The Jacobs Composition Academy Summer Intensive is a transformative 5-week online composition program from June 23 - July 26, 2025, providing aspiring composers of all ages and levels with an education on the level of the nation's top conservatories from the comfort of their homes. Offering private composition lessons, masterclasses with Jacobs composition professors, distinguished guest lectures, and a recording of student works by IU performance majors, this program is perfect for students preparing a composition portfolio for college auditions or an adult musician who wants to explore the craft of composing. This unique online program gives composers of all ages the opportunity to learn from award-winning mentors, lecturers, and performers from anywhere in the world, develop their musical craft, and meet/interact with some influential figures in the business.
Distinguished Guests
JCA has gathered a roster of some of the world's most respected and celebrated composers and contemporary music specialists, to share their stories, experiences, and insights in composition and approaches to the contemporary music world. From Grammy and Guggenheim Foundation award winners to leading artists of the rising generation, these 70-minute lectures promise an unparalleled opportunity for learning on the highest level. In addition, students will have the privilege of engaging in conversation with these individuals through Q&A sessions.
Stacy Garrop
Award-winning composer
Stacy Garrop (b. 1969) is an award-winning, internationally recognized freelance composer and lecturer living in the Chicago area. Her catalog covers a wide range, with works for orchestra, opera, oratorio, wind ensemble, choir, art song, various sized chamber ensembles, and works for solo instruments.
Dr. Garrop has received numerous awards and grants including an Arts and Letters Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Fromm Music Foundation Grant, Barlow Prize, and three Barlow Endowment commissions, along with prizes from competitions sponsored by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Omaha Symphony, New England Philharmonic, Boston Choral Ensemble, Utah Arts Festival, and Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble. Earlier in her career, she participated in reading session programs sponsored by the American Composers Orchestra and Minnesota Orchestra (the Composers Institute). Recent performances of her orchestral works were given by the Baltimore, Chicago, Fort Collins, Fort Worth, Philadelphia, Reading, Richmond, and St. Louis Symphony Orchestras, of her wind ensemble works by the U.S. Marine Band and U.S. Navy Band; and of her chamber works by the Avalon String Quartet, Boston Trio, Capitol Saxophone Quartet, Ensemble Échappé, h2 Saxophone Quartet, Kronos Quartet and the Lincoln Trio.
Recent commissions include Forging Steel for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Goddess Triptych for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, There's a village in my sneakers for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Spectacle of Light for the Music of the Baroque Orchestra, Berko's Journey for the Omaha Symphony, Song of Orpheus for the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, The Battle for the Ballot for the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, In a House Besieged for The Crossing on texts by Lydia Davis, Forged by the Sea for the United States Navy Band, and Alpenglow, a double concerto for saxophone, tuba, and wind ensemble commissioned by a consortium of 18 organizations. Notable past commissions include My Dearest Ruth for soprano and piano with text by Martin Ginsburg, the husband of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Glorious Mahalia for the Kronos Quartet, Give Me Hunger for Chanticleer, Rites for the Afterlife for the Akropolis and Calefax Reed Quintets, Slipstream for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra Musicians Chamber Music Series, and Terra Nostra (oratorio), commissioned by the San Francisco Choral Society and Piedmont East Bay Children’s Chorus. Her current commissions include a concerto for pianist Marta Aznavoorian and the Chicago Philharmonic, song cycle for soprano, baritone, and orchestra for Cabrillo Festival on texts by Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony, and a string quartet for Grant Park Music Festival.
Dr. Garrop earned degrees in music composition at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (B.M.), University of Chicago (M.A.), and Indiana University-Bloomington (D.M.). She taught composition and orchestration full-time at Roosevelt University from 2000 to 2016 before leaving to launch her freelance career.
