San Diego New Music: Emerging Composers Workshop for High School Students | AAC inside Bread & Salt Building | Athenaeum Art Center | Logan Heights

San Diego New Music invites composers to apply to the Emerging Composers Workshop in spring 2025. In this program, students will participate in a three-part seminar with San Diego State University (SDSU) music composition and theory professor, Dr. Texu Kim. The workshop will culminate in a public reading session of new works by selected high school students on Wednesday, May 7, at the Athenaeum Art Center in Logan Heights. General admission tickets are $15.

This concert is underwritten by the Sleet Music Performance Fund in memory of San Diegans Don Sleet (jazz trumpeter), Marshall Sleet (band leader and composer), Anna Mae Sleet (vocalist), and Jeffery Sleet (concert cellist).



Seminar Dates:
April 16, 2025
April 23, 2025
April 30, 2025
6–8 p.m. at SDSU

Public Reading:
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
7:30 p.m.
Athenaeum Art Center
1955 Julian Ave., San Diego, CA 92113

To be considered for the Public Reading session:
Applicants must be enrolled in high school in San Diego County

Submit one representative work including a score and, if available, a recording by March 17, 2025

Submit a statement demonstrating eligibility and interest in the workshop, including which school they currently attend

Submit a brief recommendation from a music teacher or professional musician who knows of their work and ambition



Submissions are requested to be sent to: [email protected]





About San Diego New Music:
San Diego New Music is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the public performance of notated music of the highest integrity and artistic caliber from the 20th and 21st centuries. We seek to advance the art form by promoting music composed with conceptual rigor, passionate energy and singular artistic vision. SDNM enriches the artistic culture of San Diego through the presentation of an annual concert series and the soundON Festival of Modern Music, and through fostering its resident performing ensemble, NOISE.



In 1994, the only place in San Diego where you could hear an entire concert of 20th-century music was on a college campus. San Diego New Music pitched the idea of a concert series devoted to modern music and 20th-century classics at the Athenaeum. The concerts of modern music perfectly complement the exhibitions of modern art held in the Athenaeum’s galleries. In 1996, San Diego New Music presented its first season. The series was called “Noise at the Library,” and the ensemble would later adopt the name, as well. San Diego New Music and the Athenaeum have been happily co-presenting concerts of new music ever since.



For more information on the organization go to www.sandiegonewmusic.com.