The Suncoast Composer Fellowship Program 2024

Session 2: October 2–7 | Fellowship Festival

Applications are now OPEN! The deadline is on May 17, 2024 at 11:59 PM Eastern.

Program co-Directors: Max Tan and Aaron Wolff | Composer Mentors in Residence: Sean Friar and Marc Migó Cortes

The Suncoast Composer Fellowship Program empowers emerging composers by providing resources to further build their careers. The program gives composer fellows:

  • Repeat performances of already completed works by world-class artists, including workshop and rehearsal opportunities with resident Festival artists. Last year’s festival included guest musicians from Sarasota’s ensembleNEWSRQ depending on the instrumentation required.

  • Interview with Tyler Kline, host of Modern Notebook on WSMR, Sarasota’s Classical Music radio station

  • Mentorship from award-winning composers Sean Friar, Marc Migó Cortes, and Nick Bentz (SCFP 2023 Fellow alumnus)

  • Community with composer and performer peers at the Sarasota Steinwachs Artist Residences

  • Public speaking events to practice lecturing skills and self-advocacy, including audience outreach presentations at a pre-concert reception.

  • Residency space to work on current projects

  • High-quality performance recordings for their portfolio, produced by ensembleNEWSRQ at the First Congregational Church of Christ in Sarasota

  • Access to chamber music rehearsals, concerts, and broadcasts presented by performers in residence at the Fellowship program

Application Details

The online application will close on May 17 at 11:59 PM Eastern. You can prepare the following materials to facilitate your application.

  • Application Form

  • Your CV as a PDF (please include education history, mentors, festival and performance history, etc.)

  • A list of completed works (include titles, instrumentation, duration, composition and premiere dates, links to recordings where applicable)

  • At least 1 sample score as a PDF with accompanying audio (Please do not submit more than 3 representatives works. Your audio recordings must be of the works you submit.)

  • 1 Recommender Contact (this can be a professor, mentor, or colleague/collaborator who we will reach out to for a letter)

  • Brief Artistic Statement (Please share 1-2 paragraphs answering the question: What is your mission as a composer? Upload as a PDF)

Quick Facts

Dates: October 2–7, 2024

Application Opens: March 30, 2024

Application Deadline: May 17, 2024 (closing at 11:59pm Eastern)

Eligibility: Fellows must be at least 18 years old during the Fellowship dates.

Cost: $1500* – We are pleased to be able to offer some financial aid this year, but no full scholarships will be offered.

Application Fee: $30 - Fee waivers are available, email info@soundboxventures.org to request more information.

*This covers all program offerings such as recordings, rehearsal, workshop, and performances. Lodging is included – all fellows receive their own private room in a luxury 3-bedroom apartment with furnished living room and kitchen. Fellows must be responsible for travel costs.

Accommodations

All artists and composers, including fellows, will be housed at the Steinwachs Artist Residences.

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Fellowship Festival Partners

SCFP 2024 Festival Artists

This year’s performers will come to Sarasota from Toronto, Boston, New York, Berlin, and Dresden! Learn more about each artist below. In addition, these artists will collaborate with those from ensembleNEWSRQ. Learn more by visiting www.ensrq.org.

  • An artist that “leaves no question about his riveting presentation and technical finesse” (Seattle Times), Canadian pianist Kevin Ahfat is acclaimed to be “poised to become one of the young heirs of the classical piano realm, with a bold, boundary-pushing, millennial style matched by refined execution”(Vanguard Seattle). Possessing “a balanced mix of expressiveness and virtuosity” (Musical America), he“summons plenty of thunderpower in the big moments, but clearly values musicianship over mere showmanship” (American Record Guide). Kevin continues performances and recordings as the newest core member of the three-time Grammy-nominated ARC Ensemble, one of Canada’s preeminent chamber ensembles and foremost cultural forces. A two-time winner of the Juilliard Concerto Competition, Kevin studied at the Juilliard School with Joseph Kalichstein and Stephen Hough, and was in-residence as a Rebanks Fellow at the Royal Conservatory. Kevin is Artistic Director of OPUS Chamber Music, Toronto’s newest premier chamber music hub.

