The 47th Annual Seminar on Contemporary Music for the Young will take place April 10–12, 2026, and will feature renowned composer Matthew Aucoin, former RSC student and MacArthur Fellow. Throughout the weekend’s many concerts, students will perform works by Aucoin and other contemporary composers, and a student string quartet will debut a new arrangement of Aucoin’s song cycle The Inner Core alongside award-winning bass-baritone William Socolof.
About Matthew Aucoin
Matthew Aucoin is an American composer, conductor, writer, pianist, and a 2018 MacArthur Fellow. In recent seasons, his music has been performed by artists ranging from Yo-Yo Ma to the Philadelphia Orchestra, and commissioned by institutions including the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, and the Ojai Music Festival. Aucoin is a co-founder of the American Modern Opera Company. His book about opera, The Impossible Art: Adventures in Opera, was published in 2021 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
In December the Chicago Symphony, featuring soprano Julia Bullock and conductor Petr Popelka, gave the world premiere performances of Aucoin’s Song of the Reappeared, a “concerto for voice and orchestra” based on the poetry of Chilean writer Raúl Zurita.
In recent months, Aucoin also conducted three productions of Music for New Bodies, at Lincoln Center, Tanglewood, and Seattle’s Meany Center. That work will travel next to Sarasota, FL in May 2026, conducted by George Nickson.
Seminar Schedule
Friday, April 10
Reception with Matthew Aucoin in Revers Hall lobby, 6:00–7:00 p.m.
Please RSVP for this free reception here.
Faculty Concert in Rivera Recital Hall, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, April 11
All concerts will take place in Rivera Recital Hall
Concert #1, 1:00 p.m.
Concert #2, 2:45 p.m.
Concert #3, 5:00 p.m.
Sunday, April 12
All concerts will take place in Rivera Recital Hall
Concert #4, 1:00 p.m.
Concert #5, 2:45 p.m.
Concert #6 (Finale), 5:00 p.m.
About Seminar on Contemporary Music for the Young
The Rivers School Conservatory Seminar on Contemporary Music for the Young was founded to address the need of young performers to hear, play, and learn the music of their time. Since 1978 the seminar has presented 3,254 pieces, representing more than 1,920 composers and 720 premieres, including 227 commissioned pieces. Each seminar’s programming is unique; pieces are performed only once, so that repertoire, composed within the last 25 years, is constantly being explored. Every year RSC commissions one composer for a major work. Past commissioned composers and guests include:
John Cage
Sorrel Hays
Chen Yi
Wendy Rolfe
Ivan Tcherepnin
Daniel Pinkham
John Harbison
Gunther Schuller
Joan Tower
Sir John Tavener
Lukas Foss
Samuel Adler
Lowell Liebermann
Michael Gandolfi
Robert Sirota
Libby Larsen
Matthew Aucoin
Andrew List
Lera Auerbach
Elena Ruehr
The idea of young performers, composer, and audiences interacting with one another in an artistic and creative way has sparked the imagination of educators. Our seminar has become the model for many such events throughout the United States and the world.
