Apply to Luna Composition Labs

Luna Composition Lab T-shirt

The letters LUNA within thumbnail, half, 3/4, and full moons

Not credited on their web site but I will try to find out who designed this.

Might be by Square Candy Design

The application period for Luna Composition Lab for the 2026-27 Fellowships and Adventures in Sound classes opened about ten days ago and closes on September 15.

If you know any budding musicians, ages 13-18, who are female, nonbinary, or gender nonconforming, they're eligible to apply to either of the programs.

• The Fellowships provide eight months of one-on-one mentoring with a female, nonbinary, or gender nonconforming composer; the chance to create an original worked that is workshopped, premiered, and recording by professional musicians; many professional opportunities, including networking with current and past fellows and a weeklong festival in NYC at the end of the fellowship year. The Fellowship is free.
• Adventures in Sound is a ten-week online group composition class for female, nonbinary, or gender nonconforming musicians, ages 13-18, using a wonderful curriculum developed by composer Whitney George. Adventures in Sound costs $240; there are scholarships available for those who can demonstrate financial need.

I wrote about Luna Lab and its founders, composers Ellen Reid and Missy Mazzoli, for the NY Times this past spring. It's a wonderful project, and I have such respect and admiration for Ellen and Missy and the work they've done and are doing.

Please spread the word about Luna Lab to any and all young composers and musicians that you know who are female, nonbinary, or gender nonconforming!

Luna Composition Lab

New York Times screencap

Ellen Reid and Missy Mazzoli in Reid's Brooklyn loft/studio

I've had a busy few weeks, and the biggest story I published was in the New York Times (gift link), about Luna Composition Lab, an educational nonprofit started by composers Ellen Reid and Missy Mazzoli to fill a gap they had noticed in their training: they're never had a woman as a composition mentor.

I was thrilled to interview Reid, Mazzoli, Luna Labs' executive director Alyssa Kayser-Hirsh, and three Luna Lab alumni, the composers KiMani Bridges, Yuri Lee, and Maya Miro Johnson. It is an amazing program, providing one-on-one online composition lessons and mentoring to six young female, nonbinary, or non-gender-conforming teens, age 13-18, every year, providing continuing professional development opportunities, performances, and a professional recording of the young composers' project from their mentoring year.

There's also a wonderful online course, Adventures in Sound, that teaches basic music theory and composition; composer Whitney George developed and teaches the curriculum.

Luna Lab is ten years old this year, and they've got many events planned. Two big ones are an anniversary performance in New York and an anniversary performance in Berkeley, CA, at Cal Performances. (You bet I'll be there.)

Many organizations are Luna Lab partners for Luna Lab@10; in California, these include the Kronos Quartet, Ensemble for These Times, Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, Friction Quartet, S.F. Girls Chorus, and the Sarah Gibson Foundation. There are many, many others across the country; watch for performances of works by Luna Lab alumni.

Lastly,  San Francisco Choral Artists will present the world premiere of Yuri Lee's "I Loved You First." She is this year's winner of their New Voice Project. Performances are on May 31 (SF), June 6 (Palo Alto), and June 7 (Oakland). The entire program looks great, mixing very new and very old works.