Academic Departments: Composition
Composition Studies at Longy
Longy composers work in an artistic environment dedicated to public performance and supportive of new music. Composition students benefit from experienced mentoring and a collective commitment to high standards and academic inquiry. Above all, close collaboration with instrumentalists, singers, and pianists serves as the driving force behind the creation of new music at Longy.
Programs Available
Master of Music Degree in Composition
Undergraduate Diploma in Composition
Program Highlights
STUDIO LESSONS: Individual instruction and collaboration with a faculty mentor is the cornerstone of conservatory education at Longy. Esteemed faculty members from all backgrounds address the aesthetic and professional goals of each student composer while enlarging the scope of each student’s technique and artistic insight.
MASTER CLASSES AND SEMINARS: Weekly seminars with Longy faculty and distinguished guests offer insight and professional guidance by combining analytical workshops, discussions, faculty and student presentations, group composition lessons, and consideration of career issues.
ORCHESTRATION: Students explore the fundamentals of instrumentation and scoring through coursework and through readings of student works by the Longy Conservatory Orchestra.
COMPUTER MUSIC STUDIO: Composers have the opportunity to create and perform electroacoustic and computer music in the school’s studio. Related coursework includes instruction in composition using digital synthesis, hard-disk recording and editing, signal processing, MIDI, and real-time interactive techniques. The Studio's equipment includes Cycling74's MAX /MSP and Pluggo, Csound, Supercollider, Cubase SX, Peak, Metasynth, Sibelius, Garritan Personal Orchestra, and a Kurzweil K2500S synthesizer.
Performance Opportunities
Composition students are fortunate to have many opportunities at Longy for reading and public performances of their works, including:
Longitude and Radius Ensemble Commissioning Projects: Ensembles-in-residence Longitude and the Radius Ensemble have yearly projects where works-in-progress are read and feedback is provided by players and faculty. Pieces are revised and submitted, and select works are chosen for public performance.
Longy Conservatory Orchestra Readings and Performance: Each year, the orchestra assists in the development of composers by reading student works and programming at least one work for performance.
New Music by Longy Composers: The Composition Department presents four concerts per year of music composed in-residence at Longy.
Honors Concert: Students can enter compositions to be performed at the year-end Honors Concert.
Longy composers have also had their pieces performed by the following ensembles:
Boston Chamber Music Society
Hartt Symphony Orchestra
Providence Mandolin Orchestra
Quartet X
Warner Brothers Studios
< BACK
TO ACADEMIC DEPARTMENTS
