A Brief History

The composition program in Alba started in 2005, when the late composer David Froom (1951-2022) began a composition masterclass in connection with St Mary's College of Maryland, one of the founding partners of the Alba Music Festival. In the years following, the size and scope of the masterclass evolved and a wide range of student composers attended these courses along with a diverse and distinguished group of guest composers and performers. Among past guest composers are Jeffrey Mumford, Scott Wheeler, Louis Karchin, Robert Gibson, Mark Andrew Cook, Judah Adashi, Sylvano Busotti, Christopher Muscat, and Antonello Lerda.

In 2015, composer Elliott Miles McKinley assumed the role of Program Director, and reimagined a new program. May 2016 was the first edition of the new program featuring our first composer-in-residence David Gompper. In 2017, the program grew and hosted eleven composition fellows to work with our first resident ensemble, Transient Canvas, Composer-in-Residence Lansing McLoskey, and  a composition faculty which included Carl Schimmel and Giacomo Platini. Since then, with the exception of 2020, we have run a successful program each year and recently completed our eighth edition in 2024 featuring Composer-in-Residence Aaron Jay Kernis. 

We invite you to explore our program and please feel free to contact us if you have any questions. 

Director Elliott McKinley and former director David Froom.