Shawn Okpebholo
Award-winning composer, Professor of Composition at Wheaton College Conservatory of Music
NIGERIAN-AMERICAN COMPOSER SHAWN E OKPEBHOLO is a celebrated figure in contemporary classical music. Named the Chicago Tribune’s 2024 Chicagoan of the Year in Classical Music and one of Musical America’s Top 30 Professionals of 2023, Okpebholo’s work has earned widespread acclaim. His Grammy-nominated album, Lord, How Come Me Here?, reimagines Negro spirituals and American folk hymns and songs. Other accolades include awards from the Academy of Arts and Letters and The American Prize in Composition, along with grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music America, the Barlow Endowment for the Arts, and the Mellon Foundation. Critics describe Okpebholo’s compositions as “devastatingly beautiful” and “fresh and new and fearless" (Washington Post), “lyrical, complex, singular” (The Guardian), and “powerful” (BBC Music Magazine). His commissioned works span leading arts organizations, festivals, and ensembles, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, Oakland Symphony, United States Air Force Strings, American Composers Orchestra, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Sphinx, and the Tanglewood, Ravinia, and Newport Classical music festivals.
Okpebholo’s music resonates internationally, with performances at iconic venues including Carnegie and Wigmore Halls, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and the Lincoln, Kennedy, and Kimmel Centers. His music is brought to life by many highly acclaimed artists and ensembles, including Rhiannon Giddens, Will Liverman, Eighth Blackbird, the Copland House Ensemble, and the Cincinnati and Houston Symphonies, as well as opera companies in Chicago, Nashville, New Orleans, St. Louis, and Portland. His music has also gained significant media attention and has been featured on PBS NewsHour and NPR’s Tiny Desk and Morning Edition. In 2021, NPR included his art song, “The Rain,” among the 100 Best Songs of the Year, a rare nod to classical music on the list. Okpebholo’s works are featured on SiriusXM’s “Living American” series on the Symphony Hall Channel, and he has contributed to 12 commercially released albums, with three earning Grammy nominations.
Okpebholo holds master’s and doctoral degrees in composition from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. He is currently the Jonathan Blanchard Distinguished Professor of Composition at Wheaton College and recently completed residencies as the Saykaly Garbulinska Composer-in-Residence with the Lexington Philharmonic and with Chicago Opera Theater.
Robert Paterson
Award-winning composer, Artistic Director of the Mostly Modern Festival and the American Modern Ensemble
A "modern-day master" and often the "highlight of the program" (The New York Times), American composer Robert Paterson is loved by audiences and performers worldwide. His colorful music embraces his reverence for the natural world and the environment, from goddesses to online dating, to humor in music to mathematics. He was awarded Composer of The Year by the Classical Recording Foundation at Carnegie Hall in 2011, and Whitman's America had its Carnegie Hall debut with Oratorio Society of New York in 2022.
His opera Three Way won the Grammy® for Best Classical Producer of the Year, and his music has been named “Best of the Year” on National Public Radio and featured numerous times on NPR's Performance Today. “A bright and magnificent score” (Opera News), Three Way premiered with the Nashville Opera and then at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and his operas continue to be performed with companies across the United States.
His music has been performed by the Minnesota Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Austin Symphony, Vermont Symphony, Delaware Symphony, Musica Sacra, Albany Symphony, Opera Memphis, and many more. Shine received its world premiere with the American Brass Quintet at the Aspen Music Festival and continues to be performed at Juilliard, Princeton, and nationwide. His awards include the Copland Award, a three-year Music Alive! grant from the League of American Orchestras and New Music USA, as well as awards from the Utah Arts Festival, the American Composers Forum, ASCAP, and fellowships from Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Copland House.
