Young Composers Project students at Oregon Symphony Orchestra Celebration Concert recognizing YCP’s contribution to exceptional Portland music education.
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.
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.
Creativity, Confidence, & Craft
Photo by Kateshia Pendergrass
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
Young Composers Project: 27th Season
2024-25 dates:
Introduction to orchestration (optional):
Sunday, October 13, 2024, 2:30-4:00 pm
Composer Ryan Francis will discuss the instruments in the ensemble, give examples of how they work, discuss transposition problems and provide tips on how to orchestrate to get the most out of the instruments. This introduction is not required, but it’s really helpful and highly recommended.
Workshop I:
Saturday, October 26, 2024, 10 AM - 5 PM; Portland State University
Sunday, October 27, 2024, 1 PM – 5 PM; Portland State University
*Students will be assigned individual times to attend the workshop
Trip to the Oregon Symphony (optional)
November 16, 2025, 9 AM - 12 AM; Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
Oregon Symphony rehearsal of live performance of “Frozen.”
Workshop II:
Saturday, January 25, 2025, 10AM - 5PM; Portland State University
Sunday, January 26, 2025, 1 PM – 5 PM; Portland State University
*Students will be assigned individual times to attend the workshop
Masterclass (optional)
March 2025- Date and time TBD
Workshop III:
Saturday, Apr 26, 2025, 10 AM - 5 PM; Reed College, Performing Arts Building (PAB) 320
Sunday, April 27, 2025, 1 PM - 5 PM; Portland State University
*Students will be assigned individual times to attend the workshop
Hearing the Future 2025: YCP Final Concert
Sunday, May 4, 2025 – Concerts at 1:30 and 4:00 PM at PSU
YCP 24-25 APPLICATION CLOSED
Please check back next year.
What People Are Saying
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“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
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“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
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“… 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
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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.
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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.
2024-25 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.
