Hearing the Future 2026
Premieres by Young Composers Project Students
Sunday, April 19 at 3:00 PM (PART 2)
Eliot Chapel, Reed College
Fear No Music's Young Composers Project (YCP) 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.
PROGRAM
Jad Eid — Midnight Walk
Dean Smith — Disorientated
Julian Berry — Draco
Julian Schild — Voyage West
Mel Gray — Posit
Jasper Gillispie — postcards (a cat named “Recipe”)
Penelope Griffin — Scopophobia
Addison Kearby — Alison the Lacemaker
Peregrine Autumn — Self-Portrait As A Bird
Anika Gupta — Meadow’s Sunrise
Max Evans-McGlothin — Prism
James Lee — Fantasia sulla Liberazione
Young Composers Project Musicians:
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Bio coming soon.
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Cellist Heather Blackburn has been lauded for her “burnished tone” (The Oregonian) and for “her gorgeous tone and playing unerringly in tune” (Seattle Post Intelligencer). Heather was appointed to 4 one-year positions with the Oregon Symphony and has performed as guest principal cello for Portland Opera, Symphony Tacoma and Tulsa Symphony. She has given Oregon premieres of works by Joan Tower and Esa -Pekka Salonen, has been a featured soloist with Portland Symphonic Choir, and has performed and recorded with Pink Martini, Portland Cello Project, soul singer Ron Artis and indie band Other Lives. Heather currently teaches cello and chamber music at George Fox University and University of Portland. Heather was invited to perform a solo recital featuring music by Amy Beach as part of the “Women in Music” series at Chadron State College, NE in March. Upcoming concerts include a livestream with cellist Diane Chaplin of works by Giovanni Sollima, a recital in her home state of New York and a solo performance with the University of Portland Orchestra.
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Dr. Stephen Lewis is a composer, pianist, and conductor living in Portland, Oregon, whose music inhabits the terrain between sound as physical sensation and sound as signifier of culture. Hailed as “delectable,” with a “constantly shifting sonic world [that] proved fascinating and effective,” Stephen’s chamber opera, Noon at Dusk, was premiered at UC San Diego in 2016. He has been commissioned by or written works for the Delgani String Quartet, Cascadia Composers, the Wellesley Composers Conference, red fish blue fish, UC San Diego's Palimpsest ensemble, the Diagenesis Duo, Gnarwhallaby, Trio Kobayashi, Aurora Borealis, and a number of individuals. Stephen has performed in solo and ensemble concerts at Miller Theater in New York, Severance Hall in Cleveland, the Walt Disney and Zipper Halls in Los Angeles, and at smaller venues throughout the United States. Stephen maintains a private studio of piano, composition, and music theory students. He completed the PhD in Composition at UC-San Diego in 2015, where he studied with Rand Steiger. Subsequently, he completed the DMA in Contemporary Piano Performance in 2017, where he studied with Aleck Karis. Stephen is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he majored in piano and composition.
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For his work with young composers, pianist and conductor Jeff Payne was awarded the 2022 Musical Hero Award by the Metropolitan Youth Symphony. He founded Fear No Music with percussionist Joel Bluestone in 1992, and has performed hundreds of concerts with the group across the United States. During his tenure as Artistic Director for the group he was responsible for presentation of twenty World Premiere or American Premiere performances of works by Pacific Northwest composers. In 1997 he founded the Young Composers Workshop, and continues as its Director, overseeing the development of aspiring young creative minds around the region. The 25tth anniversary of the Young Composers Project was featured in articles in the Oregonian and Oregon Arts Watch.
Payne’s complete performance of Messiaen’s “Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant Jesus” was named one of the Ten Best Concerts of the year by the Oregonian. Heralded by the Boston Globe as “a pianist of chameleon abilities,” Payne has performed on WGBH National Public Radio in Boston, KING radio in Seattle, All-Classical and KOPB radio in Portland, at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Norton Gallery in Palm Beach, at the Seattle Spring Festival, at Eugene's Music Today Festival, the Ernest Bloch Festival, and the Oregon Bach Festival. He has performed as soloist with the Vancouver Symphony, and the Yaquina Chamber Symphony. Payne holds a law degree from Lewis & Clark Law School and is a Senior Assistant Attorney General with the Oregon Department of Justice.