Paterson holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music (BM), Indiana University (MM), and Cornell University (DMA). In 2005, Paterson founded American Modern Ensemble and serves as Artistic Director for Mostly Modern Projects, which includes Mostly Modern Festival USA, Mostly Modern Festival | The Netherlands, and the affiliated record label American Modern Recordings. He has given master classes at numerous colleges and universities, most recently at the Curtis Institute of Music, Aspen Music School & Festival, University of Denver, New York University, and the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Shelbie Rassler
Award-winning composer
Shelbie Rassler, named Truthspaper's "Young Woman of the Year,” is a globally recognized musician whose work as a composer, conductor, and producer spans prestigious performances and productions worldwide. Her compositions, arrangements, and orchestrations have been featured at The Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and The West End’s His Majesty's Theatre. Following her viral production of Burt Bacharach’s “What the World Needs Now,” Rassler received a CBS Sunday Morning Award and was featured on CNN’s “The Fourth in America” alongside Mr. Bacharach, as well as appearing on The Today Show, Good Morning America, Forbes, and NPR. Rassler’s film scoring and mixed media creations have premiered at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Amazon Prime, and various film festivals, as well as in commercials, jingles, and podcasts reaching millions. Most recently, Rassler served as the conductor of Sony’s Across the Spider-Verse: Live in Concert National Tour, performing for an audience of nearly 100,000 people nationwide, in venues such as the LA Dolby Theatre, home to the Oscar Awards.
Rassler often collaborates with Broadway stars on Seth Rudetsky’s hit show, "Stars in the House," helping to raise over $1.5 million for those in need. She played a key role in producing the Emmy-nominated 2021 Presidential Inauguration Concert’s “Seasons of Love” Broadway Performance, and her production of “Georgia On My Mind” premiered at Stacey Abrams’ “Rock the Runoff Concert” and landed on the Billboard charts shortly after. Most recently, Rassler served as Music Producer for “Bring Them Home: A Broadway Prayer,” produced by Debra Messing, Seth Rudetsky, and Schele Williams. In her role as Music Director of the Vail Dance Festival (Artistic Director Damian Woetzel), Rassler collaborates with acclaimed dance companies such as Martha Graham, Limón, American Ballet Theatre, and New York City Ballet. Rassler conducts the Festival performances at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater and arranges many of the live works, alongside Composer-in-Residence and Pulitzer Prize Winner Caroline Shaw, and celebrated artists, such as Brooklyn Rider, Chris Thile, and Lil Buck.
Rassler also serves as an arranger for Fever’s Candlelight Concert Series, with her arrangements heard daily in over 100 cities worldwide, reaching millions of attendees. She has held composition residencies at pianoSonoma, University of Kansas, and University of Colorado Denver, where she arranged the institution’s new alma mater. Rassler has composed new works, arrangements, and orchestrations for renowned performers and ensembles including Lara Downes, Yo-Yo Ma, Christian McBride, the New World Symphony Orchestra, members of the United Nations Chamber Music Society, and the Broward Health Foundation. As a motivational speaker, Rassler was featured at the 2021 Imagine Solutions Conference and has since spoken at numerous conferences and panels, including the College Music Society, Maestra Music, Emerson College, and Berklee Career Jam. Rassler holds a Master’s in Music Composition from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Pulitzer Prize Winner John Corigliano, and a Bachelor’s in Music Composition from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. She is a proud Juilliard Career Advancement Fellow, Boston Conservatory Presser Scholar, and recipient of the Robert Sherman Music Education and Community Outreach Award. Rassler won the Eugene New Music Festival’s 2022 Call for Scores and was recently nominated for an American Academy of Arts and Letters Composer Award.
KOE Duo
NYC-based ensemble
KOE (Eva Ding, flute; Emma Kato, cello) is an award-winning duo committed to crafting interdisciplinary projects that weave narratives of their upbringing and culture. With notable performances at Carnegie Hall, WQXR's The Greene Space, Joe's Pub at The Public Theater, The McKittrick Hotel, and The Red Pavilion, KOE showcases a rich tapestry of cultural expressions.
Dedicated to performing the works of living Asian and immigrant composers, KOE has collaborated closely with distinguished Chinese composers Lei Liang, Chen Yi, and Zhou Long, adapting their works for flute and cello and performing them nationally and internationally. They've earned grants from Chamber Music America and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council for their ongoing project “For Mum, Dad”, a series of performances paying homage to Asian parents who are US immigrants. In 2023, KOE served as the ensemble-in-residence for the Fromm Foundation Composer Fellowship at the Avaloch Farm Music Institute and were recognized as semifinalists in the internationally acclaimed Concert Artists Guild Louis and Susan Meisel Competition.