  • Holger Grohs was born in Erlangen, Germany, beginning his violin studies at the age of six. He completed his music curriculums at both the University of Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt under the direction of Walter Forchert, and later at the Conservatory of Music in Wuerzburg under the guidance of Herwig Zack, where he received a Master Class Diploma. His artistic development was then significantly influenced by Franco Gulli, under who’s tutelage Holger studied for two years at Indiana University in Bloomington, USA. There, he also collaborated intensively with artists such as Leonard Hokanson and Janos Starker. Alongside live solo performances on Bayerischer Rundfunk - Bavarian state radio in Germany - Holger Grohs was awarded German scholarships by the Peter Fuld Foundation in Bavaria as well as the Carl Flesch Academy in Baden-Baden. He then gained further inspiration at numerous master seminars and festivals, including with Saschko Gawriloff at the Carl Flesch Academy, at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Sienna, and at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo. Since 2001 Holger Grohs has been a member violinist of the prestigious Staatskapelle Dresden - the Dresden State Orchestra - in 2013 becoming the Deputy Concertmaster of the second violins, and in December 2015 rising to the position of Concertmaster of the second violins. An equally important focus of Holger’s musical creativity for many years has been the viola, propelled by definitive, favorable assessments from both Wilfried Strehle and Felix Schwartz. As a keenly welcomed chamber musician, Holger Grohs has toured frequently at home and abroad throughout his career including at the "Joyful Moments" series in China.

  • Praised for her “first rate and thoroughly engaging” playing, Taiwanese violinist Dr. Li-Mei Liang’s performance has been described as a “powerhouse” by the Boston Musical Intelligencer. An active soloist and chamber musician, Li-Mei regularly plays with the East Coast Chamber Orchestra, and has performed with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and New York Classical Players. As a soloist, Li-Mei recently completed a recording project with the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra in Taiwan, also serving as guest concertmaster.

    A passionate and committed educator in both music theory and violin practice, Li-Mei has served as a Violin and Chamber Music Lecturer at the University of California, Irvine, and is currently a full-time music theory faculty at the New England Conservatory. She also teaches violin at NEC’s Preparatory School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

    Li-Mei completed her undergraduate and graduate studies at the New England Conservatory. She received her Doctorate of Musical Arts in violin performance, with a minor in music theory. Her mentors include Donald Weilerstein, Nicholas Kitchen, Efstratios Minakakis, and Cheng-Tu Su.

  • Violinist Lukas Stepp was in the master’s program at the Juilliard School studying with Ida Kavafian. Born in Stuttgart, Germany, he has appeared as a soloist with chamber music groups at festivals throughout Germany and has won prizes in competitions including the Klassikpreis Munster, Concertino Praga, Charles Hennen Concours, the youth prize of the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Brahms Competition, Portugal’s Competition Julio Cardona, and at the Schoenfeld String Competition in Harbin, China.

    As a soloist he performed with orchestras like the Karntener Symphoniker, Macau Youth Orchestra, Youth Orchestra of Baden-Wurttemberg, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, and Staatsorchester Hildesheim.

    He was a 2016 graduate of the Hanns Eisler University of Music Berlin where he studied with Feng Ning and Stephan Picard. Since 2019 he serves as principal second violinist of the Staatskapelle Dresden. He plays on a violin by Matteo Goffriller (Venice 1700).

