Luna Composition Lab Announces 2026–27 Season, Continuing Luna Lab@10 Anniversary Celebration

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Contact: Katy Salomon | Primo Artists | VP, Public Relations 
katy@primoartists.com | 646.801.9406 

 

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Luna Composition Lab Announces 2026–27 Season,
Continuing Luna Lab@10 Anniversary Celebration 

Founded by Composers Missy Mazzoli and Ellen Reid in 2016, Luna Lab Supports Young Female, Nonbinary, and Gender-Nonconforming Composers Through Mentorship, Education, and Professional Opportunities

10th Anniversary Initiative Features more than 90
New Commissions for 50 Luna Lab Alumni 

Premiered by Leading Ensembles, including Kronos Quartet, Imani Winds, International Contemporary Ensemble, Eighth Blackbird, So Percussion, Ensemble Connect, Louisville Orchestra, San Francisco Girls Chorus, Sandbox Percussion, Decoda, E4TT & More

Presentations by Cal Performances, The Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, LA Opera's Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program, Berkeley Ballet, Composers Now & More

“For 10 Years, They’ve Been Building a Future for Female Composers” – The New York Times

“Initiatives like Luna Composition Lab… are changing the playing field.” – The New Yorker

Luna Composition Lab EPK

www.lunacompositionlab.org 

 

New York, NY (July 16, 2026) –  Luna Composition Lab today announces its 2026-2027 season, a continuation of Luna Lab@10, a multi-year celebration marking the organization’s tenth anniversary. Spanning the 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 seasons, Luna Lab@10 features the world premieres of more than 90 commissions for over 50 Luna Lab alumni. The 2026-27 season continues this landmark commissioning initiative with premieres, co-commissioned, presented, and performed by leading ensembles and institutions including Kronos Quartet, Imani Winds, Louisville Orchestra, International Contemporary Ensemble, So Percussion, Eighth Blackbird, Ensemble Connect, Sandbox Percussion, Composers Now, The Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, LA Opera's Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program, Cal Performances, Norway’s Arctic Chamber Music Festival, Berlin Academy of American Music, New Music Concerts Toronto, and many more.  

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 small towns in 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.  

Highlights of the 2026-2027 season include a February 2027 evening-length program presented by Cal Performances in Berkeley that will include works by Mazzoli and Reid, mentor composers, and world premiere commissions by three Luna Lab alumni, as well as the Luna Lab Festival held in New York City in June 2027, featuring performances by the International Contemporary Ensemble of five commissioned works by Luna Lab composers at National Sawdust and of premieres by the 2027 Luna Lab Fellows performed by Ensemble Connect at Carnegie Hall. 

Luna Lab was recently featured in The New York Times to celebrate this milestone anniversary and its commitment to change and support within the industry. 

“It’s definitely a challenging moment for a lot of people in the arts,” Reid said to The New York Times. “But we are who we are, and we feel emboldened in this moment.” 

“We want the field to continue,” Mazzoli added. “We want it to thrive. We want it to expand. And so bringing in gender diversity, racial diversity, economic income diversity, geographic diversity helps everyone. It helps this field survive and thrive and continue to remain as relevant as we feel it to be when we’re making art.”

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 during a formative stage in their artistic development while dismantling structural barriers to participation, Luna Lab provides a model of inclusivity that reshapes individual artistic lives and expands the future of the field itself.

What began in 2016 as a small program at New York City’s Kaufman Music Center – a cohort of three New York-based students supported by a single $10,000 grant – has grown into a nationally recognized organization with nearly 60 alumni. 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, Gabriela Lena Frank, 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 celebrates 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, Columbia University, Mannes School of Music at The New School, Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, and New England Conservatory, among others. 

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, Toronto, Denver, Seattle, Austin, Milwaukee, Palo Alto, Berkeley, Sarasota, Louisville, Albuquerque, Munich, Germany, 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)

2026-2027 Season:

September 11-12, 2026: Zeitgeist (Ellsworth, WI)
World premiere by Alicia Erlandson (2022)

September 17, 2026: Present Music (Milwaukee, WI)
World premieres by Zola Saadi-Klein (2021) and Olivia Bennett (2020) 

October 4, 2026: ~Nois Quartet (Chicago, IL)
World premiere by Peyton Nelesen (2024) 

October 8, 2026: Salon de Virtuosi (New York, NY)
World premiere by Elaina Stuppler (2023) 

October 25, 2026: iSing Silicon Valley (Palo Alto, CA)
World premiere by Lucy Chen (2023) 

November 24, 2026: ensemble oktopus (University of Music & Theatre, Munich, Germany)
World premiere by Marvel Jem Roth (2024) 

December 21, 2026: San Francisco Girls Chorus (San Francisco, CA)
World premiere by Haeon Lee (2024) 

January 15, 2027: Composers Now (New York, NY)
World premieres by Maria Emiliano (2024), Abby Harris (2019), and Isabelle Tseng (2023) 

January 16, 2027: Young People’s Chorus of New York City (New York, NY) 
World premieres by Moon Cove (2017) and Zola Saadi-Klein (2021) 

January 18, 2027: ensembleNEWSRQ (Sarasota, FL)
World premieres by Chloe Kirk (2026) and Andromeda Wen (2026) 

February 6, 2027: Gualala Arts Center (Gualala, CA)
Preview of work by Hannah Chen (2023) performed by Dutt Campbell Duo (Hank Dutt & Kate Campbell) 

February 21, 2027: Ensemble Connect: A Well-Being Concert (Saratoga Springs, NY)
World premiere by Lili M. Namazi (2023) 

February 26, 2027: Cal Performances (Berkeley, CA)
World premieres by Hannah Chen (2023), Marvel Jem Roth (2024) & Danity Pike (2025), performed by Dutt Campbell Duo (Hank Dutt & Kate Campbell), Friction Quartet, & The Living Earth Show 

February 26, 2027: Ensemble Connect: A Well-Being Concert (New York, NY)
New York City premiere by Lili M. Namazi (2023) at Carnegie Hall 

February 27, 2027: Louisville Orchestra (Louisville, KY)
World premiere by KiMani Bridges (2020) 

February TBC: Arctic Chamber Music Festival (Svalbard, Norway)
World premieres by Lucy Chen (2023) and Alisha Heng (2021) 

April 6, 2027: The Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program Recital Series (New York, NY)
World premiere by Azalea Twining (2021)

April 9, 2027: ~Nois Quartet (Chicago, IL)
World premiere by Olivia Bennett (2020) 

April 15: Kronos Quartet / Kronos Performing Arts Association (Towson, MD)
World premieres by KiMani Bridges (2020), Madeline Clara Cheng (2020), Maya Miro Johnson (2018), and Lili M. Namazi (2023) 

April 17, 2027: Eighth Blackbird & Southern Exposure New Music Series (Columbia, SC)
World premiere by Carolina Bragg (2018) 

May 15, 2027: Ensemble for These Times (San Francisco, CA)
World premieres by Ilaria Hawley (2024), Peyton Nelesen (2024), and Èbùn Oguntola (2020) 

May 20, 2027: San Francisco Girls Chorus (San Francisco, CA)
World premiere by Joanna Moutouama (2019), SFGC Composer in Residence 

May 22-23, 2027: Berkeley Ballet (Berkeley, CA)
World premiere by Chloe Elise Villamayor (LACO Partnership, 2020) 

May 29, 2027: New Music Concerts, MAKEWAY Program (Toronto, CA)
World premiere by composer to be confirmed 

May 29-30, 2027: VAMP & Tetractys New Music (Austin, TX)
World premiere by Sage Shurman (2020) at Here Be Monsters

June 10, 2027: Ensemble Connect, Presented by Luna Composition Lab (New York, NY)
World premieres by 2027 Fellows at Carnegie Hall 

June 10-11, 2027: Third Coast Percussion (Chicago, IL)
Performance of work by Peyton Nelesen (2024)

June 11, 2027: Denver Chamber Music Festival (Denver, CO)
World premiere by Andromeda Wen (2026) 

June 12, 2027: Luna Lab Presents Commissions from The Sarah Gibson Foundation, performed by International Contemporary Ensemble (Brooklyn, NY) 
World premieres by 5 composers to be announced at National Sawdust 

June 23-26, 2027: Nief-Norf (Knoxville, TN)
World premieres by Ilaria Hawley (2024), Andromeda Smith (2023), Anchi Wang-Hall (2026), Brannon Warn-Johnston (2025), and Faith Wesley (2026)

June TBC: Imani Winds (New York, NY)
World premiere by Andromeda Smith (2023)

July TBC: Northwest Boychoir (Seattle, WA)
World premiere by Elaina Stuppler (2023)

July TBC: Sandbox Percussion (New York, NY)
World premiere by Mia Turakhia (2025)

July TBC: So Percussion Summer Institute (Princeton, NJ)
World premiere by Haeon Lee (2024)