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Bio coming soon.
Biographies & Program Notes
Jad Eid
Midnight Walk
BIOGRAPHY
Jad Eid is in the eighth grade at Northwest Academy, where he plays saxophone, piano, drums and guitar in three bands. When he was in the seventh grade, Jad wrote he wrote “Mr. Edison” which was performed in concert by his school band. Jad’s parents are dental entrepreneurs, and he the youngest of two brothers and a sister. His family is originally from Syria in the Middle East and they came to this country 30 years ago.
PROGRAM NOTES FROM THE COMPOSER
My piece is called “Midnight Walk.” It is written in ABACA format and it is a calm, jazzy song. I composed it with a Jazz and Latin vibe with various contrasting feels. It has a more slow paced, minor key contrasting the major B and C sections and a resolved ending with only major tones.
Dean Smith
Disorientated
BIOGRAPHY
Dean Smith is in eighth grade at Lakeridge Middle School and this is his first year in the Young Composers Project. In addition to composing music and playing the piano, he enjoys horticulture and learning more about native plants. Dean looks forward to participating in YCP again next year as he learns more about music theory and composing.
PROGRAM NOTES FROM THE COMPOSER
For my piece named Disoriented, I was inspired by Katherine Ace’s “Self Portrait called Somewhere Else” which I saw in the collection at the Schnitzer Gallery. I liked how chaotic it seemed and I wanted to compose a piece that would bring that feeling to the listener.
Julian Berry
Draco
BIOGRAPHY
Julian Berry is ten years old and in fourth grade at Deep Creek Damascus K-8 School. He plays soccer, tennis, golf and ride his bike. In school, his favorite subjects are music, reading and math. Julian has received soccer awards and school awards and,. This year, won the Oregon Music Educators Association Elementary Composition of the year - which is the piece he chose to use for his Young Composers Group piece. Julian lives with his mom, and brother Griffin. He hopes you have an extraordinary time listening to this fabulous song he has created.
PROGRAM NOTES FROM THE COMPOSER
My creative process is, I sit down at the piano and I find a position that sounds nice. Then I know that If I play a note that's lower it will sound low and the same, if I play a higher note, it will sound higher. I move around in hand positions listening for higher and lower sounds. I play chords and notes together until I like the way it sounds and once it sounds nice, I know it is a song I should record and that is when the chords and notes become a song.
The tools I use to help me write songs are; first, I play the song on the piano. Next, I record the song using my mom’s phone so it can show my hands on the piano. Then, I get help from my teacher to dictate the piano recording I made to the computer. The computer program we use to write songs is called Sibelius. I get my inspiration for songs from my three cats, Leo, Draco and Miss Kitty. When I record a song that I think is good, I like to name the song after one of my cats.
Julian Schild
Voyage West
BIOGRAPHY
Julian Schild is a junior at Northwest Academy who enjoys playing guitar and violin, as well as singing. He began composing two years ago, and this is his second season at YCP. He is a member of the Northwest Academy Schnitzer Cares Student Grantmaking Program and a former member of Metropolitan Youth Symphony.
PROGRAM NOTES FROM THE COMPOSER
My piece titled Journey West is an exploration of my feelings on the history of the American West. I feel drawn to the idealized version of American expansion where cowboys ruled red mountains, but I know that it leaves out an essential part of American history. American land did not come from no where. American expansionists killed and destroyed to claim the narrative that I enjoy. This piece is my way of expressing my conflicting feelings about Expansionism in American history.