  • Clarinetist Sam Boutris leads a diverse career as concerto soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. He is the recipient of the ‘Musica Solis’ Grand Prize Award at the 2019 Chamber Music Northwest International Clarinet Competition. Boutris has since released his debut album ‘Phases’ on the Musica Solis label and collaborated with the Rolston String Quartet, Attacca Quartet, and musicians at Chamber Music Northwest. He presented recitals on the Crypt Sessions series in New York City, The Violin Channel, the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts in Chicago, Carnegie Hall, and performed live on WQXR (NYC), WFMT(Chicago), and WSMR (Sarasota). Boutris appeared as soloist with the New Jersey Festival Orchestra, Chamber Music Northwest, Vermont Mozart Festival Orchestra, and the Yale Undergraduate Chamber Orchestra. He also served as principal/guest clarinet with the Louisville Orchestra, The Knights, the Pacific Symphony, the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and the Princeton Symphony Orchestra. Boutris is a resident artist of Soundbox Ventures’ Suncoast Composer Fellowship Program, performing and advocating for clarinet chamber music in contemporary classical repertoire. Boutris holds an undergraduate degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, a graduate degree from the Yale School of Music, and an Artist Diploma from The Juilliard School.

  • Berlin-based American violinist and composer Luke Hsu (ARAM) has an artistic philosophy that eschews borders. He draws on his passions for history, culture, and folk music in crafting his interpretations, and champions music of our time as enthusiastically as that of the past. Both his performances and compositions reflect his diverse artistic influences. A laureate of the Queen Elisabeth competition, Luke received 1st prize at the ISANGYUN competition and is a prizewinner of the Wieniawski, Indianapolis, Nielsen, Michael Hill, and Paganini competitions. He maintains an active performing schedule, soloing with numerous renowned orchestras around the world, most recently with the Sinfonieorchester Basel, Sudeten Philharmonic, Belgian National Orchestra, and the Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia. He works closely with eminent conductors such as Leonard Slatkin, Pascal Verrot, Nikolaj Znaider, Hugh Wolff, Cristian Macelaru and Jean-Jacques Kantarow. Previous concerts were at important venues such as Wigmore Hall, Windsor Castle, Kennedy Center, Herkulessaal, Philharmonie Berlin, BOZAR, and many others. A founding member of Tonhain Kollektiv, a new chamber music society based in Berlin, Luke has also collaborated with luminaries such as Itamar Golan, Cho-Liang Lin, Gil Shaham, Marc-Andre Hamelin, Peter Frankl, and Colin Carr. Important festival appearances include Verbier, La Jolla SummerFest, Music@Menlo, and Yellow Barn. Luke is regularly invited to Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music. He was recently selected as an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music for his significant contributions to the music profession, at which he also frequently teaches masterclasses.

  • Lev Mamuya is a cellist and writer whose work focuses on the relationship between art and its audiences. He has recently appeared with the Semiosis and Boston Public Quartets, and as a guest artist with Soundbox Ventures, Castle of Our Skins, A Far Cry, and Winsor Music. Outside of his performing efforts, Mamuya is an active critic whose work has appeared in the San Francisco Classical Voice and The Drift, and a composer whose scored works and compositions for film have featured around the US.

  • American violinist Max Tan has been praised as “eloquent” (New York Times) and “warmly rhapsodic” (Boston Globe) for “rhetorical playing that transcends the barlines”(Wieniawski Gazette). Forging a varied career as performer and educator, he has performed internationally on some of the world’s most venerable stages, soloing with the Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia, Amadeus Chamber Orchestra of Polish Radio, Hudson Valley Philharmonic, The Juilliard Orchestra amongst others. Recipient of the 2023 Gershen Cohen Violin Award, Mr. Tan made his Carnegie Hall recital debut in April 2024. This summer sees the release of Mr. Tan’s debut CD on Centaur Records featuring unpublished manuscripts by the Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe, and an essay on these manuscripts in a new book celebrating Juilliard’s archival treasures.

