Fromm Music Foundation

The 2026 Fromm Commission Application is now open. To apply, please visit the link in our bio. The commission is open to all types of compositions, including jazz, fusion, electronic, and more. The selected commission recipients will receive $12,000. The deadline for applications is Wednesday, June 10, 2026. Please review the eligibility criteria and guidelines at frommfoundation.fas.harvard.edu.

It is our great privilege to announce this year’s Fromm Music Foundation 2025 Commission recipients: Eve Beglarian Mahir Cetiz Marti Epstein Heather Frasch Robert Honstein Rudresh Mahanthappa Paul Novak João Pedro Oliveira   Celeste Oram Timothy Page Zeena Parkins Sara Serpa Each year, the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University accepts applications for new music commissions judged by an anonymous jury panel. This year’s panel selected twelve composers representing a breadth of new music projects, which will be premiered in collaboration with an exciting roster of ensembles and musicians in the coming years. Congratulations to our winners, whose works will bring contemporary concert music closer to wide-ranging audiences. @evbvd @martiepstein @hrfrasch @robertshonstein @rudreshkm @plnvk_ @celesteorama @zpribbon @saraserpamusic

There is still time to apply! Applications for this year’s Fromm Music Foundation commission awards are due this Tuesday, June 10 at 11:59PM EST and reference letters may be submitted up until June 17. Visit frommfoundation.fas.harvard.edu for submission guidelines and a link to the application.

We are excited to announce that the 2025 Fromm Commission Application is open. To apply, visit the link in our bio. The commission is open to all types of compositions, including jazz, fusion, electronic, and more. The selected commission recipients will receive $12,000. The deadline for applications is Tuesday, June 10, 2025. Please review the eligibility criteria and guidelines at frommfoundation.fas.harvard.edu.

It is our great privilege to announce this year’s Fromm Music Foundation 2024 Commission recipients: Katherine Balch Lembit Beecher Yu-Hui Chang Inga Chinilina Lei Liang Annea Lockwood Andrew Norman Ayọ̀ Olúrántí Charles Peck Matthew Ricketts Shelley Washington Trevor Weston Each year, the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University accepts applications for new music commissions judged by an anonymous jury panel. This year’s panel selected twelve composers representing a breadth of new music projects, which will be premiered in collaboration with an exciting roster of ensembles and musicians in the coming years. Congratulations to our winners, whose works will bring contemporary concert music closer to wide-ranging audiences.

There are 10 days left to apply for this year’s Fromm Commission Awards! Applications are due Monday, June 10, 2024. Reference letters may be submitted up until June 17. Every year, the Fromm Music Foundation accepts applications for commissions of new music, which include all types of compositions regardless of idiom, instrumentation, style, or the use of technology. Submissions in jazz, hybrid, electronic, or other idioms are welcome. Commission applications are reviewed by an anonymous jury appointed by the Fromm Music Foundation Board of Directors. The commission award is $12,000. Awardees receive an advance payment of $6,000 at commissioning, and completed scores are requested within three years of the award date. In addition to the commission, an amount of up to $4,000 may be requested by the group performing the premiere of the commissioned work. Visit frommfoundation.fas.harvard.edu for more information about the guidelines and a link to the application.

The 2024 Fromm Commission Application is open and can be accessed via the link in our bio. The Fromm commission is available for all types of compositions regardless of genre, instrumentation, style, or the use of technology. Submissions in jazz, hybrid, electronic, or other idioms are welcome. Commission Amount: $12,000 Applications are due Monday, June 10, 2024. Eligibility criteria and guidelines are viewable online at frommfoundation.fas.harvard.edu

Groundbreaking trumpeter, composer, and musical pioneer Wadada Leo Smith has been appointed by Harvard University as the Spring 2024 Fromm Foundation Visiting Lecturer on Music. Smith is teaching a weekly seminar to PhD students titled “Creativity, Inspiration, and the Practice of Composition.” During the seminar, students will listen to and study works by contemporary composers. Among the featured composers and works are Anthony Braxton’s Three Compositions of New Jazz (1968); For Alto (1971); Composition 113 (1984); his opera Trillium J. (2016); and Six Compositions (2001). Students will also study Carla Bley’s 1971 triple LP Escalator Over the Hill; Keith Jarrett’s The Koln Concert (1975) and Sapporo, Pr. 1 from Sun Bear; and Wadada Leo Smith’s String Quartets Nos. 1–12 and Ten Freedom Summers. “I’m happy to be working with these excellent PhD candidates at Harvard this spring,” says Smith. “I’m excited by the creative, inspirational pathways we can release as we dive into this transcendent canon of music by some of music’s most visionary creators.” Photo credit: Jimmy Katz #wadadaleosmith #frommfoundation #harvardmusic #contemporarycomposers

Join us in celebrating the Fromm Music Foundation's 2023 commission award recipients! Shuying Li Ivette Herryman Rodríguez Christopher Castro Miya Masaoka Christopher Fisher-Lochhead Texu Kim Chen Yi Anna Weesner Aaron Helgeson Aaron Kernis Raven Chacon Taylor Brook LaTasha Bundy Weston Olencki Each year, the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University accepts applications for commissions of new music, and awards commissions to fourteen American composers. The Fromm Music Foundation commissions represent one of the ways that the Foundation strives to support the creation of new musical works and bring contemporary concert music closer to the public. The foundation received a record number of entries this year, and is galvanized by the strength and diversity of applicants forging innovative and exciting pathways for new music.

Less than one week left to apply for this year's Fromm Commission Awards! Applications are due this Friday, June 9, 2023. Reference letters may be submitted up until June 19. Every year, the Fromm Music Foundation accepts applications for commissions of new music, which include all types of compositions regardless of idiom, instrumentation, style, or the use of technology. Submissions in jazz, hybrid, electronic, or other idioms are welcome. Commission applications are reviewed by an anonymous jury appointed by the Fromm Music Foundation Board of Directors. The commission award is $12,000. Awardees receive an advance payment of $6,000 at commissioning, and completed scores are requested within three years of the award date. In addition to the commission, an amount of up to $4,000 may be requested by the group performing the premiere of the commissioned work. Visit frommfoundation.fas.harvard.edu for more information about the guidelines and a link to the application.

The 2023 Fromm Commission Application is now open and can be accessed via the link in our bio. The Fromm commission is available for all types of compositions regardless of genre, instrumentation, style, or the use of technology. Submissions in jazz, hybrid, electronic, or other idioms are welcome. Commission Amount: $12,000 Applications are due Friday, June 9, 2023. Eligibility criteria and guidelines are viewable online at frommfoundation.fas.harvard.edu

The Fromm Music Foundation Prize recognizes innovative commitment to the music of our time. @jackquartet exemplifies this work through its dedication to the commissioning, performance, and stewardship of new music. For this reason, we are proud to share that JACK Quartet is the 2022 recipient of the Fromm Music Foundation Prize. More from JACK Quartet: “Since our founding in 2005, we have been introducing audiences world-wide to a range of experimental chamber music. We perform everywhere from classical music halls to art galleries to bars. We commission new music and collaborate with composers to bring it to life. We commit to helping dismantle outmoded classical music pipelines for composers through our JACK Studio program, which includes residencies, commissions, readings, and recordings. We’re the Quartet in Residence at @thenewschool in New York City, and we teach at music festivals, conservatories, and universities.” Welcome to the Fromm Family @jackquartet .