Programs Available
Master of Music Degree in Composition
Undergraduate Diploma in Composition

Composition Studies at Longy
Longy composers work in an artistic environment dedicated to public performance and supportive of new music. Longy composition students benefit from experienced mentoring and a collective commitment to high standards and academic inquiry, and, above all, close and constant collaboration with talented instrumentalists, singers, and pianists. Composition study centers on weekly individual lessons and the Composition Department Seminar, which combines analytical workshops, faculty and student presentations, group composition lessons, performance critiques, and professional guidance. Offerings in analysis include courses in specialized areas such as the songs of Schubert, the symphonies of Mahler, or the string quartets of Bartók, as well as in-depth examinations of twentieth- and twenty-first-century repertoire and its performance practice. At the undergraduate level, an extensive musicianship curriculum centered on solfège and keyboard harmony develops students' aural skills and their preparation for performance and teaching.

Student composers benefit from Boston's lively and diverse new music scene and from appearances by visiting composers and advocates of contemporary music including, in recent years, Tzvi Avni, Arthur Berger, Michel Gandolfi, Osvaldo Golijov, Sofia Gubaidulina, John Heiss, Andrew Imbrie, Aaron Jay Kernis, Leon Kirchner, Marjorie Merryman, Elliot Schwartz, Bright Sheng, Tison Street, Boris Tishchenko, Nancy Van de Vate, and Chen Yi.

Computer Music Studio
Installed in 1998, the Computer Music Studio is available to all student composers. The Studio's educational goals focus on the creation and performance of electroacoustic and computer music. Related coursework includes instruction in the composition of electroacoustic music using digital synthesis, hard-disk recording and editing, signal processing, MIDI , and real-time interactive techniques. End-of-semester concerts provide a forum for the performance of student works. 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.

Composition and Performance at Longy
Student composers have many opportunities for readings and public performances of their works, as well as the chance to develop their own performance abilities. Alongside productive informal work with student performers, composition majors hear their works in readings by chamber ensembles and the Longy Chamber Orchestra, masterclasses and the Composition Department Seminar, and other composition courses. Longitude, Longy's new music ensemble, reads and performs student works along with compositions by other contemporary composers. Additionally, Master of Music candidates have the opportunity to submit an orchestral work for possible rehearsal and performance by the Longy Chamber Orchestra during their residency.

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