Composition

Music Production + Songwriting degree emphases

Welcome to composition at the University of Colorado Boulder College of Music!

Our composition department is a uniquely welcoming place to create music and sound making of all kinds. We support creatives of all sound mediums who would benefit from working in a supportive, collaborative environment with mentors across numerous disciplines and aesthetics. Faculty artists you could work with include Carter Pann, Michael Theodore, Annika Socolofsky, Grace Leslie, John Drumheller and Jeffrey Nytch whose expertises span the ranges of concert music, opera, interactive kinetic installation, electronic music and coding, music cognition and brain computer interfaces, film music, songwriting and hybridized composer-performer identities.

Our faculty is highly active in the music world, and we strive to support our students with rigorous creative training and real-world insights.

We seek artists who are looking to expand their knowledge and experiences in sound, regardless of whether they have a music degree or formal education in music—including:

songwriters, commercial musicians, producers and interdisciplinary artists seeking to expand their craft in new and innovative directions;
concert music composers and performers seeking to expand their expression in new directions;
electronic musicians seeking new tools and pathways for expression; and
musicians who may not have written for live instruments, but who want to develop that skill.

We support these artists through:

access to instrumental and electronic resources including orchestras, professional guest ensembles in residence, BLOrk (Boulder Laptop Orchestra), Boulder Altitude Directive ensemble, wind ensembles, choirs, jazz musicians and more;
close collaboration with the ATLAS Institute, an interdisciplinary institute for radical creativity and invention;
coursework in Electronic Music Production, Max/MSP, Supercollider, Orchestration, Electronic and Acoustic Instrument Design, Brain-Body Music Interfaces, Theory, Musicology, Deep Listening, Recording and music-related topics across campus including theatre, dance, filmmaking, etc.;
access to performance and recording spaces such as the B2 Center for Media, Arts & Performance and numerous in-house concert venues;
access to non-Western music ensembles including our West African Highlife Ensemble, Japanese Ensemble, Latin American Ensemble and Gamelan Ensemble;
the composition department’s very own contemporary music concert series—CU Boulder SoundWorks;
paid commissions for students to create new works for various performing ensembles;
opportunities to write fully-staged scenes for the CU New Opera Workshop (CU NOW); and
a supportive, creative environment of students and faculty making their own unique music and projects in a gorgeous setting.

Degree programs

BM Composition

BA Music

MM Composition

MM Composition (Music Technology emphasis)

DMA Composition

What is the student experience like?

In my time at CU Boulder, I’ve had the opportunity to write pieces for HOCKET, the ~Nois saxophone quartet and various student groups. My works include a piece inspired by salting slugs (with performers behind the audience) and a piece performed on 10 keyboards—including harpsichord, synthesizers and toy pianos—which was also selected and performed in the 2023 Nief-Norf International Call for Scores. I love that there are so many opportunities to explore new ideas and new sounds, both on and off the stage and with countless other composers and performers willing to push their boundaries.

—Rain Michael (BM composition student)

In my two short years at the College of Music, I got to do so many cool things: Compose for a variety of talented chamber groups (from Pierrot ensembles to sax quartets), develop and teach my own music technology classes, and put together my own pop strings recording session, to name a few. Having spent much more time driving around the Midwest and singing songs about spreadsheets while wearing a power ranger costume than I had writing concert music in the years before enrolling at CU Boulder, I am very grateful to the composition department for accepting me as the musician that I am. They supported me fully in continuing my work outside of school as a touring musician and freelance composer while encouraging me to push my own musical boundaries and abilities in the work I was doing for my degree. If you’re a composer with feet planted in different styles, I can’t recommend the CU Boulder composition department enough.

—Ilan Blanck (MM Composition ’23)

If I had to sum up my experience in the CU Boulder composition program with one word, it would be “opportunity.” Because of this program, I’ve had the privilege of writing music for the ~Nois saxophone quartet, I’ve had pieces read by the CU Boulder Philharmonia Orchestra and I was able to fly out to see the premiere of a flute quartet that another university commissioned from me. I was also honored to have a miniature recorded by HOCKET and I’ve had many other pieces premiered on various CU Boulder SoundWorks concerts over the years. Most importantly, the composition department is very helpful to me in pursuing my other degree, bassoon performance, and integrating my playing experience with composing.

