"Tanglewood, while making available the experience of an abundant variety of music and musicians, offers a great chance to form lasting bonds between exceptionally gifted young composers and players. Many of the Tanglewood faculty trace durable collaborations to their own summers as Tanglewood Fellows." -- John Harbison

John Harbison, Chairman 
Michael Gandolfi, Coordinator

The TMC Composition Program balances intensive on-site writing projects with classes, seminars, and discussions led by distinguished composers from a wide range of aesthetic perspectives - in 2012 including John Harbison, Michael Gandolfi, George Benjamin, and others. Composers will each have at least three performances of their works during the summer: two or more of which will be works written on-site.

Each Composition Fellow will have one previously composed acoustic chamber work performed during the season on a regular TMC concert. As part of their application materials, composers should include at least one work which they would like to have performed at the Center, suitable for performance by TMC forces (see application requirements for specific guidelines on length and instrumentation).

The on-site projects involve producing work quickly in order to experiment, develop specific (perhaps unfamiliar) skills, and to foster close collaborations with TMC performers. Inter-Arts initiatives often form one such project; others have included writing in less familiar musical genres or for under-utilized instruments, or writing for an ensemble consisting of the composers themselves.

The program also includes meetings with BSO musicians, librarians, and artistic administrators; resident performance faculty who are new music specialists; and experts in the areas of publishing, licensing, and more.

Tanglewood's renowned Festival of Contemporary Music gives Composition Fellows the opportunity to be in the midst of one of the most vital and concentrated presentations of modern music in the world, and meet many leading composers of our time.

Each composer is assigned a studio in which to work, and a key to the Hawthorne Cottage, where most composition classes are held and which contains two computers with internet access and the latest composition software, a grand piano, and stereo equipment.

Details about all projects, particularly information regarding pre-season work, will be provided at the time of acceptance into the program.