Mel Gray
Posit
BIOGRAPHY
Mel Gray has logged hundreds of hours as a piano accompanist, including for choirs, solo singers, cellos, flutes, orchestras and small ensemble. He has completed several compositions, including some that have been performed live, with pieces such as 'Cobblestone' and 'The Plague of Doubt', as well as the three movement 'Fugue Feud' and the two movement 'Dark Chocolate'. He is currently in the process of writing three more compositions, including a small ensemble inspired by the late-romantic/early-impressionist era and a challenging solo piano piece that he has described as intending to be 'a cross between an etude and a sonata.' OMTA recognized him as an 'Honored Composer' in 2025.
PROGRAM NOTES FROM THE COMPOSER
My piece is called "Posit." To posit something is to propose a idea or question. This is reflected through the main theme, which is in a major key. It uses a borrowed chord from the parallel minor in order to give a feeling of mystery (or question like the name suggests).
The A section is answered by a fast moving rock and jazz blend in the B section. The piano has a strong bass line here and there are many repeated accents. These accents are essential to the song as they provide the grounding for a jazzy (yet still driving) rhythm. The A section then returns, but with variations on the theme. This is once again followed by the B section which is similar to the original, but again with variations on the theme.
Certain instruments are provided with solos and this transitions the focus onto a 'funk' style rather than rock. After this second B section concludes, something new comes into the song. The C section is completely different from both the A and B sections. This transitions keys into the parallel minor of the subdominant -- in this case, F# minor. All instruments have rhythmic chords except for the flute, which has a long jazzy solo. The C section does not end with the flute solo, however.
After the flute finishes, all instruments (except for the piano which still has a rhythmic part) take over the melody, either with a call and response type of theme or simply in unison. This eventually crescendos to a peak and then a huge breath until finally every instrument plays a line that releases all the tension, like an exhale. This piece then finishes with every instrument returning to a more grand A section before it ends.
Jasper Gillispie
postcards (a cat named “Recipe”)
BIOGRAPHY
Jasper Gillispie is a senior at Sunset High School. When he’s not composing, he sings in his school’s chamber choir as well as in Bridging Voices Youth Chorus. He also draws, writes weird little stories, plays the piano, reads, and occasionally plays a video game or two. He lives in Unincorporated Washington County with his parents and dog and cat (who is not named Recipe). He is 18 years old. After he graduates, he will most likely study animation at DePaul. As you can see from his photo, he is very well-hydrated.
PROGRAM NOTES FROM THE COMPOSER
My piece is called “Postcards,” subtitled, “a cat named ‘Recipe.” It’s a reflection on feelings of nostalgia for someplace very far away. (A beachside stroll which exists only within the confines of a memory many years in the future, which has largely faded and likes to sort of repeat itself in inconsequential places).
“Recipe,” as the piece is subtitled, is a really strange name for a cat; that part comes from a dream I had a few months back. I dream a lot about places I’ve never been to but which harbor a sort of unsettling familiarity. In this particular instance, said place was a vast garden awash with sunlight and inhabited by several (very friendly) cats, one of which was named “Recipe”. “Recipe” is in fact a rather cute name for a cat, even if it doesn’t make much sense. I’m not sure if this really counts as a “cute” piece, but it’s not not cute, similar to my piece last year, which was about moths (cute bug) dying (less cute).
These are a lot of words which are not specifically about the piece; the piece itself contains a lot of repeated motifs to capture the sense of a place or memory which “haunts” the listener; the harmony is generally nostalgically simple but contains moments of instability and only really resolves to those same repeating motifs. You can draw your own conclusions regarding the message.
Penelope Griffin
Scopophobia
BIOGRAPHY
Penelope Griffin is a junior from Vancouver who is very passionate about music. She plays in her school's wind ensemble, jazz band, and percussion ensemble. She has also performed at WIBC and will be competing at the WMEA State Solo and Ensemble Contest this year for composition and for euphonium. She is very excited to be participating in the Young Composers Project this year, and would like to thank her friends, family and teachers for always being so supportive of her creative endeavors.
