About

The Juilliard Summer Music Composition program is a three-week residential intensive for high school composers held at the Juilliard School's Lincoln Center campus in New York City, running July 5–25, 2026. Launched in 2024, it is the only summer composition program Juilliard offers for high school students on its main campus, and its central feature is one that no comparable pre-college program matches: the public premiere of each participant's original composition, rehearsed with faculty coaches and performed by professional musicians on one of the most prominent stages in American classical music. Students do not leave with a portfolio piece they workshopped in class — they leave with a work that has been heard.

In the program's inauguaral year of 2024 it admitted 29 composers from the United States and internationally. The faculty roster is led by David Serkin Ludwig, Dean of Music at Juilliard, and has included guest composers of the first rank: Eric Whitacre, John Corigliano, Reena Esmail, Tania León, and John Mackey have all participated in prior sessions. Daily masterclasses and seminars taught by Juilliard faculty and visiting guest composers structure the academic core of the program, with rehearsal sessions alongside professional musicians providing the performance preparation that culminates in the public premiere. The setting reinforces the instruction at every level — students live on Juilliard's Lincoln Center campus, share the building with the school's undergraduate and graduate musicians, and perform on the same stages where professional ensembles perform year-round.

Eligibility is open to students who have completed at least one year of high school, generally ages 14–18, including international students and spring 2026 graduates deferring college. The total cost of attendance is $7,300 — $5,100 in tuition and $2,200 for room and board — with limited need-based financial aid available and application fee waivers accessible to students with demonstrated financial need. The application deadline for 2026 was February 15; applications for 2027 will open in fall 2026. Selectivity data are not published, but the cohort of approximately 29 students drawn from a national and international applicant pool implies meaningful competition.

For a high school composer working at a serious level, the program's value proposition is unusually direct: three weeks at Juilliard, instruction from composers whose work is performed by major ensembles worldwide, and a public premiere at Lincoln Center. The institutional name carries its own signal in conservatory admissions, and the performance component produces something concrete — a composition that has been professionally realized, not merely submitted. There is no domestic pre-college composition program that offers this combination.