About NMYCP

Held since 2000, the New Mexico Young Composers' Project (NMYCP) includes a statewide call for submissions from composers aged 18 and younger, offering them the opportunity for professional review and public performance. The only statewide, free-of-cost young composers' competition for 18 and under in the state of New Mexico, NMYCP is a program whichtakes young composers seriously, assessing not only originality and compositional craft, but also score appearance.

Under NMYCP, a number of original scores are selected by a professional musician panel including area composers of national and international renown. A small prize awarded to the laureate composers, and the awards ceremony takes place at the first SFNM Fall Concert after the competition closes (generally the following October.)

In early years of NMYCP, Santa Fe New Music conducted Young Composer Workshops for students and their teachers, with an aim to help both groups understand what constitutes a successful score submission, and help young composers develop and hone their craft. In order that interested composers from throughout the state may access the information, Santa Fe New Music has made the most commonly requested topics available on this website.

The Young Composers' Project has been hailed by parents, teachers, and young musicians for taking young composers seriously, creating a link between the child interested in composition and the young adult who goes on to leave his or her artistic mark on the larger community and the world at large.

Read the 2008 Guidelines