Cellist Emma Kato is a New York born and raised cellist teaching through Suzuki Methods, educating young artists about the power of music. She strongly believes that music is a universal language that anyone can speak and express themselves through, regardless of one’s background. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Eastman School of Music and a Master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with Julia Lichten.
Flutist Eva Ding’s background in theater plays a big role in the development of her work. She has seen how spoken word, set design, and costumes can elevate a performance experience and strives to bring that same level of artistic collaboration to classical music. Eva holds a Master of Music in Flute Performance from the Manhattan School of Music, having studied under the tutelage of Robert Langevin.
Together with their interest in and passion for community engagement, education, and interdisciplinary exploration they’re dedicated to illuminating classical music in a way that is exciting and interesting for a new audience – one that looks and feels more like the world around us.
Masterclass faculty
Each member of the masterclass faculty is a professor in the Composition Department at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music.
Professor of Composition, Jacobs School of Music
Don Freund has been described as “a composer thoughtful in approach and imaginative in style” (The Washington Post), whose music is “exciting, amusing, disturbing, beautiful, and always fascinating” (Music and Musicians, London). He is an internationally recognized composer with works ranging from solo, chamber, and orchestral music to pieces involving live performances with electronic instruments, music for dance, and large theater works. Many of his works are available on commercial CD.
The recipient of numerous awards and commissions, including two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and a Guggenheim Fellowship, Freund has served as guest composer at a vast array of universities and music festivals, and presented master classes throughout Europe, Australia, Asia, Africa, and South America. He is also active as a pianist, conductor, and lecturer. As a festival coordinator, he has programmed over 1,000 new American works. He has been conductor or pianist in the performance of some 200 new pieces, usually in collaboration with the composer.
Freund’s piano concert repertoire extends from new music to complete performances of Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier and his own pianistic realizations of Machaut. He has performed his Earthdance Concerto with numerous university wind ensembles.
As a longtime composition faculty member of the Jacobs School of Music, Freund’s students from a 50-year teaching career continue to win an impressive array of awards and recognitions. Up-to-date news on works and performances as well as videos, audio files, and pdf scores of over 100 of his compositions can be found at DonFreund.com.
Professor of Composition, Jacobs School of Music
Hailed by The New York Times as “striking and resourceful . . . handsomely brooding,” the music of Han Lash (they/them) has been performed at Carnegie Hall, Los Angeles Walt Disney Concert Hall, Lincoln Center, and Tanglewood Music Center, as well as the Times Center in Manhattan, Chicago Art Institute, and Aspen Music Festival and School, among other prestigious venues.
Lash has received numerous honors, including the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, Charles Ives Scholarship (2011) and Fellowship (2016) from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Fromm Foundation Commission, Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Grant, Yaddo Artist Colony fellowship, Naumburg Prize in Composition, Barnard Rogers Prize in Composition, Bernard and Rose Sernoffsky Prize in Composition, and multiple academic awards. Lash’s orchestral work "Furthermore" was selected by the American Composers Orchestra for the 2010 Underwood New Music Readings. Lash’s chamber opera, Blood Rose, was presented by New York City Opera’s VOX in the spring of 2011.
In 2016, they were honored with a Composer Portrait Concert at Columbia University’s Miller Theatre, which included commissioned works for pianist Lisa Moore and the ensemble loadbang. In the 2017-18 season, Lash’s Piano Concerto No. 1, “In Pursuit of Flying,” was premiered by Jeremy Denk and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; the Atlantic Classical Orchestra debuted “Facets of Motion” for orchestra; and “Music for Nine, Ringing” was performed at the Music Academy of the West School and Festival. Paul Appleby and Natalia Katyukova premiered “Songs of Imagined Love,” a song cycle commissioned by Carnegie Hall, in 2018, and in 2019, Lash’s chamber opera Desire premiered at Miller Theatre to great acclaim. Lash’s Double Concerto for piano and harp was premiered by the Naples Philharmonic, and “Forestallings,” a musical response to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 in D Major, was premiered by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Lash’s double harp concerto, “The Peril of Dreams,” was premiered by the Seattle Symphony in November 2021, with the composer as one of the featured soloists.
