Young Composers Competition Winners

Michael Chang is a 16-year-old composer and percussionist from California who started writing music and performing at age 6. He has been studying composition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Pre-College since 2021 and composes for many forms of music, including solo instruments, chamber ensembles, concert bands, vocal works, orchestra, and film.

Michael regularly performs on drums, marimba, and timpani at the local, state and national levels, including notable performances at Carnegie Hall with the Honors Performance Series. He has performed with the California All-State Wind Symphony, the California All-State Symphonic Band, the All-Northern California Honor Band, as well as at Disneyland and Stanford University’s Jazz Showcase.

Michael’s compositions have received recognition from the Bay Area Creative Foundation, The Music Teachers’ Association of California, NACUSAsf, the Kris Getz Competition, and the Global Genius Music Competition, where he is a three-time “Season Top 1” winner. He was selected for a Victor Salvo Composition Scholarship by the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players and was chosen as a Laureate Composer by Sound Espressivo. His chamber piece Vines of Hope premiered at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and his orchestra piece Rollercoaster was recently recorded by the Budapest Scoring Orchestra.

Composed for violin, viola and cello

Serendipity – an unexpected yet fortunate discovery, of finding something valuable, not sought after. In Dance of Serendipity, a motif in 5/8 time in the key of A minor introduces the piece with a quirky lightness, as two strangers have a chance encounter. Somehow, they are drawn to each other, and strangely, yet naturally, begin to dance. Next, a short transition modulates the piece to the key of E minor and a time signature of 7/8, symbolizing the realization that they are in a public setting, somewhat abashed, yet their hearts encourage them to continue. This is later followed by a short transition made up of short, separated phrases, as the couple lightly step their way around brief obstacles and carry on. The introduction of different time signatures along with an emotional melody traded from the violin to the viola, however, increases tension, as the two individuals find themselves being pulled apart by outside forces. The main theme is reintroduced, as the couple come together for one final dance, ending in a lingering cello note, as they slowly part, possibly forever.

Harlan Olsen is a 14 year old pianist, composer, and conductor at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Pre-College division. He studies piano with John McCarthy and composition with Arkadi Serper. From June 2024 to August 2025, he was the Conductor-in-Residence at the Community Arts Youth Orchestra in Walnut Creek, California. He has a particular love for late- and post-romantic music like that of Gustav Mahler. Outside of music, he enjoys academics at Stanford Online High School and Valley View Charter Prep.

Composed for flute, Bb clarinet, violin and cello

Condensed Forms is a piece that combines the sonata, arch, and rondo forms in a brief time frame. Much of the music is based on pedal tones. The slow opening introduces the piece’s main theme: a descending figure with unpredictable meter. It begins ambiguously, slowly morphing into G minor. Then light shines through and we enter a faster, more lively section based on the same melody, this time ascending in a more (although still not) predictable 5/8 time. Suddenly we enter a mysterious, anxious bridge into a new, more chromatic section of distorted folk music. Once that section morphs into a more clear tonality, we hear a brief retreat to the first fast section before falling into unstable ground. We wander quietly, eventually getting anxious as the music speeds up with massive string chords giving way to the bridge theme, again transitioning to the distorted folk music. After one more glimmer of faster hope, the music returns to the slow opening. We hear echoes of the first section, but less clear and less tonally stable. The music dies away, ending at barely a whisper.

Jonah Cohen is a composer, conductor, pianist, and cellist from Farmington Hills, MI and currently based in New York City. His compositions tend to revolve around his fascinations with space, time, motion, and stagnation, and how they are relevant in the here and now. He strives to write music that is accessible yet unafraid to explore sonic realms that may be uncomfortable.

Jonah’s music has been performed by preeminent ensembles and soloists such as the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, Ember Choral Arts, Akropolis Reed Quintet, Salastina, soprano Lucy Shelton, and percussionist Ji Hye Jung. Jonah has received recognition from ASCAP, Tribeca New Music, The Juilliard School, National YoungArts Foundation, and many others. He has attended numerous composition programs and festivals, including Norfolk New Music Workshop and Yellow Barn. Jonah is the Artistic & Executive Director of The NowBeat Project, a program which provides free performance and mentorship opportunities for young composers. He graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy, where he studied with Cynthia Van Maanen and received both the Neil Rabaut Memorial Composition Scholarship and the Young Artist Award. Jonah is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Composition degree at The Juilliard School, studying with John Corigliano.

Composed for violin, cello and piano.

In January 2025, I found myself sitting at my keyboard in my apartment, trying desperately to begin this piece. Clearly, I was not having much luck, because at one point I began reading the warranty for the digital piano. As I read, I came across this line: “This warranty does not cover [...] damages attributable to power line surge or related electrical anomalies, lightning damage or acts of G-d”. I was struck by the last part of the line, and after doing some research, I discovered that the act of G-d clause refers to catastrophic natural events which are considered outside human control. My initial fascination with this stipulation soon turned to worry: Extreme weather events are hugely consequential on a global level and have been demonstrably worsened by human activity. Is it not unjust to claim that these so-called “acts of G-d” are outside the scope of human responsibility?

Informed by this, my composition is a rumination on themes of responsibility and negligence. Throughout the piece, the central motive is continually confronted by impending danger but refuses to acknowledge it. The interjections of danger become more frequent and violent, and eventually, the motive is forced to reckon with it.

Note on the title: I am an observant Jew, and we avoid writing the full name of G-d because of the risk that the written name might later be defaced, obliterated or destroyed.

Fabian Leung is a 19-year-old composer based in Baltimore, Maryland. His recent projects engage with topics such as relationships, nostalgia, organicism, and climate change.

His music has recently been performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble, TAK Ensemble, Lorelei Ensemble, Trio Kanon, the Rhythm Method Quartet, and the Orlando Philharmonic. Notably, he is a two-time National Young Composers Challenge winner, and an Honorable Mention in the 2024 ASCAP Morton Gould Composer’s Awards.

Fabian is currently at the Peabody Institute where his instructors include Pulitzer Prize-recognized Felipe Lara and Kevin Puts.

Composed for String Quartet

Afro-Siberian red knots migrate from the Taimyr Peninsula of northern Siberia to the coastal mudflats of Mauritania for the winter. In 2022, around 100,000 red knots were observed at the mudflats, compared to the 1980s where at least half a million were counted. Climate warming in Siberia is causing spring snowmelt to arrive progressively sooner, producing tundra insects unreliably and earlier in the year than in the past. Adult red knots that feed on these insects cannot adapt to the schedule and properly provide for their young. The parents migrate prematurely to Africa to find more stable feeding grounds. However, the abandoned young die from malnutrition. Birds collapse and fall during the migration. The weakened ones arriving to Africa do not have the energy to feed on the coastal clams, so they can only feed on the nutritionally insufficient seagrass. With every passing winter, fewer and fewer red knots are seen feeding at coastal Mauritania, and by the 2100s, they may become extinct.