Beth Morrison Projects announces NEXTGEN 3 finalists

For Immediate Release - (New York, NY) -  Beth Morrison Projects announces Harriet Steinke and Anuj Bhutani as this year's finalists that have been selected for the third edition of BMP: NEXTGEN, the company's composer competition program for contemporary vocal works. Last month, ten selected semifinalists competed in the first round and participated in a weekend of live performances where their compositions were presented at National Sawdust in New York City on November 23rd and 24th, 2024. A panel of industry professionals have now selected Steinke and Bhutani as the two composers who will move forward to the second round (finals) of NEXTGEN which will take place during the 2025-26 season. This year's panel consisted of Beth Morrison, Christopher Koelsch of the LA Opera, Peggy Monastra of Schirmer, composer Huang Ruo, and composer Paola Prestini.

“We had ten incredible semi-finalists at BMP: NEXTGEN 3, and choosing the two finalists was an incredibly difficult task,” said BMP President and Creative Producer Beth Morrison. “Harriet and Anuj have wildly different compositional styles and aesthetics, but both share a special gift for taking the personal and making it universal in a way that is profoundly theatrical. I’m beyond excited to see what they both create with their first BMP commissions.”

Steinke and Bhutani will each receive a BMP commission for a 30-minute chamber opera or vocal-theatre work, which they will create under the mentorship of composer Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek. Both pieces will be produced by BMP in a semi-staged concert in the ‘25-’26 season; following that concert, one composer will be selected to receive a commission for an evening-length work, which will be developed, produced, and premiered by BMP.

Previous BMP: NEXTGEN winners include Emma O’Halloran (Cycle 1), who debuted her commissioned double bill work TRADE | MARY MOTORHEAD with playwright and librettist Mark O’Halloran at PROTOTYPE Festival 2023 to critical acclaim, and has since seen the production tour to LA Opera and the Irish National Opera; and Niloufar Nourbakhsh (Cycle 2) who won the competition with her work Threshold of Brightness and has since been commissioned for a full length work with librettist Anahita Ghazvinizadeh, premiering in coming BMP Seasons. Sam Linden, BMP Executive Director, says: "BMP: NEXTGEN is core to our mission to create a new American canon by fostering new, innovative creative voices. NEXTGEN provides an entry point for early-career professionals into the professional world by breaking down systemic barriers, and is a critical step toward a more vibrant, artist-centric industry.”

BMP: NEXTGEN 3 Finalists:

Harriet Steinke

  Harriet Steinke is composer from Detroit, Michigan. She has   been commissioned by orchestras, chamber music ensembles,   and soloists across the U.S. and her music is regularly performed   around town. In 2023 she was awarded a Charles Ives   Scholarship from theAmerican Academy of Arts and Letters and   has also received composition fellowships from the Norfolk and   Tanglewood summer festivals. During the 2023-2024 season, she   premiered new works including The Slow Movement with the   Albany Symphony Orchestra; Marimba Concerto with the Civic   Orchestra of New Haven & Makana Medeiros, Marimba; and   Second Suite for two cellos with the Toledo Symphony’s Chamber   Music Series (Kellen Degnan & Elizabeth Rice, cellos). Last year   also included the premiere of her 50-minute song cycle   "Hymnal," a ten-song cycle written for the vocalist Molly Yuko   McGuire setting the poetry of Indianapolis-based poet Alessandra   Lynch. Upcoming in 2024-2025, she will premiere works with the   Red Clay Saxophone Quartet, theBowling Green State University   Wind Symphony, and the Akropolis Reed Quintet. She studied   music and english at Butler University where her primary mentor   was composer Michael Schelle and later completed her graduate   studies in music composition at the Yale School of Music where   she studied with composers Martin Bresnick, David Lang, Aaron   Jay Kernis, and Chris Theofanidis.

Anuj Bhutani

  Described as “a force multiplier with more talents than time”   (PATRON Magazine), whose music is “alternately celestial and   dark” (John Schaefer, WNYC New Sounds), Anuj Bhutani is a   quickly emerging composer, performer, vocalist, and producer   whose music often features visceral grooves; ethereal, meditative   spaces; a combination of acoustic instruments and electronics,   narrative depth, and genre-fluidity. As a performer, Bhutani’s   work is highly interdisciplinary, engaging with theater, dance, and   film while drawing on his musical background in classical,   emo/screamo, ambient, singer/songwriter, and electronic music.   As a composer, Bhutani seeks to create music that contextualizes   classical music within his non-classical upbringing as a   bassist/vocalist in metal and indie bands, resulting in wholly   unique, genre-fluid pieces that that firmly situate the listener   between multiple musical worlds at once. He’s won Chamber   Music America’s Classical Commissioning Grant and an ASCAP   Morton Gould Young Composer Award, and been selected for   American Composer’s Orchestra’s Earshot, NewAm Composer’s   Lab, Banff Centre’s Evolution: Classical, and residencies at   Avaloch Farm Music Institute, Atlantic Center for the Arts (#188   with Judd Greenstein, #191 with Missy Mazzoli), among others.   He earned his master’s degree in composition at University of   Southern California, with undergraduate studies at University of   North Texas.

NEXTGEN 3 Panel: