Behind the curtain of the Composition course

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By 2026 Media and Communication Fellow Amanda Wong

For many years, AYO has been producing generations of excellent musicians and performers. But not only that—it has been quietly nurturing successful leaders in the arts, composers, arts administrators, concert and radio presenters, producers, sound engineers, writers and more through its unique non-orchestral programs.

In this edition of Behind the Curtain, we take you behind the scenes of AYO’s composition course at National Music Camp (NMC). Graduates of this two-week course have gone on to compose for ensembles and artists worldwide and shape Australia’s creative landscape. It boasts an impressive list of alumni, including Anne Cawrse, Lachlan Skipworth, Madeleine Hammond and Abigail Lui.

Partway through the 2026 National Music Camp in January, I had the pleasure of interviewing Brisbane-based composition participant Angela Zhang and program tutor Thomas Green about the two-week course and their experience. Here’s what they had to say:

How do you feel now that you’ve finished Week 1 of camp?

Angela: It’s been very intense. After Week 1 of camp, I definitely feel more fulfilled and feel like I’ve been learning so many new things. It’s very satisfying to know how far we have come since the first day.

What do participants cover in the composition course here at NMC?

Thomas: We have two weeks and they are divided into very, very practical stuff in the first week; practical considerations for ensuring that the music is going to work well because it arrives on the stands of the players this afternoon [Day 9 of NMC]. It’s really important that when that music arrives in front of the players, they can make sense of it and that it will work well. So, this is quite apart from aesthetic or artistic considerations—it’s just ensuring that the music will do what the composers will hope it will do and I’m very confident with the progress of the composers in the first week.

The second week we are looking at rehearsals—but we’re also able to take a step back now that the drafts are completed—and we can think more broadly about what it means to be a composer and look at some of the more aesthetic and artistic possibilities in our second week.

Angela: So, a few weeks before [and during] camp, we’ve been working tirelessly on our piece, and we’ve been working with our wonderful tutor Thomas Green. We’ve been doing a lot of score reading, observing the orchestras and reading off [of] what they are playing to learn more about orchestration, and we’ve been doing part editing for our music so we can get them read by the tutors who are actually playing our pieces—so that’s been going intense!

Take us into the world of composition here at NMC. What does a typical day look like for a composition participant?

Angela: A typical day in composition at NMC is going to our beautiful computer room with all the keyboards and whiteboards. We tend to blurt out our ideas and share our portfolios around so we can get the opinions from every other person who’s there.

Sometimes we go visit the Alexander or Bishop orchestra to read their orchestral scores since we are working with similar instrumentation to that; we’ve also been score reading some of Tom’s [composition tutor] pieces including the Amadio Chamber Orchestra that they played in Week 1, The Sounds of Chow Gar.

We’ve also been doing a lot of individual “locking in”—a lot of individual work on our computers to get the scores done before the deadline—and currently we are working really closely with the tutors to get our pieces performed. So far, they have been a real pleasure to work with and they’ve had really good insights. I’ve learned a lot from working with them.

What are some of the unique advantages of participating in AYO’s composition course?

Thomas: Well, the main one that comes to mind is that they have access to expert musicians. At the camp they have access to musicians and performers who are at the top of their game. For instance, we met with Jess [Fontinos] our harpist here and she was able to take us through the idiosyncrasies of the harp—which is really quite complex and difficult to get your head around—so it’s quite a privilege for a composer to be able to sit with an expert like Jess and have her explain the practical aspects of the harp. And we’ve done that with percussion; we’ve done it with brass (we did it with trumpet with Sarah [Butler]); and that is a great benefit and probably a little unusual for regular study. And they of course work with the ensembles as a whole; working with Stefan Cassomenos the conductor, and the ensemble of expert players—this is quite an unusual and rewarding experience for the composers.

Is there anything that has surprised you about your experience so far?

Angela: The thing that surprised me the most was how supportive everyone is of each other—it was never like a lion’s den. We’re all working really closely with each other, and we’ve all developed such unbreakable bonds, and I believe that it will last for a lifetime

What have you enjoyed most so far about the composition course?