Their music is published exclusively by Schott Music Corporation (New York).
John Gibson composes electronic music, which he often combines with instrumental soloists or ensembles. He seeks to complement and extend the musical inflections of performers with electronic sound, sometimes generated in real time by the software he develops. Originally a composer of purely acoustic music, he retains in his electronic work an obsession with harmonic color and rhythmic pulsation, along with a timbral sensitivity born of his early years as a rock guitarist. His music embraces influences ranging from contemporary classical to jazz, funk, and electronica.
Gibson’s portrait CD, Traces, is available on the Innova label, along with other recordings on the Centaur, Everglade, Innova, and SEAMUS labels. Audiences across the world have heard his music, in venues including the D-22 punk rock club in Beijing, the Palazzo Pisani in Venice, and the U.S. Botanic Garden. His instrumental compositions have been performed by the London
Sinfonietta, the Seattle Symphony, the Da Capo Chamber Players, Speculum Musicae, Earplay, and at the Tanglewood and Marlboro festivals. Presentations of his electroacoustic music include concerts at the Seoul International Computer Music Festival, the Bourges Synthèse Festival in France, the Brazilian Symposium on Computer Music, the Australasian Computer Music Conference, the Third Practice Festival, and many ICMC and SEAMUS conferences.
Significant awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, the Paul Jacobs Memorial Fund Commission from the Tanglewood Music Center, and a residency in the south of France from the Camargo Foundation. He was a Master Artist at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in May 2017.
Gibson holds a Ph.D. in music from Princeton University. He has taught composition and computer music at the University of Virginia, Duke University, and the University of Louisville. He is now Associate Professor of composition and electronic music at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
Academy faculty
Corey Chang, described as “a major composer…of his generation” by The Millbrook Independent, is an award-winning American composer, pianist and educator currently based in Bloomington, Indiana. As the recipient of a Charles Ives Scholarship Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Morton Gould Young Composer Award from ASCAP, and the New Music Ensemble Commission Award from Indiana University, among other accolades, Chang’s music has been performed by many top musicians and ensembles, both nationally and internationally.
His music has received performances in highly acclaimed spaces such as Carnegie Hall, National Sawdust, Sprague Hall, Vienna’s Ehrbar Hall, the Cité de la Musique, Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Arts On Site, The Center at West Park, the Avaloch Farm Music Institute in New Hampshire, and multiple other locations throughout NYC and Canada.
Chang has a passion for music of all genres and is influenced by jazz, rock, pop, musical theatre and Chinese culture, among many other things. He believes in the transformative and unifying power in music; his multiple grant-winning initiative, East-West Collaboration, broke boundaries by producing works fusing together eastern traditional instruments and western instruments in a contemporary music setting. He worked with director of the IU Chinese Gateway Steven Yin, pipa virtuoso Wu Man, Zhejiang Conservatory’s director of international affairs Jimmy Wu, and faculty from Indiana University’s East Asian Languages and Cultures department and the Jacobs School of Music Office of Entrepreneurship and Career Development to commission four composers to write for mixed Chinese-Western instrumental quartets which were performed in May, 2024, with all the composers present in Hangzhou.
Chang holds dual degrees in Composition and Mathematics from Bard College and a Master’s Degree in Composition from The Juilliard School, where he was a Morse Teaching Fellow and was awarded the Joseph W. Polisi “Artist as Citizen” prize. Chang is currently a doctoral student and Associate Instructor of Composition at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music
Alexey Logunov is a composer and pianist with a primary focus on contemporary and experimental music. His music explores textural density, timbral complexity, and fusion of acoustic and electronic sound worlds. He is inspired by a broad range of styles, from the emotional depth of late romanticism to dynamic energy of progressive rock and heavy metal.
