About the Composers’ Forum

The Chamber Music Conference was founded in 1946 as a summer workshop in which contemporary composers presented new works and developed them with professional and amateur chamber music players. Throughout our history, as our chamber music program has grown, we have remained passionately committed to commissioning, studying, and performing new music. Since 2002, our program of composer residencies, called the Composers’ Forum, has been led by Senior Composer-in-Residence Donald Crockett.

During three of our week-long sessions, we invite distinguished Composers-in-Residence to coach their music, along with Composition Fellows, who are paired with Composers-in-Residence. Works by Composers-in-Residence and Composition Fellows are performed each week by faculty and participants.

Composers-in-Residence

The Conference invites a Composer-in-Residence to attend each of Weeks 2, 3, and 4 and commissions the Composer-in-Residence to write a chamber work specifically for a participant group to prepare for performance at a Participant Musicale. The Conference also programs previously-composed works by these composers for performance by faculty groups on the Conference Concert Series.

Composers-in-Residence coach participant groups both on their own commissioned works and on other works in the chamber music literature.

The Composers-in-Residence for 2024 are

• Laura Schwendinger (week 2, July 14-21)
• Sarah Gibson (week 3, July 21-28)
• Carlos Simon (week 4, July 28-August 4)

Composers-in-Residence at the Conference have included recipients of prestigious honors such as the Charles Ives Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, and the Pulitzer Prize. Following are Composers-in-Residence from recent years:

2004: Gabriela Lena Frank, Stephen Hartke, Jennifer Higdon
2005: Daniel Godfrey, Steven Mackey, Roberto Sierra
2006: Gabriela Lena Frank, Stephen Hartke, Paul Moravec
2007: Derek Bermel, Robert Dick, Gabriela Lena Frank
2008: Evan Chambers, Jeffrey Mumford, Dan Welcher
2009: Lisa Bielawa, Daniel Godfrey, John Fitz Rogers
2010: Gabriela Lena Frank, Pierre Jalbert, Paul Moravec
2011: Susan Botti, Kenneth Frazelle, Harold Meltzer
2012: Daniel Godfrey, John McDonald, Andrew Norman
2013: Caroline Mallonée, Jeffrey Mumford, John Fitz Rogers
2014: Ted Hearne, Laura Schwendinger, Sean Shepherd
2015: Kurt Rohde, Han Lash, Dan Visconti
2016: Jesse Jones, Sean Friar, Amy Williams
2017: Marc Mellits, Susan Botti, Harold Meltzer
2018: Lei Liang, Pierre Jalbert, Paul Moravec
2019: Allen Shawn, Scott Wheeler, Judith Shatin
2020: (no Conference)
2021: (no Composers' Forum)
2022: Kurt Rohde, Donald Crockett, Elizabeth Ogonek
2023: Marc Mellits, Sky Macklay, Sean Friar

Composition Fellows

The Conference invites a Composition Fellow to attend each of Weeks 2, 3, and 4 and pairs each Composition Fellow with a Composer-in-Residence for study sessions. Each Composition Fellow composes a work for participant coaching sessions and helps coach these sessions along with the Composer-in-Residence, thus receiving a unique opportunity for real-time feedback. Works by Composition Fellows are showcased each week in Participant Musicales.

The Composition Fellows for 2024 are Daria Tennikova (Week 2), Jaze Matteo Wharton (Week 3) and Timothy Peterson (Week 4).

Composers' Forum Commissions

In addition to the new works commissioned each year for study and performance by participants, the Conference regularly commissions large-scale works by a selected Composer-in-Residence. These works receive premiere performances by the faculty on the Conference Concert Series and are also studied in coaching by participants.

For our 75th anniversary in 2022, we commissioned works for a variety of ensembles, including all of the instruments regularly represented at the Conference, as follows:

Han Lash: Quintet in Four Movements for piano and strings (piano, violin, viola, cello, bass)
Kurt Rohde: the future is finite for winds and bass (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, bass)
Donald Crockett: Camera Oscura for nine winds and strings (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, viola, cello, bass)
Elizabeth Ogonek: Microludes for piano, winds, and strings (piano, clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, viola, cello)

In past years, five other large-scale commissions have been made possible by the Composers' Forum Fund, which is supported by contributions from individuals in memory of Jacob Glick, violist and former long-time Music Director of the Conference:

2004: Donald Crockett, The Ceiling of Heaven for piano quartet
2007: Gabriela Lena Frank, Tres Homenajes: Compadrazgo for piano quintet
2010: Paul Moravec, Wind Quintet
2013: John Fitz Rogers, Book of Concord for string quartet
2018: Pierre Jalbert, Wind Dances for wind quintet and piano

In 2009 the Conference commissioned and premiered Dances in Checkered Shade, for clarinet, string trio, and piano, by Daniel Strong Godfrey. This commission was made possible by contributions in appreciation of Frank Mallory, clarinetist, for his many years of service to the Conference as a member of our Board.

Information for Participants

For weeks 2, 3, and 4, the Composer-in-Residence and Composition Fellow each create a 5-6 minute work for participants to study and perform. Please specify in your application whether you would like to participate in this opportunity. Choosing this option does not guarantee that you will be selected to study a new work. If you are selected:

• The new work is one of your four coached assignments.
• The new work is coached by the Composer-in-Residence.
• The Composition Fellow is also present during coaching of the new work.
• You commit to performing the work in a Participant Musicale. Your performance may be recorded for the composer's archive, but the recording will not be made public.

Acknowledgements

The Composers' Forum and other programs of the Chamber Music Conference are made possible, in part, by support from ACMP Associated Chamber Music Players, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, the Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, and generous contributions from individuals.

For more information about how to support the Composers' Forum, click here.