    An ardent advocate for the music of our time, Mr. Tan is committed to arts diplomacy, education, and community engagement. As founder and artistic director of Soundbox Ventures, he curates Listen Hear Salon Concerts and co-directs the Suncoast Composer Fellowship Program. He has guest-taught seminars on performance practice at Juilliard, the Tianjin Juilliard School, and the Central Conservatory of Music (Beijing). An alumnus of Harvard and Juilliard, Mr. Tan is assistant faculty of violin and chamber music at Juilliard’s Pre-College Division and concertmaster of Opera Philadelphia. Mr. Tan’s important mentors include Albert Markov, Lynn Chang, Catherine Cho, Donald Weilerstein, and Itzhak Perlman.

  • Hailed as “sensational” and for playing with “total commitment and conviction” (Seen & Heard International 2024), cellist Rainer Crosett is quickly building an international career as an artist of uncommon sensitivity and creativity. From his Wigmore Hall debut as the first American cellist ever to win the Pierre Fournier Award, to his recent concerto debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra of London, he regularly appears throughout Europe and North America. He is co-founder of a new chamber music society in Berlin, Tonhain Kollektiv, and has performed widely at festivals including Grachtenfestival Amsterdam, Rheingau Musik Festival, Ravinia, Yellow Barn, and Prussia Cove. He has worked closely with leading composers including Jörg Widmann, and performed with ensembles such as the Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart. A graduate of Harvard College magna cum laude in Philosophy, he holds graduate degrees in music from New England Conservatory, USC Thornton School of Music, and the Universität der Künste Berlin.

  • TianYi Li is the recipient of the third prize and three special prizes at the 2017 Tbilisi International Piano Competition, and a Bowdoin Festival piano fellow for 2020 and 2022. Recent highlights include the complete Rachmaninoff Étude-Tableaux at the Shanghai International Piano Festival & Institute, and a solo recital at the Zhejiang Conservatory. As a chamber musician, he has presented and premiered new music as a member of New Juilliard Ensemble and AXIOM in Alice Tully Hall and Peter Jay Sharp Theater. A devote pedagogue, TianYi is a Sight-Reading and Secondary Piano teaching fellow at Juilliard, where he works with undergraduate and graduate students to hone their keyboard skills. A native of Shenzhen, China, TianYi holds degrees from NYU Steinhardt and The Juilliard School, where he is currently a doctoral candidate.

  • 21-year-old violinist, Christina Nam, has concertized around the world appearing in recitals and as a soloist with numerous orchestras. Ms. Nam, as the youngest competitor at age 14, received Second Prize in the Cooper International Violin Competition where she performed with Maestro Jahja Ling and The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall. Other notable recognitions include semi-finalist at the Louis Spohr International Competition and the Menuhin Competition 2018 Geneva.

    As an avid chamber musician, Nam is a member of the Amara Trio based at the Juilliard School, where they have recently performed in Alice Tully Hall in New York, Prior-Jollek Hall in the Virgin Islands, and Kneisel Hall in Maine.

    Ms. Nam has worked with prominent conductors such as Louis Langrée, Robert Trevino, and Cristian Macelaru. Her most recent performance took place in Jakarta, Indonesia, soloing with the Jakarta Simfonia Orchestra under Maestra Rebecca Tong.

    She currently attends the Juilliard School as a full-scholarship Greene Foundation fellowship student, studying with Catherine Cho and Donald Weilerstein.

  • Zhanbo Zheng, a concert violist based in NYC, is the first Chinese to win the Primrose International Viola Competition. He is also the laureate of the Irving M. Klein International String Competition and the Washington International Competition for Strings. As a soloist, Mr. Zheng has performed with the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, and China Broadcasting Performing Arts Orchestra. An avid chamber musician, Mr. Zheng has appeared in major music festivals and has toured the US several times with Marlboro Music Festival and Ravinia Steans Music Institute, performing in venues such as Carnegie Hall and Kaufman Music Center. Mr. Zheng holds BM and MM degrees from the New England Conservatory and is currently pursuing the Artist Diploma at the Juilliard School. His teachers include Miriam Fried, Kim Kashkashian, Paul Neubauer, and Shaowu Wang.