Alexey was born in Leningrad, Russia. He graduated in 2014 from Saint-Petersburg State Conservatory of Rimsky-Korsakov, where he studied composition with Vladimir Tsitovich and Gennady Banshchikov and was later assistant to Sergei Slonimsky. Logunov studied piano performance at Saint-Petersburg Conservatory, mentored by Ekaterina Murina from 2016 to 2018. In 2020, he earned a Master of Music degree in Composition from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he studied with P. Q. Phan, Eugene O’Brien, and Tansy Davies. Logunov is now a doctoral student and recipient of a fellowship from the Composition Department at the Jacobs School of Music.
Logunov’s compositions have been performed at numerous festivals in Russia and internationally, including Synesthesia Lab 2024, Bang on a Can LOUD Weekend, From Avantgarde to Present Days, Children’s Earth, Sound Ways, reMusik.org, Musica Futura (Minsk, Republic of Belarus), New music-new reality (Ekaterinburg), Composer 2.0 (Yaroslavl) and the Midwest Composers Symposium 2019 (Indiana University, USA), Performing Media Festival 2024 (South Bend, Indiana), SEAMUS@40 (Louisiana State University, USA).
Alexey Logunov is a laureate of the IV International competition of performing musicians and composers “Romanticism: sources and horizons” Franz Schubert’s in memoriam (2013, Moscow), VI and VII young composer’s competitions at the International festival “Three centuries of classical romance” (2016, 2018, Saint-Petersburg), II young composers competition “Siberia symphony” (2017, Krasnoyarsk), diplomant of XVI Open composers competition named after Andrey Petrov (2022, Saint-Petersburg). He is a winner of 2023 Georgina Joshi Composition Commission Award at Jacobs School of Music and a nominee for a 2024 American Academy of Arts and Letters music award.
Dr. Yi-De Chenoriginated from Taiwan and is a passionate composer and instructor. With experience composing for stage concerts, films, and animation, he has cultivated teaching methods that resonate with his students.
A grant recipient from the Taiwan Ministry of Culture and National Culture and Arts Foundation, Chen's works have been performed at music festivals in Europe, the United States, and Asia, including the Alba Music Festival in Italy, the Valéncia International Performance Academy and Festival in Spain, the Mixture Festival in Barcelona─Composition and Sound Experimentation Workshop, the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, the SEAMUS National Conference, the Donald Tavel Arts and Technology Research Center─Earth Day Art Model Festival, the Charlotte New Music Festival, the Julius Quartet─Workshop & Concert, the Asian Composers League Festival in Japan, and the Taipei International New Music Festival. Also, he has received commissions from the Beo String Quartet, the Indiana University JSoM Concert Band, Ensemble KNM Berlin, Malaysia Dá Capo Voice Choir, Hong Kong Dufy Atelier des Musicians & Artists, the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, the One Song Orchestra, the Camerata Taiwan String Orchestra, the TimeArt Studio, the Elite Artists Trio, and Nan-Yi Musical Theater.
Xinyuan Deng is a composer, performer, sound artist, and educator from Henan, China, whose work bridges the rich musical traditions of the East with the expansive forms of Western classical music. Her compositions blend contemporary and traditional elements to create dynamic soundscapes that reflect her cultural heritage and forward-thinking vision for music.
Throughout her journey, Xinyuan has collaborated with esteemed ensembles such as Austria’s PHACE, the Rhythm Method Quartet, the Harbin Symphony Orchestra, and the Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra. Her music explores themes of globalization, cultural exchange, and the natural world. Notably, in 2024, she collaborated with the Zhejiang Conservatory of Music to create Roaming Blooms, a mixed ensemble piece that integrates Chinese traditional instruments in a contemporary context, emphasizing the beauty of cultural exchange. Her chamber orchestra work BAN-NA, premiered during her composer fellowship at the National Orchestral Institute + Festival (NOI+F) in 2024, draws inspiration from the stunning landscapes and vibrant cultural heritage of Xishuangbanna, exemplifying her ability to weave personal stories into broader global dialogues. In addition to her acoustic compositions, Xinyuan has pushed the boundaries of electronic music. Her electronic works have earned acclaim at prestigious festivals such as Electronic Music Midwest (EMM), The Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS), and Click Fest.
