Copland House Announces CULTIVATE 2024 Fellows

Six composers have been selected for the emerging composers institute, which will commission and give the world premiere of their new works

An award-winning creative center for American music based at Rock Hill (once the composer Aaron Copland’s longtime residence), the Copland House nurtures America’s diverse cultural legacy through programs embracing artistic creation, development, performance, and presentation. 

Since 2012, Copland House’s acclaimed CULTIVATE 2024 emerging composers institute has annually supported six emerging composers at the outset of their professional careers. 

The 2024 Fellows are JaRon Brown, 33, from South Carolina; Claire Hu, 37 from New Jersey; Kevin Kay, 28, from Germany; Celka Ojakangas, 31, of California; Connor Elias Way, 32, of New York; and 27-year-old Sofia Rocha from Rhode Island, who is returning to Copland House after her 2022 Residency. 

Involving a weeklong scholarship, plus intensive creative workshop and mentoring, CULTIVATE 2024 will take place from June 3–11 at Aaron Copland’s National Historic Landmark home in northern Westchester County, New York. 

As it does each year, Copland House will commission the six Fellows to each create a new small-ensemble composition, that will be the focus point of a week of collective and individual daily rehearsals and workshops with CULTIVATE’s Director Derek Bermel and artists from the Music from Copland House ensemble.

The CULTIVATE Fellows will also become eligible for future performance, recording, commissioning, and other career advancement opportunities. This year’s Fellows were selected from almost 150 applicants from 30 U.S. states and three countries. 

The 2024 jury comprised Copland House Residents or former CULTIVATE Fellows, Bermel, Flannery Cunningham, Bobby Ge, and Reinaldo Moya. 

CULTIVATE 2024 will conclude with a public concert on June 11 by Music from Copland House in its performance series at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. 

Each of the Fellows’ world premieres will be performed by clarinetist Moran Katz, violinist Pala Garcia, cellist Alexis Pia Gerlach, and pianist Margaret Kampmeier; the performances will also be filmed for streaming. 

“Once again, we were bowled over by the boundless creativity in this upcoming generation of artists,” said CULTIVATE’s director Derek Bermel in the press release. “We’re eager to bring to life the music of these six bold voices during a week of intensive sharing and growth this June at Copland House.”

“CULTIVATE — its work ethic, values, and people — was a privilege to experience, and I’m so in awe of all these wonderful, kind, interesting, and exceptionally talented individuals who invited me into a warm and welcome space of extremely passionate, dedicated music-making and -refining,” reflected a 2023 Fellow Maya Miro Johnson. “The environment was so overwhelmingly positive, and I couldn't have asked for a better experience!”