Salastina Composer Collective
Over the past six years, Salastina’s tuition-free Composer Collective has armed over three dozen young composers with career-making recordings of their work. These recordings have already yielded results, such as high-profile professional commissions — including one from us every year.
Under the guidance of Composer Mentor Derrick Skye, Salastina Composer Collective participants write a world premiere for Salastina. Pieces are workshopped prior to being professionally recorded. Composers are free to use the finished audio/video recording for non-commercial purposes as they wish.
Because all aspects of this program — from lessons to workshopping and recording — can take place virtually, Salastina is pleased to continue providing the program to students ages 18-30 living anywhere.
Reflecting our commitment to our Composer Collective participants as young colleagues (rather than “students”):
The program is completely free; there is no application fee and no tuition.
Putting our actual money where our mouth is, we formally commission one of each year’s participants for a premiere the following concert season.
True to the spirit of a collective, we strive to maintain the relationships we build beyond the program’s end.
Check out the playlists of our past cohorts’ videos, our application requirements, program timeline, testimonials from past participants, and our FAQ below.
Application Requirements
Age limit: 30. Applicants must be at least 18 years old.
Submit our online application. The application form requires:
a brief (250 words or less) biography.
contact information for two references. Please ensure they are prepared to speak about you if asked.
links to three media samples — such as digital mockups, YouTube video links, or performance or studio recordings — best reflecting your compositional skill and style.
Submit a link to a video recording answering the following questions: How will participating in Salastina's Composer Collective program benefit you? What do you hope to get out of the program? Why do you want to participate? Please keep your response to under 2 minutes.
Make sure that your submitted links are working and publicly accessible. Broken links, or links with any permissions required to access them, will disqualify your application from advancing to the next stage.
While scores are not necessary, you may share them if you like.
There is no application fee.
We welcome applicants residing anywhere worldwide, as all aspects of the program take place via Zoom.
We will contact finalists for a brief, 15-minute interview via Zoom.
Tuition
There is no tuition to participate, and no fee to apply to the program. The Salastina Composer Collective is a zero-cost, fully-funded opportunity.
All composers receive full scholarships generously funded by Salastina’s Membership program.
“The work which Salastina premiered and recorded, a ten-minute string quartet titled Family Photos, continues to be my most successful piece. Having received over 20 performances internationally, 8 composition competition awards, and a radio broadcast, this piece has become a calling card for me... The Salastina Composer Collective is largely responsible for launching my professional career.”
- 2020/2021 Alum Kian Ravaei
Program Timeline for 2026/2027
December 12, 2026: Applications due
January 4, 2027: Finalists notified
January 11 through 15, 2027: Interviews with finalists completed
January 18, 2027: Applicants notified of acceptance with a contract outlining expectations of participation
February 1, 2027: Lessons begin with Derrick Skye; monthly Family Meetings with Resident Artists begin
May 1, 2027: First drafts due
June 7, 8, 14, and 15, 2027: Each participant benefits from one workshop with Salastina Artists each week for a total of two workshop opportunities; we encourage in-person attendance if possible, but can Zoom you in with AudioMovers if need be
June 21 and 22, 2027: Audio/video recordings take place
August or September 2027 (exact date TBD): virtual premieres of finished audio/video recordings on one of our Happy Hours
Lessons with Derrick Skye, June and Simon Li Composer Mentor
From February through May, Composer Collective participants receive 5 private lessons from Derrick Skye.
Derrick Skye is a composer, conductor, and musician who integrates musical practices from different cultural traditions with Western classical music. The Los Angeles Times has described his music as “something to savor” and “enormous
fun to listen to.”
Derrick’s music has been commissioned and/or performed by ensembles including Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra (Canada), Chicago Sinfonietta, Albany Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Conspirare, The Juilliard School, Sphinx Virtuosi, Lincoln Center, Salastina, Lyris Quartet, Super Devoiche (Bulgarian Women’s Choir), and Lian Ensemble (Persian Ensemble).