Dates to be Announced

ARCO Collaborative (New York, NY) | World premieres by Violet Barnum (2017), Maria Emiliano (2024), Jack Gjaja (2021), Jordan Millar (2021), Caleb Palka (2018), Danity Pike (2025), Isabelle Tseng (2023), Brannon Warn-Johnston (2025), and Emilie Wolff (2025) 

American Mavericks Project (New York, NY) | Performance of work by Moon Cove (2017) 

Berlin Academy of American Music (Berlin, Germany) | World premiere by composer to be confirmed 

Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts (Katonah, NY) | World premiere by composer to be confirmed

Cincinnati May Festival (Cincinnati, OH) | World premieres by Moon Cove (2017), Christabelle Kirkham (2026), and Azalea Twining (2021)

Chatter (Albuquerque, NM) | World premiere by Faith Wesley (2026)

Decoda (Asheville, NC) | World premiere by Sara Sørbye Visel (Bergen International Festival Partnership, 2023)

The Hess Collective & MATA (New York, NY) | World premiere by Yuri Lee (2019)

HERMESensemble (Wijnegem, Belgium) | World premiere by composer to be confirmed 

Hub New Music (Detroit, MI) | Performance of work by Sage Shurman (2020) 

LA Opera’s Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program (Los Angeles, CA) & The ASCAP Foundation (New York, NY) | World premiere by Cecelia Olszewski (2022)

The Little Orchestra Society (New York, NY) | World premiere by composer to be confirmed 

loadbang (New York, NY) | World premiere by Joanna Moutouama (2019)

Madison Youth Choirs (Madison, WI) | World premiere by composer to be confirmed 

SFMOMA (San Francisco, CA) | World premiere by Yuri Lee (2019)

Uniting Voices Chicago (Chicago, IL) | World premieres by Cecelia Olszewski (2022), Rachel Mugemancuro (2022), and Gabriella Cariddo (2022)

About Luna Composition Lab
Founded in 2016 by acclaimed composers Missy Mazzoli and Ellen Reid, Luna Composition Lab provides mentorship, education, and resources for young female, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming composers ages 13 to 18. Luna Composition Lab is the only initiative of its kind in the United States and has achieved national recognition as a program that not only celebrates underrepresented voices but also shapes music’s future by providing a support system for continued success. 

Luna Composition Lab’s signature program – the Luna Lab Fellowship – offers six young composers one-on-one mentorship with acclaimed professional composers annually. Mentors guide fellows in the composition of a new piece of music that is premiered by a professional ensemble as part of a weeklong festival in New York City. This festival includes professional development activities, masterclasses with inspirational figures, networking events, and more. 

In addition, Luna Lab offers a series of experiential group composition courses – Adventures in Sound – that support female, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming musicians who are interested in creating their own music. This class is geared toward those who are just beginning their compositional journeys and may not be quite ready for a fellowship because of limited access to music education and associated resources. Adventures in Sound utilizes its own curriculum and composition workbook that foregrounds examples by female and nonbinary composers. From notation and music theory to applied and hands-on compositional practices, students come away with a renewed sense of the possibilities for what composition can be. 

Each year, Luna Lab also presents a series of free, public, online Luna Lab Masterclasses with a wide range of celebrated artists and ensembles to provide access to programs for music students and viewers around the globe and showcase works in progress by Luna Lab fellows.

All composers who have completed one of Luna Lab’s programs enter an active alumni community through which they continue to access organizational resources and provide support to one another throughout their careers. This provides a lasting avenue for female, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming individuals, still very much in the minority in the classical music industry, to connect, seek solutions for the unique challenges they face, and grow together.

As Luna Composition Lab embarks upon its tenth season, it continues to see the tangible, long-term results of this important work. Alumni of the fellowship program have gone on to receive national awards, attend the nation’s top colleges and conservatories, and earn commissions from renowned chamber ensembles and orchestras. 75% of the program’s alumni in college are studying composition, and 100% are involved in music. Mentor composers have included luminaries such as Valerie Coleman, Reena Esmail, Gabriela Lena Frank, Laura Karpman, Jessie Montgomery, Gabriela Ortiz, Sarah Gibson, and Jeanine Tesori. 

This season, Luna Lab continues its signature programs and celebrates the culminating year of Luna Lab@10, a two-season initiative honoring the longevity and impact of both Luna Lab and the annual Luna Lab Festival, launched in 2017. Spanning two seasons, Luna Lab@10 features more than 90 world premieres by 50 of the organization’s alumni, presented by leading ensembles and institutions worldwide.

Learn more at www.lunacompositionlab.org. 

For more about Luna Composition Lab, view the EPK here.

*Photo Credit: Rose Callahan 

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