Xinyuan holds a Bachelor of Arts in Composition from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and a Master of Music in Composition from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. Currently pursuing a Doctor of Music degree at Jacobs, she also teaches at the Jacobs Composition Academy, where she nurtures and mentors emerging composers, inspiring the next generation of musical voices.
Jamey Guzman is an award-winning composer for the stage, screen, and concert hall. A passionate storyteller dedicated to telling underrepresented stories with experimental and innovative techniques, she has received major commissions from the Center for the Performing Arts, Really Spicy Opera, Opera Arlington, Strange Trace Opera, New Voices Opera, ENAEnsemble, Paradox Opera, and SONIT. A performer’s composer, her music has been championed by singers and instrumentalists across the country, including the Nightingale Opera Theatre’s Young Artist Program, Kansas City Opera’s Come as You Are, and Sparks and Wiry
Cries’ Chicago and Bloomington SongSlams; on graduate recitals from Indiana to Virginia, and on stages from Los Angeles to Madagascar to Paris to El Salvador. She is the proud recipient of a 2025 OPERA America Discovery Grant for her medical drama chamber opera Open Heart Surgery.
A devoted composition teacher, Jamey serves as faculty at the Jacobs Composition Academy, holds an Associate Instructor position in IU’s Music Scoring for Visual Media department, is a Teaching Artist for Opera on Tap’s Playground Opera, and has taught composition through the Jupiter Opera Development Foundation and Cazadero Music Camp.
Jamey holds dual B.M. degrees in Composition and Flute Performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and is currently finishing dual M.M. degrees in Composition and Music Scoring for Visual Media at the Jacobs School, where she is a student of Larry Groupé, Aaron Travers, Han Lash, and Dominick DiOrio.
Jacob Wilkinson is a composer who holds a master’s degree from the Peabody Institute, where he was awarded the P. Bruce Blair award in composition. Equally passionate about practical and theoretical approaches to music, he enjoys integrating a variety of styles and methods into his teaching. He is currently pursuing a double DM/PhD degree in composition and theory at Indiana University, where he serves as an associate instructor in the music theory department.
Jacob’s compositional work engages critically with musical and literary history through the media of text, movement, and sound. He is particularly influenced by modernist American poetry as well as the 20th-century philosophical movement known as phenomenology. Past teachers include Richard Danielpour, Susan Botti, Michael Hersch, Aaron Travers, and Han Lash. Jacob’s theoretical work brings out the philosophical resonances of the practice of music performance, composition, and listening. Upcoming conference presentations include a paper on transformation theory and phenomenology for the South Central Society for Music Theory in New Orleans as well as a paper on the music of Karola Obermüller at the Rocky Mountain Society for Music Theory in Provo, Utah.
For program information, please contact Corey Chang at changco@iu.edu. For registration questions, please contact musicsp@iu.edu.
Program offerings
Designed for pre-college and adult participants ages 15 and older, this track is our “main course” that serves up an experience on par with some of the world’s best conservatories.