Derrick has given pre-concert talks and workshops at institutions including Harvard University, the Juilliard School, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, UCLA, USC, and the Skirball Cultural Center. He served as a composer panelist for the 2022 and 2019 League of American Orchestras Conference, and previously spoke at the 2016 conference on the topic of how classical music orchestras can forge stronger relationships with their diverse communities.
Derrick serves as Artistic Director of the new music collective and arts organization Bridge to Everywhere, Director of Instrumental Ensembles at Mount Saint Mary’s University, and Artistic Advisor for Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.
Derrick is an American with Ghanaian, Nigerian, British, Irish, and Native American ancestry. His ancestry and identity have led him to claim and develop an “American” aesthetic that incorporates many cultural influences into his work. He passionately believes in music as a doorway into understanding. During his studies at the UCLA and CalArts, music across many cultures became an integral part of Derrick’s compositional vocabulary. He studied classical music alongside West African music and dance, Persian music theory, Balkan music theory, and Hindustani classical tala.
As a teacher, Derrick excels at teasing out personal voice. His candid, forthcoming, practical mentorship is frequently cited as one of the most meaningful aspects of participation in the Salastina Composer Collective.
Derrick’s role as the Salastina Composer Collective Mentor is made possible through the generosity of June and Simon Li.
Preparing your music for a polished result
How do you get musicians to play the music that's in your head?
The Salastina Composer Collective gives composers hands-on experience interacting with world-class performers. Each composer receives two opportunities to workshop their piece with the professionals performing it.
Given the production realities brought on by COVID-19, Derrick’s mentorship now includes guidance with practical skills necessary for any composer in the 21st century, including:
building a click track
working with recording software
editing and mixing your recording
using engraving and notation software
Premiere and Professional Recording
A game-changer for your career.
Want to share our virtual stage with composers like Adam Schoenberg, Reena Esmail, Derrick, Caroline Shaw, and many more?
Once your piece has been written, workshopped, and recorded, it will be premiered with you as our featured guest during one of our Happy Hours.
You’ll receive the finished recording for your personal, promotional, non-commercial use — from school, scholarship, or award applications to promotional material.
Building Relationships
The Salastina Composer Collective is both a new music incubator and an expansion of our own artistic community.
Salastina is a small, close-knit community of artists. All of us interact regularly with our young artists and composers, offering mentorship, guidance, and professional connections and opportunities well outside of what’s described above.
Our monthly Family Meetings is where a lot of this happens. Topics of discussion have ranged from “is this playable on your instrument?” to “I’m feeling artistically restless where I live currently; should I move?” Broadly speaking, these monthly meetings provide a nurturing space in which composers and artists can simply get to know each other. The best music comes about from that kind of mutual understanding.
Salastina Composer Collective alumni remain part of Salastina’s extended family beyond the year of their active participation in the program. Our annual alumni commissions reflect this core value.
Pictured above left: Sakari Dixon Vanderveer at the 2019 premiere of her work Fire Season. Pictured above right: Kian Ravaei at the premiere of his work, One Flesh.
Salastina Composer Collective’s Impact
“A million-dollar education.”
“As a result of participation in the Salastina Composer Collective, I landed a commission from the Royal Philharmonic Society, creating a large-scale work for flute, cello, and piano that was premiered at Wigmore Hall (London) in April, and subsequently toured to Iceland (performed in Harpa - by far the most incredible venue I’ve ever been to!)”
“The most wonderful surprise of the past year. You really did something with my music… made it come alive.”
“I’m currently sitting at the Public Theatre early for the BMI Composers Award Ceremony as one of the Winners this year and I just wanted to share my thank you for the Composers Collective Program. Because of Shibboleth, I was the New York Youth Symphony’s Jon Deak First Music Grand Prize Winner with the premiere of my piano quartet, Migrate, with the dance company Emerge125 at Carnegie Hall earlier this month…Without Salastina, I wouldn’t be where I am at today.”
