Luna Composition Lab Unveils 10th Anniversary Commissioning Celebration

Luna Composition Lab proudly will present Luna Lab@10, a multi-year celebration marking the organization's tenth anniversary. Spanning the 2025-26 and 2026-27 seasons, Luna Lab@10 will feature nearly 75 world premieres by 50 Luna Lab alumni, commissioned and performed by leading ensembles and presenters across the United States and abroad, including the Kronos Quartet, Imani Winds, International Contemporary Ensemble, Sandbox Percussion, The Metropolitan Opera, Louisville Orchestra, Music Academy of the West, Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, New York Festival of Song, Norway's Arctic Chamber Music Festival, and many more to be announced.

Founded in 2016 by composers Missy Mazzoli and Ellen Reid, Luna Composition Lab began as a bold and necessary intervention: a commitment to support young composers who are female, nonbinary, or gender-nonconforming from the very beginning of their artistic lives - not as exceptions, but as the future of the field. Growing up in rural Pennsylvania and Tennessee, Mazzoli and Reid did not encounter a single professional female composer until their twenties - an absence that shaped Luna Lab's founding vision. A decade later, that vision has grown into an internationally recognized organization with a proven model for equity, artistic excellence, and long-term impact.

Luna Composition Lab's mission is to close the gender gap in music composition through mentorship, performance opportunities, and sustained professional community. By empowering young composers ages 13 to 18 at a formative moment - while actively working to dismantle structural barriers to participation - Luna Lab provides a model of inclusivity that reshapes individual artistic lives and expands the future of the field itself.

Mazzoli and Reid share, "When we started Luna Lab, we never imagined it would have such a powerful effect on the music field at large. At this point, our alumni are entering the professional field, making waves in their communities, writing daring music, and even becoming mentors themselves, bolstered by their LCL peers and unburdened by so many of the struggles we both faced as young women in the field. Institutions continue to consult with us on how to make the field more equitable, and our list of partners has grown exponentially - proof that the work we are doing is more crucial and valued than ever. We're so grateful to everyone who has believed in us along the way and who shares our belief that the next generation of composers needs a safe space to think freely and create boldly. Here's to the next 10 years!"

What began in 2016 as a small program at New York City's Kaufman Music Center - supported by a single $10,000 grant and a cohort of three New York-based students - has grown into a nationally recognized organization with a proven model for mentorship and long-term impact. Over the past decade, Luna Composition Lab has expanded the Luna Lab Fellowship to a national cohort; established the G. Schirmer Prize, providing publishing access and professional mentorship; launched Adventures in Sound, a beginner-level composition course designed to expand access; and presented free, public masterclasses featuring leading composers and performers.

Central to Luna Lab's success is its emphasis on direct, sustained mentorship. Fellows work one-on-one with acclaimed professional composers, gaining guidance not only in craft but in navigating the realities of a life in music. Mentor composers have included Valerie Coleman, Reena Esmail, Sarah Gibson, Laura Karpman, Jessie Montgomery, Gabriela Ortiz, and Jeanine Tesori, among many others. These relationships form the foundation of an active alumni network that continues to provide artistic, professional, and peer support well beyond a fellow's initial participation.

In 2022, after six seasons in residence at Kaufman Music Center, Luna Lab became an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit. In 2024, the organization presented its Festival outside New York for the first time, partnering with Kronos Quartet in San Francisco for the world premieres of fellow works, and collaborated with ChamberQUEER on The Nebula Project, a new commissioning initiative for alumni - further extending Luna Lab's mentor-driven model onto major national stages.

As Luna Lab approaches its tenth anniversary, the organization can point to tangible, long-term results. 100% of Luna Lab alumni remain involved in music, and 75% of alumni currently in college are studying composition, many at top conservatories and universities including The Juilliard School, Curtis Institute of Music, Princeton University, Yale University, Harvard University, Mannes School of Music at The New School, Oberlin College and Conservatory, Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music, and Rice University's Shepherd School of Music.

With Luna Lab@10, the organization embarks on its most ambitious initiative to date: a large-scale commissioning celebration that brings alumni composers onto major national and international stages. Presented over two seasons and in cities including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Santa Barbara, Cincinnati, Albuquerque, Munich, and Svalbard, Norway, these premieres represent a field-level statement - demonstrating what sustained investment in young artists can yield over time.

Through Luna Lab@10, Luna Composition Lab affirms its central belief: when young composers see themselves supported, commissioned, mentored, and celebrated on major stages, the field becomes more vibrant, more innovative, and more reflective of the society it serves.

Luna Lab@10 Performance Calendar (Subject to Change)

2025-2026 Season:

January 25, 2026: Ensemble for These Times (Oakland, CA)

Performance of work by Elisa Kain Johnson (21-22) at Piedmont Piano and streamed online

January 31, 2026: La Jolla Symphony (La Jolla, CA)

World premiere by Hannah Wolkowitz (23-24) at Mandeville Auditorium at UC San Diego

February 20, 2026: Arctic Chamber Music Festival [Live and Streamed Online] (Svalbard, Norway)

Performance of work Maya Miro Johnson (17-18)

March 8, 2026: loadbang (New York, NY)

World premiere by Carolina Bragg (17-18) at The Crypt at the Church of the Intercession

March 22, 2026: River & Rail Theatre (Knoxville, TN)

World premieres by Madeline Clara Cheng (19-20), Yuri Lee (18-19), and Sage Shurman (19-20)

April 18, 2026: ARCO Collaborative (Washington, DC)

World premieres by Violet Barnum (16-17), Maria Emiliano (23-24), Jack Gjaja (20-21), Jordan Millar (20-21), Caleb Palka (17-18), Danity Pike (24-25), Isabelle Tseng (22-23), Brannon Warn-Johnston (24-25), and Emilie Wolff (24-25)

May 2, 2026: Hypercube/Ensemble Ipse (New York, NY)

World premieres by Abby Harris (18-19) and Aliya Salmanova (17-18) at The DiMenna Center

May 17, 2026: Madison Youth Choirs [Live and Streamed Online] (Madison, WI)

Performance of work by Violet Barnum (16-17)

June 1, 2026: New York Festival of Song (New York, NY)

World premieres by Alicia Erlandson (21-22), Elisa Kain Johnson (21-22), and Devon Lee (21-22)

June 4, 2026: International Contemporary Ensemble (New York, NY)

World premieres by 2025-26 Fellows at Carnegie Hall

July 10, 2026: Music Academy of the West (Santa Barbara, CA)

World premiere by Mia Turakhia (24-25)

July 18, 2026: Greenwood Music Camp [Live and Streamed Online] (Cummington, MA)

World premiere by Hannah Chen (22-23) at the New Barn and streamed online

July 28, 2026: Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music (Santa Cruz, CA)

World premiere by Zoe Verduin (24-25)