PROGRAM NOTES FROM THE COMPOSER
My piece is titled "Scopophobia." “Scopophobia” is the fear of being looked at or watched, and so my piece is meant to evoke those feelings of paranoia and anxiety, utilizing pizzicato strings, dissonant chords, and the bass parts of the piano. The piece was inspired by a trip to the Schnitzer Galler and where I saw Ametropia by Hank Willis Thomas. The A section is meant to represent a paranoia of being watched but not knowing by what, while the B section is meant to represent the fear that comes with knowing you are being watched. Then the return of the A section is meant to represent the inability to fully return to form when anxious, and the final section is meant to represent ending but not closure.
Addison Kearby
Alison the Lacemaker
BIOGRAPHY
Addison Kearbey is in the eighth grade at Valley Catholic Middle School. She plays viola in the Portland Youth Conservatory Orchestra and in Camerata PYP. Her parents are Malinda and Brandon Kearbey. Her older sister, Ella, also plays in PYCO and is super helpful when Addison needs to know if a section of her piece is playable on the cello. This year, she was excited to be composer-in-residence for the Junior Orchestra of Yamhill, and in 2024-25 she was given the opportunity to write a piece for the Portland Youth String Ensemble. In school, she has enjoyed applying composition to school projects. In seventh grade, for her social studies fair project, she researched Andalusian classical music and wrote a piece in that style. She also arranged a Christmas medley for her school orchestra. When not composing or playing, she enjoys hanging out with friends, reading, and traveling with her family.
PROGRAM NOTES FROM THE COMPOSER
This piece, written for piano trio, takes inspiration from the artwork called Alison the Lacemaker by the artist Swoon. The artwork is made up of layers and layers of delicate paper in a stunning array of shades from deep coffee brown to light caramel to cream and white. Across the artwork, you can find repeating motifs and patterns in the paper, and delicate flowers, moths, and a skeleton hide in the thin layers. The musical composition incorporates ideas and themes from many of these elements. It begins simply, because at a first glance the artwork seems simple too. Soon, though, an eighth note pattern appears, mirroring the swirling pattern in the lace. As the piece moves forward, more and more elements join as the artwork reveals the complexities within the layers. However, in the middle, the fast-moving notes drop away, mirroring how the viewer’s eyes are drawn away from the layers and towards the lacemaker’s elegantly crafted face. The lines of shadow are taken up by the cello, while the violin and piano hold long notes. Quicker rhythms carefully join, and the music surges back to layers and layers of complexity, this time familiar and welcomed. The piece closes with the joining of a few themes, as the viewer glances over the artwork a final time, taking in the elements they hope to remember.
Peregrine Autumn
Self-Portrait As A Bird
BIOGRAPHY
Peregrine Autumn is a composer from Portland, Oregon. He started working with electronic and ambient music at twelve. His inspirations include various electronic musicians such as Boards of Canada and Tim Hecker, as well as rock, blues and classical. He has been in the Young Composers Project for two years, and he studies composition with Stephen Lewis.
PROGRAM NOTES FROM THE COMPOSER
I started work on this piece as a series of chords and counterpoint. After this initial development I chose the painting "Self Portrait as a Bird" by Native American artist Rick Bartow as my primary inspiration. In his work he often portrays visceral animal transformations that can be both violent and introspective. He paints himself in owl-like form with a simple hand print as a wing. My piece starts with chaos and grows solemn, filled with crude, well-placed gestures.
Anika Gupta
Meadow’s Sunrise
BIOGRAPHY
Anika Gupta is a senior at Sunset High School, and she has always loved music. She lives with her parents Seema and Ajay, and has an older sister. Besides composition, she plays classical and flamenco guitar, and loves to sing. She enjoys engineering and loves learning more about the natural world as well as the music world–and how they intersect! She currently studies guitar under Travis Johnson and has participated in numerous music programs including NPR’s From the Top fellowship. This fall, she will be attending MIT to continue exploring computer science and music.