—Isabel Goodwin (BM composition + bassoon performance student)

Graduate Teaching Assistantships

We offer teaching assistantships in Theory, Electronic Music and Composition to MM and DMA students. These assistantships:

cover the cost of graduate tuition and mandatory student fees;
provide a stipend to help with living expenses; and
offer the ability to opt in for CU Boulder’s Gold Comprehensive Health Insurance.

Application info

To apply, we encourage you to submit:

three to four of your best works (inclusion of scores accepted but not required);
audio (recording, MIDI, etc.) and/or documentation of each of your works (including video, code or any other relevant materials);
a personal statement detailing your goals and aspirations for your time at CU Boulder and why you are interested in joining our community; and
three letters of recommendation.

Note: While submitting an additional diversity statement is optional, you must submit a diversity statement to be considered for the Graduate School’s Graduate Diversity Fellowship.

Learn more about application requirements and the application process

Recent alumni accomplishments

Mark Arnett–DMA 2013. Arnett is an instructor of music theory at the University of Colorado Boulder. His choral and wind ensemble works have been performed by ensembles across the United States. As a jazz pianist, he has performed alongside many distinguished artists including Kim Nazarian, Tom Patituci, Ron Stein, Dave Friesan, Clark Bondy, Gavin Bondy, Gary Hobbs, Dave Kaptein and Dennis Plies.

Matthew Browne–BM 2011. Browne earned a DMA from the University of Michigan. He received numerous awards from organizations including the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI), and has collaborated with many leading ensembles such as Alarm Will Sound, the Minnesota Orchestra, the PRISM Quartet and the Eastman Wind Ensemble. Browne works as a freelance composer and teaches composition at the Village Community School in New York City.

Elizabeth Comninellis–MM 2012. Comninellis accepted a residency with the Tallgrass Institute and is composer-in-residence with the Boulder Symphony Orchestra. Her works have been performed across the country and she was the recipient of the Kent Kennan Fellowship for Music Composition at the University of Texas Austin (2013-17).

Egemen Kesikli–DMA 2017. Kesikli is a guest lecturer at CU Boulder, as well as artistic director of CU Boulder SoundWorks; additionally, he’s an instructor of music theory at Colorado State University. He has received honors from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and the Beethoven Club, among others. Kesikli’s music performed at music festivals, concert halls, bars and taverns across North America, as well as in his home country, Turkey.

Leanna Kirchoff–DMA 2014. Kirchoff is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music. Her music has been included in concerts at Carnegie Hall, the 9th New London Wind Festival in the United Kingdom, the Ernest Bloch Festival in Oregon, the Chamber Music Conference in Vermont, Stages Theatre Company in Minnesota and the American Choral Directors Association conference in Missouri. She was named the 2010 Colorado State Music Teachers Association Commissioned Composer and she won the International Sorel Medallion for Choral Music in 2007.

Benjamin Morris–DMA 2022. During his degree, Morris accomplished a body of work and amassed enough accolades along the way to equal that of perhaps three ambitious graduate students. He composed operas, film scores, orchestral works, songs, piano pieces, chamber works and more, which all received professional recordings. Following graduation, Morris was hired for a tenure-track position to teach at Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, Texas.

Greg Simon–MM 2010. Simon earned a DMA from the University of Michigan. He is assistant professor of composition and jazz studies at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, as well as artist faculty at the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina. Simon’s works have been performed by countless ensembles around the world, and he has received numerous awards in both concert music and jazz music.

Steven Snowden–MM 2009. Snowden has been a visiting professor and composer-in-residence at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Writing music for dance, theater, multimedia installations and the concert stage, his work often focuses on underground American history and how past events relate to modern society.

Brandon Vaccaro–DMA ’09. Vaccarp is coordinator of sound recording technology and an associate teaching professor in music at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. As a composer, Vaccaro has received awards, commendations and commissions from the New York Youth Symphony’s First Music program, the University of Denver’s Playground Ensemble and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP)/Society of Composers Inc. (SCI). His film work has been recognized by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (2012 Heartland Emmy winner, 2014 Heartland Emmy nominee) and the Motion Picture Sound Editors (2012 MPSE Golden Reel Nominee).

Faculty