HEARING THE FUTURE 2024
Two Concerts, Twenty-Six World Premieres
The newest music from the outstanding students in the Young Composers Project
Sunday, April 21 • 1:30 & 4:00
Lincoln Hall, Room 75, PSU
About Young Composers Project (YCP)
Fear No Music’s Young Composers Project provides groundbreaking composition training and mentorship for youth interested in composing as a professional career or life passion.
Students grades 5 - 12 train with the region’s top professional musicians and composers, developing their new works through a series of workshops and public concerts.
Creativity, Confidence, & Craft
We Empower Unique Compositional Voices and Young Musicians
By nurturing and honing each individual’s unique compositional voice, Fear No Music empowers young musicians, fostering creativity, confidence, and craft. This inspiring and holistic program includes:
Community for young creative talents
Opportunity to experiment and develop composition under the guidance of professional musicians
A firm foundation in orchestral instrument knowledge
Public performance and recording opportunity
Support in building an audience
Mentorship for students who wish to learn about and pursue a career in composition, and assistance in building a portfolio of work
YCP PROGRAM SUCCESS
Our participating students have earned prestigious recognition on both state and national levels, amassing a collection of accolades that speak to their exceptional talent and dedication. This success has not only highlighted their artistic prowess but has also opened doors to exciting opportunities.
YCP alumni have taken their passion for composition to diverse career paths within the music industry. Many of our former students now forge their careers as composers of orchestral music, crafting cinematic and television scores that captivate audiences. Some have ventured into the realm of musical theater, creating unforgettable works that grace stages worldwide. Others have explored the rich tapestry of folk music, infusing traditional genres with their contemporary sensibilities. The breadth of their accomplishments underscores the program's commitment to fostering versatile musicians who can thrive in various creative fields.
YCP APPLICATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED
Check Back For More Information
Young Composers Project: 26th Season
The Next Generation of Composers
2023-24 WORKSHOP SCHEDULE
LOCATION: PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY
Introduction to Orchestration (optional): October 15th: 2:30pm-4pm
Workshop 1: October 28th, 10am - 5pm & October 29: 1pm - 5pm*
Trip to the Oregon Symphony (optional): January 20
Workshop 2: January 27th, 10am - 5pm & January 28: 1pm - 5pm
Masterclass (optional): March 2024, Date and time TBD
Workshop 3: April 13th,10am - 5pm & April 14th: 1pm - 5pm
*Students are asked to attend their assigned workshop day/time.
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26th ANNUAL CONCERT
Hearing the Future: Music from the Young Composers Project
Sunday, April 21 | 1:30 pm & 4pm
Location: Portland State University, Rm 75
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PROGRAM COST
$300
Financial aid is available upon request, and no one will be turned away for lack of funds.
What People Are Saying
“for an art form to really remain alive and creating, we need to invest not just in teaching kids to passively “appreciate” old music — but to create new music in the classical tradition. I can’t think of a better way for the public to support music. That’s the value of Fear No Music’s Young Composers Project, which offers Portland area students coaching from the new music ensemble’s musicians and composers to help them realize their own unique visions.”
— Oregon ArtsWatch
“the Young Composers Project, a program of the Fear No Music ensemble... provides unparalleled training and performance opportunities for promising composers.”
— Lake Oswego Review & West Linn Tidings
“… that’s yet another thing I love about Fear No Music: as with its dedication to relevant programming, diversity, and inclusion, the group takes a long view of artistic development. The YCP doubles as a cunningly sustainable way of not only developing a creative base but also growing an audience: the kids learning how to create this type of music will enjoy listening to it.”
— Oregon ArtsWatch
Jeff Payne, YCP Director
As the co-founder of Fear No Music alongside percussionist Joel Bluestone, pianist Jeff Payne has performed with the group across the United States including concerts in New York City, California, Colorado, and throughout the Pacific Northwest. During his tenure as Artistic Director, he was responsible for the presentation of twenty World Premiere or US Premiere performances of works by Pacific Northwest composers. In 1997 he founded the Young Composers Workshop to expand upon the mission of Fear No Music, and continues as its Director, overseeing the development of young creative minds around the country.
Heralded as “a pianist of chameleon abilities,” (The Boston Globe) Payne’s illustrious performance career includes appearances on WGBH National Public Radio in Boston, KING radio in Seattle, All Classical Portland, and OPB, at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Norton Gallery in Palm Beach, at the Seattle Spring Festival, the Ernest Bloch Festival, the Oregon Bach Festival, and as a soloist with the Vancouver Symphony. His phenomenally executed complete performance of Messiaen’s epic Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant Jesus received recognition by The Oregonian as one of the “Ten Best Concerts of 2008.”
Payne graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Music from Boston University and holds a Master of Music from the New England Conservatory. His teaching career includes posts at Willamette University, Portland State University and currently at Reed College.
Ryan Francis, Board Chair & Program Manager
Portland-based composer Ryan Francis’s music has been described as having an “aggressively original musical language that uses nuance, precision and stylistic-variance to create music that is at once lush, probing and inventive.” (WQXR) His work has received grants and awards including from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Jerome Foundation, and the Augustine Foundation.
Recent and ongoing projects include Voynich Transcriptions for clarinetist James Shields, The Living Fabric, a collaboration with violinist and composer Emily Wells, Prophet Cycle for the Prophet-6 synthesizer with pianist Conor Hanick, and Quartet for four monophonic synthesizers. Francis’s works for dance include two ballets with choreographer Pontus Lidberg, SNOW (2015), and Stream (2013). Francis has also collaborated with artists of diverse media, including artist Nancy Davidson and artist/writer Andrew Hussie.
Commissions include the American Composers Orchestra, the Banff Centre of Canada, Metropolis Ensemble, Fear No Music Ensemble, Chatter, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, El-Sakia String Orchestra of Cairo, Cadillac Moon Ensemble, Columbia Symphony of Portland, Pacific Symphony, Oregon Ballet Theater, New Juilliard Ensemble, and the New York Youth Symphony. Francis’s music for piano is available from Tzadik Records, performed by Vicky Chow.
2023-24 Young Composers Project is made possible by the generous support of The Amphion Foundation, Autzen Foundation, Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation and private donors of the arts and music.