PROGRAM NOTES FROM THE COMPOSER
My piece is called “The Meadow's Sunrise.” The meadow itself has a beautiful motif, and as different plants and animals wake up, other instruments join in to create harmonies and build off of one another. As activity begins on the meadow, a more pronounced rhythmic element is added to the piece. I hope you enjoy making up your own story to go along with the music!
Max Evans-McGlothin
Prism
BIOGRAPHY
Maxwell W. Evans-McGlothin is an 18-year-old native Oregon composer, who will study music composition/theory and political science, philosophy, and economics (PPE) at Boston University in the fall. Max will graduate in June 2026 from Cleveland High School in Portland with an International Baccalaureate Diploma and as a National Honor Society member. Max began composing in Brooklyn, NY at PS39 when he was in 4th grade and was selected to participate in the New York Philharmonic Very Young Composers program under the guidance of Mr. Daniel Felsenfeld. Max was founder of his HS Dungeons & Dragons club, was on the Executive Cabinet of Student Council as the Public Relations Representative, and worked at Next Up! In November 2025, Max’s first solo orchestral piece, Erin’s First Sabbath: A Tone Poem for Orchestra (2025), premiered as part of Fear No Music (FNM) Authentic Voice program and was performed by the Metropolitan Youth Symphony (MYS). In September 2025, Max’s piece The Hunting Murder II (2025) premiered by the FNM Ensemble for their 2025-2026 season opener REFLECTIONS, which showcased local composers for a music marathon at Reed College. In April 2024, Music for an Imaginary Cartoon (2023), which was co-commissioned by the MYS as part of the FNM Authentic Voice program was performed by the Oregon Symphony as part of their Celebration Gala. In November 2023, Music for an Imaginary Cartoon (2023), had its world premiere performed by the MYS. Earlier scores have been workshopped by Bang on a Can(Brooklyn, NY) and commissioned by the MYS-Camerata. This summer Chamber Music Northwest will premiere Max's newly commissioned quartet at the 2026 Summer Festival, Confluence: Our Shared Voices. In his spare time while in HS, Max has enjoyed playing co-ed soccer, mastering artisanal bread-baking, researching his IB thesis, and going on hikes. Max’s parents are Chanda Evans and Shannon McGlothin. Max studied composition with Dr Ryan Francis and piano with Dr Stephen Lewis. This is Max’s eighth and final year as a Young Composer with Fear No Music. Max would like to express his gratitude for the mentorship of the amazing FNM-YCP team (Jeff & Ryan), the FNM-YCP musicians, and finally, his composition and piano instructors.
PROGRAM NOTES FROM THE COMPOSER
All music tells a story, and PRISM is no different. PRISM was composed with the intention of melting the instruments into one, each working together for one purpose, one idea. PRISM is less about the individual motifs, with the different character and texture that each instrument brings out, but rather the evolution and shifting nature of a continuous piece, fracturing into different colors like a prism. The piano, flute, and strings are almost constantly playing, shifting from one color to the next. Sometimes they pulse together, other times they split off into different but related colors. Sometimes they quiet down into a mouse-like whisper, other times they roar like a thunderous cacophony, before dissipating, PRISM is a dialectical experience, continually in motion driven by the inherent contradictions with the harmony, mutually evolving each interment (and thus the whole piece) to different qualitative changes.
PRISM was also inspired by artist Hank Willias Thomas’ Ametropia (2002), which depicted a moving eye, constantly staring at you. But PRISM is also inspired by a more sinister force at play in our daily lives. PRISM takes its name from a National Security Agency program, leaked to the public by Edward Snowden. This program obtains direct access to the systems of Google, Meta, Apple, and other US internet giants, and allows in-depth live surveillance and can store information.
The continuous dissonance in the piano creates an air of uneasiness, with the violin, cello, and flute pulsing together to overwhelm the listener, to make them feel small, insignificant. A piece of sand at the beach. For that is what we all are. Our most intimate and vulnerable moments, our lives and dreams, our internal thoughts, are all just a piece of data, a line of code, stored in some NSA server. A million eyes fractured by a central PRISM.