This offering includes: ● Nine 60-minute lectures on composition: two per week for weeks 1,2,3, and 5 and one lecture on week 4 ● FREE ACCESS to all distinguished guest lectures in the Distinguished Guests package ● Nine 30-minute private lessons: two per week for weeks 1-4 and one on week 5* ● Individualized masterclass session with a renowned Indiana University composition professor (see under “Masterclass Faculty”) ● Reading, recording, and performance by one of two JCA ensembles-in residence
Tuition: $750
Designed for pre-college and adult participants ages 15 and older who already study composition. Those enrolled in Track 1B will participate in all the same masterclasses, reading session, and concert performance as those in Track 1A. Track 1B students will not take private lessons with JCA faculty; rather, they will continue to work with their own private lesson instructor to ensure progress on their composition for the trio performance concert. This offering includes:
Two 60-minute lectures on composition per week for weeks 1, 2, 3, 5 and one lecture on week 4 (9 total) ● FREE ACCESS to all distinguished guest lectures in the Distinguished Guests package ● Individualized masterclass session with a renowned Indiana University composition professor (see under “Masterclass Faculty”) ● Reading, recording, and performance by one of two JCA ensembles-in-residence
Tuition: $550
Designed for composition students of all ages, this offering includes:
Ten 30-minute private lessons: two lessons per week for five weeks
Invitation to watch (not participate in) track 1 masterclasses and rehearsals
Note: combined track 2/3 package contains access to both private lessons and distinguished guest lectures at a discounted price
Tuition: $350
Designed for composers who wish to see live lectures and Q&A sessions by five world-class figures in the contemporary music field from the comforts of their own homes!
This offering includes: ● The purchase of all distinguished guests lectures (70 minutes each, see under “Distinguished Guests”) ● Invitation to watch (not participate in) track 1 masterclasses and rehearsals ● Note: combined track 2/3 package contains access to both private lessons and distinguished guest lectures at a discounted price
Tuition: $210
Designed for composers who want both private lessons and to see lectures from our distinguished guests.
This offering includes: ● Ten 30-minute private lessons: two lessons per week for five weeks ● The purchase of all distinguished guests lectures (70 minutes each, see under “Distinguished Guests”) at a 50% discount ● Invitation to watch (not participate in) track 1 masterclasses and rehearsals
Tuition: $455
*Please note, Tracks 1-3
These programs are entirely virtual via Zoom
Tuition reflects a 5-week semester
Lessons will be scheduled according to the availability of the student and instructor
All tracks are subject to a $100 non-refundable enrollment deposit due at registration (credited towards tuition)
2025 Resident Ensemble Information
JCA’s resident ensembles contain some of the best student performers at Indiana University. For the summer intensive, we have two ensembles (flute, clarinet, cello AND violin, cello, piano), one of which each student will write a 3-6-minute piece for. Pieces will be due by Monday July 14, and final edits (after the readings) will be due by Sunday, July 20.
Schedule
Summer 2025 Semester
Date
Event
May 23
Registration closes
June 15
Payment due
June 23
Classes start
July 26
Classes conclude
All times listed below refer to Eastern Time ● Track 1 lectures will take place every Tuesday and Thursday from 5:30-6:30 PM - Exceptions are on week 4 (only one lecture on Thursday). ● Distinguished Guest lectures will be every Wednesday from 7 - 8:10 PM ● Masterclasses will occur on 7/5, 7/10, 7/15, 7/17, and 7/19, exact time to be determined. Two to four students will participate in each masterclass. - Any 2025 JCA Summer Intensive student may join to watch masterclasses, regardless of track, though talking/commenting is not permitted from those not directly involved.
Video recordings will be provided for anyone who is not able to make it to a lecture, either by a faculty or guest. These videos will be password-protected and may not be shared publicly on any platform or with friends, colleagues, or anyone who has not purchased a package from the 2025 JCA Summer Intensive
How to apply
Eligibility: Track 1 is for both adults and students age 15 and above. Tracks 2 and 3 are for any age, though for children under 9 years old, one parental figure must be present at all times for private lessons and/or distinguished guest lectures.
Application process: To apply, complete the online registration form. No auditions are required for enrollment. Late applications will not be accepted.
Lesson scheduling: Participants will be contacted by the administrative assistant on teacher assignments. Once that is done, future scheduling can be communicated between the student and the assigned instructor.
Payment: Accepting payment via credit card or check. Please see FAQ for mailing address.
Cancellation Policy:Click here for our most up to date cancellation policy.
