaces and into the broader Boston community.
Insight Chamber
Insight was born from a necessity to ignite a special flame for classical music by sharing the magic behind the music, and to foster creative collaborations between musicians, composers and the audience.
Through engaging performances, we share information about how music is composed and where the composers were in their lives when they wrote it. We also incorporate what we love about the pieces we perform and encourage our audience members to share their experiences as well. By building a space and time for the public to enjoy and discuss music, we hope to encourage a lifelong love for music.
Program Overview
Fellows of the academy will receive 5 months of specialized training in the art of composing for Piano, Organ, and/or String Quartet. Included in the academy are 10 composition seminars, 5 private lessons, and 1-2 recordings of their work.
The program’s main feature is its emphasis on collaboration between composers and performers as 3 of the seminars will involve workshopping the fellow’s pieces with the performers. The Fellowship aims to connect fellows with professional musicians and composers from around the world while producing over 10 new works for Piano, Organ, and String Quartet!
Fellowship Packages & Pricing
All Fellowships Include:
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5 month long mentorship
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BI-Weekly seminar led by TBD Composers
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Bi-Weekly informal meeting with cohort members
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5 1:1 Lessons with each composer
After 3 months, students can sign up for preferred teacher for remaining slots
Keyboard Composition Fellowship
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Organ or Piano composition instruction
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1 recording of workshop piece
$750 or $175/month
String Quartet Composition Fellowship
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String Quartet composition instruction
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1 recording of workshop piece
$900 or $225/month
Composition Intensive Fellowship
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Organ/Piano AND String Quartet composition instruction
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Recordings of both workshop pieces
$1,000 or $250/month
Audit Package
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Access to all group seminars
$200 or $50/month
Fellowship Syllabus
Seminar Starts January 30th. All seminars begin at 6PM ET / 5PM CT / 4PM MT / 3PM PT and are approximately 1 hour.
Date | Presentor | Topic |
|---|---|---|
Jan 30 | All | Orientation/Welcome/Introductions |
Feb 6 | Informal Cohort Meeting | Show and tell recent projects |
Feb 13 | Tomer | Applied Advanced Counterpoint |
Feb 20 | Informal Cohort Meeting | Prepare for first reading/workshop |
Feb 27 | The Boston TrouBadours & Insight | Writing Workshop (can be an excerpt) |
March 6 | Informal Cohort Meeting | Show and tell favorite pieces/what you’re listening to now |
March 13 | Yangfan | Orchestration or writing for dance |
March 20 | Informal Cohort Meeting | |
March 27 | Alex | Improvisation |
Feb April 3 | Informal Cohort Meeting | Prepare for Piano workshop |
April 10 | The Boston TrouBadours | Writing for Piano/Organ Workshop |
April 17 | Informal Cohort Meeting | Prepare for Quartet workshop |
April 24 | Insight Quartet | Writing for Quartet workshop |
May 1 | Informal Cohort Meeting | Career development with Yangfan |
May 8 | Tomer | TBD |
May 15 | Informal Cohort Meeting/Yangfan | Finding Your Audience |
May 22 | Alex | Recording |
Feb 29 | Informal Cohort Meeting | |
June 5 | All | Wrap up, share recordings |