Composition
School-wide collaboration requirements give you plenty of opportunities to hear your pieces come to life.
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Premiere at least four new pieces.
- Benefit from the entire faculty—not just your teacher.
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Workshop your pieces with Longy’s professional partners and guest artists.
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Experience a department that celebrates all compositional styles.
Longy composition students work closely with professional, multifaceted composers and performers to bring their new music to life. In addition to creating music for orchestra, chamber ensembles, electronics, electroacoustic media, and film, you’ll benefit from experienced mentoring in a supportive, inclusive, and highly collaborative new music community.
Plus, you’ll have the opportunity to work with partners like Radius Ensemble, Horszowski Trio, and the New England Jazz Collaborative.
Faculty
ALEXANDRA DU BOIS, Chair
Peter Aldins
Pablo Santiago Chin
Peter J. Evans *
Ruth Mendelson *
John Morrison
Niloufar Nourbakhsh
JOEL Roston *
Garo Saraydarian *
Tony Solitro *
Jeremy Van Buskirk
*no private studio
Composition Spotlight
LIZ DERSTINE (MM 2025), Composition/Collaborative Piano, record-breaking trail runner and long-distance hiker
“At Longy, my experiences with pop music, running, and outdoor pursuits were seen as assets that I was bringing to the table, not things that would detract from music.
Longy really embraces people coming from unique backgrounds who aren’t necessarily following a traditional path.“
NILOUFAR NOURBAKHSH, Composition Faculty
“We encourage students to find their own music, no matter how different. And faculty members are encouraged to devise classes and repertoire that haven’t been taught before.
In all this exploration, Longy students will find the most wonderful collaborators who will stay forever in their lives.“
Course Highlights
In the Manner Of
One of the time-honored ways of learning to compose has been the imitation of existing styles. Choose an inspirational composer, immerse yourself in their music, and try your hand at composing pieces in their style to be performed by classmates.
Computer Composition and Sound Design
Dive into the world of sound design for music and multimedia projects. Create new timbres and electroacoustic compositions using digital synthesis, sampling, and signal processing.
Customize Your Curriculum
Create your own opportunities, find new audiences, and make a living in unexpected ways by customizing your curriculum from a catalog of project-based courses you can’t find anywhere else. Our faculty mentors and experienced career coaches will be there to guide you.
More Highlights
New Music by Longy Composers:
The Composition Department presents three concerts per year of music composed in-residence at Longy.
New Music Marathon:
A day long new music event featuring work by students, faculty, and alumni.
Custom Commission:
MM students in the Vocal Studies, Strings, and Woodwinds and Brass departments are required to perform one work by a Longy composer before they graduate.
Studio Lessons:
Individual instruction with a faculty mentor is the cornerstone of conservatory education at Longy. Esteemed faculty members address the aesthetic and professional goals of each student composer while enlarging the scope of each student’s technique and artistic insight.
Masterclasses and Seminars:
Frequent opportunities 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.
Collaborative Environment:
Creative projects designed in partnership with Longy’s performance departments are an integral component of the program. Common projects include art song composition with the voice department, improvisation-based projects with the Jazz and Contemporary Music department, and solo/chamber pieces composed for our instrumental departments. Workshops and reading sessions foster the close collaboration between composer and performer.
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 equipment is centered around an Apple Mac Pro computer, Logic Studio Pro, multiple MIDI controllers, and 5.1 surround sound capabilities. Composers also work heavily with computer music programming languages such as Max, SuperCollider, and Csound.