This piece is dedicated to all of those fighting for our privacy. Special acknowledgement to the Electronic Freedom Front, The Onion Project (and TailsOS), and Pretty Good Privacy. This piece is also dedicated to all the whistleblowers who risk their livelihood and safety to shine a light on the skeletons in the closets of governments and corporations. Special acknowledgement to John Kiriakou, Chelsea Manning, and Edward Snowden.
James Lee
Fantasia sulla Liberazione
BIOGRAPHY
James Lee, an 18 year old senior at Wilsonville High School, is a classical and jazz pianist, percussionist, and composer. He has written for the Young Composers Project for four years, with his compositions taking him to the 2025 national division of the Music National Teacher's Association Composition Competition, and winning as a co-champion in the 2025 Tradition Composition Competition of the Oregon Music Education Association. He has composed for a wide variety of ensembles, such as the Metropolitan Youth Symphony, his own high school symphony, jazz band, and acapella, the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble, and a program directed by YCP alumni Charles A. Martin collaborating youth musicians and composers. By the time of writing this, James is deciding on whether to attend the University of Southern California or Berklee College of Music to pursue his studies in music composition.
During his senior year, James has explored conducting, choral voice, jazz bass, and leading his own school jazz club, hosting jams and lessons to teach improvisation and collaboration. Outside of the music, James loves to play golf, despite it being a frustrating sport. He's also passionate about video games, taekwondo, hanging out with friends, photography, and writing stories with his brother.
PROGRAM NOTES FROM THE COMPOSER
"Fantasia sulla Liberazione," is Latin for Fantasy on Liberation, a particular theme I encountered in my senior year of high school. As we grow older, we learn that asking for success and fulfillment brings doubt and uncertainty. The most ambitious athletes are tested by discipline and consistency; musicians are challenged by independence and rejection. Only by facing hardship head-on do we become stronger and more defined and learn to stand confidently in our abilities.
This year, I asked for confidence, and what I got was fear. I wanted to feel confident in my future as a musician, and going into a strong school for composition felt like success. After submitting my portfolio and essays in December, I thought I would be gifted with contentment, having built my profile for a long time. Instead, all I felt was emptiness. What now? I had spent so much time worrying about deadlines and meeting expectations that I stopped writing music for myself. I never formed my own definition of fulfillment, and by placing it in a decision letter, I gave control to something that was never mine. In doing so, I risked losing the passion that brought me to music.
To be liberated from my fears, I needed to look within something I did have control of: the present. Even if it meant sacrificing productivity, I began listening to my heart more than my mind, casting aside insecurities of the future and past and accepting my instincts. I lifted significant workload from myself, learned to walk on the upright bass, reinvested in activities other than music, and realized the value of taking breaks. Through this perspective, I get glimpses of true musical fulfillment from time to time. Once, I said no to a last-minute accompaniment opportunity (which I would have normally accepted), and the next day all I did was learn a new Chopin etude I had always wanted to play. That day was the best in months.
I realized that liberation is not achieved at the end of the journey, but a practice cultivated through perspective. Everyone's definition of success changes, and I find myself most fulfilled when I respond to it in the moment.
Fantasy on Liberation was initially created for YCP, but it gained significant inspiration as I shifted my perspective. The piece follows two main themes, conflict and fulfillment. Tied together, the work mirrors my journey in learning to seek happiness and finding confidence in my musicianship. The piece is also to be performed at the Oregon Coast Youth Symphony Festival and my own high school symphony orchestra in the style of a piano concerto.
A special THANK YOU to our donors who make YCP possible.
Fear No Music is supported by funding from: Ronni LaCroute, Reed College, New Music USA, Oregon Arts Commission, Multnomah County Cultural Coalition, and Regional Arts and Culture Council.