Music Composition

CIMF is committed to nurturing the next generation of American composers and offers a composition program as part of the summer Chamber & Orchestra Performance Program. Participants in the Music Composition Program are required to perform on their instruments in the CIMF Orchestra (and possibly a chamber group depending upon assignments) unless they are pianists.

“In the wake of COVID, it was so rewarding to come back and make music in a reverberant room with so many incredible people, especially after being deprived of the experience for over a year. Add to that the opportunity to learn from world-class composition faculty and workshop one of my pieces with faculty performers, culminating in a concert performance, and the result was a truly unforgettable experience I will always hold dear.” Maxwell Kaye, Music Composition Participant

Program Description
Under the direction of composer Jon Cziner, composers at CIMF will:
– Have one chamber work rehearsed and performed on a CIMF concert by CIMF Artist-Faculty or guest artists
– Have a second chamber work read by CIMF Artist-Faculty and guest artists OR have an orchestral work read by the CIMF Orchestra. All performances and reading will be professionally recorded and composers will be given the recordings at the conclusion of CIMF

Participants in the CIMF Music Composition Program also receive lessons from Composition Program Director Jon Cziner or CIMF Artistic Director Paul Frucht. 

Throughout the week, CIMF Music Composition Program participants take part in daily seminars with guest composers, guest artists, and the CIMF artists and artistic director, as well as seminars led by Jon Cziner discussing orchestration, repertoire, and other subjects of interest.


Hear CIMF 2021 Composition Participants’ work performed by CIMF Artist-Faculty
Acute by Dmitri Volkov
Parallels in History by Krithika Natarajan
Urban Mosaic by Maxwell Kaye