(NEWARK, NJ) -- New Jersey Symphony is now accepting applications for the 11th annual Edward T. Cone Composition Institute in partnership with American Composers Orchestra's EarShot program. This tuition-free Institute is an opportunity designed to promote contemporary orchestral music by enhancing the careers of four emerging composers.

Winning composers will have their music performed by the New Jersey Symphony and will participate in in-depth career development sessions with industry leaders. The Institute will take place July 14–19 in Princeton, NJ, and culminate in a New Jersey Symphony performance of the participants’ works on Saturday, July 19 at 8:00pm.

Composer Steven Mackey, a music professor and director of graduate studies in composition at Princeton University, is the institute director. Christopher Rountree, a conductor and composer who is deeply embedded in the new music scene, returns as the Institute’s guest conductor.

Institute composers will hear their works in rehearsal and performance, participate in coaching sessions with Mackey and Rountree and receive musical feedback from New Jersey Symphony musicians. Career-development opportunities with industry leaders will provide the composers with insights into getting their music funded, published and performed.

The Institute is open to university composition students and composers in the early stages of their professional careers. The application form, composition requirements, program details and eligibility requirements are available at njsymphony.org/institute.

The New Jersey Symphony Edward T. Cone Composition Institute grew out of bi-annual reading sessions the Symphony held with Princeton University graduate students, beginning in 2000, and celebrates its namesake, Edward T. Cone for his legacy as both a composer and a Princeton University professor.

Composers will receive housing and meals in Princeton, and the New Jersey Symphony will reimburse participants up to $250 towards travel costs.

Application deadline: February 16, 2025

* 2025 Cone Institute: July 14–19, 2025 in Princeton, NJ 

For questions or more information, contact coneinstitute@njsymphony.org.

American Composers Orchestra’s EarShot program is the nation’s first systemic pipeline for discovery, cultivation and relationship-building between composers and orchestras in partnership with national advocacy organizations. Through EarShot, ACO expands the definition of American orchestral music by measurably advancing diversity of style, culture and gender in the field. EarShot supports and amplifies the work of participating composers through highly visible activities in NYC and nationwide, including Readings, CoLABoratory Residencies, commissions and performances.

New Jersey Symphony is a GRAMMY and Emmy Award-winning orchestra. Under the direction of the Music Director Xian Zhang, the Symphony performs more than 60 concerts at mainstage venues across the state, including Newark, Princeton, New Brunswick, Red Bank and Morristown as well as schools and public spaces statewide. Programming at the Symphony reflects an unwavering commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion while providing students across the state unparalleled opportunities to achieve musical excellence through its Youth Orchestra and other outreach programs. In 2024, the Symphony announced it would continue to deliver its statewide activities from a new, permanent office, rehearsal and concert space in Jersey City, set to open in 2026.