Is your composer high schooler contemplating a summer program? Walden School in Dublin NH is still taking applications. Boston Conservatory has a shorter intensive that is also recommended.
It might be good to find a conservatory prep program, or as I wrote before, contact a school about private lessons.
The Juilliard extension program does include readings by Juilliard students, so that is a plus. The advanced composition class has this:
This course provides advanced composers the opportunity to work with multiple faculty members in the course of the year
Thank you everyone for recommending Jacobâs Online Composition Academy. My son is doing it this summer and is greatly enjoying the lessons and masterclasses. He is getting some great feedback on the pieces he has composed so far (his mentor teaches at Jacobâs and he said your work could pass off as graduate-level submission I see here) and working on a new one thatâs pushing him to try new instrumentation. What would you recommend for next summer? His mentor at Jacobâs said that Berklee summer composition is for beginners and he is already quite advanced. He should look into conservatories in Europe for next summer but I havenât been able to find anything that will accept someone his age. Would really appreciate any ideas on how I can I support him in developing his talent.
If he is advanced, it is hard to make recommendations without knowing his aesthetic preferences, composers he admires and so on. Does he write for chamber ensembles, orchestra, solos, duos etc.? Is her aware of 20th and 21st century composers?
compmom already mentioned AMF. Their website seems to be partly broken right now but check back later, definitely a good option to consider.
Bowdoin only accepts 8 composers and most are age 18+, but they donât have a strict age limit so itâs a possibility. A few others that are also highly selective:
NYO USA accepts 2 composers each summer; the program is full scholarship. Their website doesnât give much detail about the composition program but thereâs a Q&A here with more info.
Yellow Barn Young Artists is open to ages 13-20, but it starts in early June so it might not work schedule-wise, depending on your sonâs school schedule.
Not sure you will find much at the UK conservatoires except for Guildhall School of Music in London who do do a short summer programme and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland; Wells Music School (a specialist school) also do something. However these are 5-7 day programmes so may not be good value vs travel costs etc,
Thanks @guoguo0127 You are right of course.
Last year it was University of Colorado, Colorado Springs Center for the Arts.
The Composers Conference (formerly Wellesley Composers Conference, then at Brandeis then Avaloch Farm in NH) also keeps moving around. Not for high schoolers though.
Probably good to check Composers Site and the Walden resource list for up to date info rather than old-timers like me!
He writes for chamber ensembles. He is more interested in the early 20th-century composers, impressionist composers, and Shostakovich. Thanks for the links. I will keep an eye on those for opportunities.
Also, many of the programs like NYO wonât accept him as we are not US citizens. We are EU citizens but we have lived in Asia for the last two decades.
soundSCAPE and COMPOSIT are in Italy, Kalv in Sweden, etc, but most are post-high school. Maybe you could contact conservatories in whatever country he would like and see if they have a summer high school program.