“Salastina does not need to offer this program by any stretch of the imagination. It’s just something that you take on on behalf of new music, young composers, and believing in our cause — which is huge. Everyone had a really fantastic experience with the program… It was really helpful in so many different, very nuanced ways.”
“Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for the opportunity to work with you in 2025. It is rare to encounter a group that so beautifully blends artistry, innovation, business savvy, and genuine support for the next generation of musicians. I felt deeply supported as a composer, and this experience is one I will carry with me for a long time.”
“This program has been transformative for me… And it was by far the smoothest Zoom program I’ve ever done.”
“Salastina has made such a profound impact on my personal and professional development.”
Past Salastina Composer Collective cohorts and their work
2025 Cohort
Nicholas Edwards: Obligate Cycles
Daixuan Ai: The Coyote is Running West
Sergey Nesterov: Graceful Maneuvers
Veronika Reutz Drobnić: Variations On Three Personal Themes
Yurui Rain Hou: Manhattan Suite
2024 Cohort
Austin Ali: Groove, Meditation, and Fugue
Yuxuan Lin: Shimmering Veil
Benjamin S. Beckman: Contrails
Chloe Liuyan Liu: You Are the Wind Beneath My Wings
Jackson A. Waters: Shibboleth
Luca Pasquini: in a past life
Sydney Wang: The Island and the Albatross
Kirsten White: The Resurrection and the Life
Mathis Saunier: uta.lix
Shane Scott Cook: sky, and sea, and stone
2023 Cohort
Aaron Israel Levin: Three preludes to a serenade
Zygmund de Somogyi: A LIGHTHOUSE FEVER DREAM
Mieke Johanna Doezema: One
Isaac Stephan Silva Uria: Donde hay Personas
William Jae: Fragile Dreams
Jonah Cohen: That Special Place
Jazreel Low: Tactician-A Battle of Wits
Nicholas Ma: Moments in Time Under the Starlight
Celina Anna Kintscher: Fractured Hope
Riccardo Perugini:La Ragione di un Prato
2022 Cohort
Madeline Barrett: softly speaks the wind
Toh Yan Ee: Of Celestial Dreams
Anna Hill: Piano Trio
Dylan Tran: The Implementation of A Long Needed Boundary
Oliviana Marie: Travel
Chloe Elise Villamayor: and the birds were bats...
2021 Cohort
Kian Ravaei: "Family Photos" (for string quartet)
Sophie Kuba: Aurora Humanis
Britni Louise: Victory (for string quartet)
Prateek Rajagopal: Rub' al Khali
Anna Kouchnerov: "Kingdom Come" for string quartet
FAQ
Q: Can I reapply?
A: Of course! We welcome it. However, past participants are not eligible to reapply.
Q: What instrumentation can I write for?
A: Derrick makes these assignments. All pieces must be written for a combination of Salastina’s Resident Artists, which include string quartet, piano, and flute. Electronic elements are not allowed; your piece must be purely acoustic. Furthermore, you may not invite outside musicians to contribute — nor may you ask us to do that for you. You must write an acoustic piece using only the instrumentation assigned. We do our best to assign combinations of instruments that are likely to be replayed in the future, such as: string quartet; piano trio; flute and harp; flute, viola, and harp; and solo strings with piano.
Q: Is there a certain style of music you’re looking for?
A: While it’s no secret that our taste skews away from Ivory Tower academic atonality, you have carte blanche to express yourself as you see fit. That being said, we obviously have individual and collective taste. We reward the composers whose pieces resonate most strongly with us with a commission. Recent winners: Nicholas Edwards, Luca Pasquini, Celina Anna Kintscher, and Kian Ravaei. We also encourage you to listen to the contemporary music we’ve recorded and performed for a sense of our taste in this area.
Q: Are the age limits firm?
A: Yes. This is a free program with no geographic limitation, and no experiential pre-requisites to participation. We have to draw the line somewhere!