Angela: Working with the tutors and my fellow peers has definitely been a real pleasure. I’ve had the greatest experience being so close with so many amazing and talented composers and musicians—it’s been a real honour. I’ve been working closely with Jamie, Otto and Felicity (2026 composition participants)—and we’ve also been building our relationships a lot—and learning from Tom our tutor has definitely been a pleasure.

One thing I enjoyed learning in particular in composition was the different types of processes behind composing—everyone has such different ways of composing. It’s really nice to know that everyone has their own unique experiences when it comes to composing yet we just somehow mesh so well together.

[Having our] compositions being performed by these amazingly talented tutors is definitely also a surreal experience for me. This opportunity doesn’t really come by that often—I’m really, really excited to hear how they sound live in the Elder Hall too.

What are some of the challenges and rewards that participants may encounter?

Thomas: The challenges are the same for any composer—and the participants here are experiencing that—which is that composing is all about developing musical ideas, but not knowing how that’s going to work out. It really is quite speculative even for an experienced composer—you don’t really know how it’s going to end up, so you’re on the edge of your seat waiting for that first rehearsal because you’re worried about whether it will work the way that you’d hoped, whether it will be interpreted the way that you expected and so on. [AW1.1]So, the challenge is getting it as close as you can using your imagination and relying on the technology to get it as close as you possibly can imagine. Even then, we make mistakes because it’s a very complex and difficult process; but that’s the major challenge—stepping from idea to reality.

As much as there are challenges, there’s a great reward—which is being rewarded by those players. They are giving us a gift as composers: they’re rendering our musical abstract ideas and it’s very difficult to describe how this feels.

It’s a unique experience for a composer the first time that you go into that room and hear something that was once just an idea in your mind now shared amongst a group of people and performed for you in a way which is very touching. In a way, yes the performers get to enjoy the music, yes the audience gets to enjoy the music; but for a composer hearing that idea which was once yours, now shared—that’s a uniquely rewarding experience.

What is something you hope that composition participants (current and future) take away from the course?

Thomas: I would like to think that I can help them with the “why” of it—like why do it? What’s good about this for you? Where can you in particular take this? I’m having them consider what the music is for and what it’s about, where that music is played and the purpose for it. These sorts of things take it beyond a kind of exercise that you might do at uni or as part of some kind of study program, and it instead becomes part of your identity and your life.

So maybe I feel like I might be able to help in that way; in helping our students and our participant composers realise that this can be who they are at a very fundamental level [and] to take on the identity of composer, not just because it’s a good idea, but because it becomes part of their soul and part of the way that they can relate to the world.

What can the future look like for graduates of the composition program?

Thomas: It’s fascinating because the future of classical music is not set in stone; it is in the minds of people like these four individuals (Felicity, Angela, Jamie and Otto). They will take it the way they think it should go; they’re pioneers and they will shape it along with the other participants. The way that classical music is transformed— and it will transform (by the way that’s inevitable)—is in the hands of creators like these four.

Is there anything you’d like to say to anyone thinking about applying for the composition program?

Thomas: I want to speak to people who miss out on things—because I’ve often been that person. There were many applications for AYO and only just a very few spots, so I’d actually suggest to anybody who applied this year and didn’t receive a spot, please apply again because there’s only four positions and so very, very limited possibility. There are very few slots, but you may get it—so give it your best shot. And even the act of applying improves your work, so absolutely go for it and give it your absolute best.

Angela: This has definitely been the best experience I have had so far in my composition career; it’ll also be very helpful for you and for your portfolio. Knowing that a lot of Australian composers that I’ve looked up to for a long time have been through this program before—and now knowing that I’ve been part of this program—is definitely comforting to hear. I’ve had lots and lots of fun; you’ll make so many new friends and you’ll have the best time here. You should definitely consider applying for AYO’s composition program!

Applications for the 2027 Sound Production course are open until 3 August. For more information and portfolio requirements, click here.