By Alex Heigl

The prospect of submitting music for "judging" in any kind of institutional setting can be a daunting one, but Nico Muhly, Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser, and Blake-Anthony Johnson are here to help.

Conductor Bartholomew-Poyser, composer Muhly, and musical multi-hyphenate Johnson all sit on the panel for the Emerging Black Composers Project (EBCP), a ten-year commitment by the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) to spotlight early-career Black American composers and their music. The EBCP panel includes not only Muhly and Bartholomew-Poyser, but also SFCM Music Director Edwin Outwater, SFS Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen and other industry luminaries like Carmen Bradford, Daphne Burt, Blake-Valérie Sainte-Agathe, Victor Goines, and Jeffrey Zeigler.

For Bartholomoew-Poyser, in the evaluation process, "it's just such a joy to listen to these pieces and to understand, oh, here's what's happening today."

He continued, "Last year with Jens Ibsen winning, it was really interesting to see us all independently come to similar conclusions about the applicants. That was really exciting. It made me feel like, yeah this is our person for this year. It's still challenging, because you have to make decisions and think about your decisions and back them up, but it's really gratifying."

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Johnson came to the EBCP via legendary conductor Michael Tilson Thomas and the SFS, and emphasized that, in his own career, "the biggest breaks were not the awards or honors that come with winning grants. The important memories that flood my thoughts are the relationships that came with preparing for them, celebrating them, and learning from them."

"I focus on a few things when evaluating artists," Johnson continued. "When thinking about launching the career of an 'emerging artist' the overarching thoughts and questions I consider are, 'How will the resources of this specific program that is extremely specific in scope be fully realized maximized by a candidate?' and 'How will this candidate who is truly unique and one-of-the-kind push the boundaries of the program?'"

Johnson and first-time committee member Muhly also both offer the advice that young musicians should get over any fear of showing their work to as many people as possible, with Johnson suggesting they seek out previous candidates and winners and Muhly expanding that pool to friends as well.

"I hope projects like this start to emerge more and more often," Muhly added. "It's really important work. We're talking about people under 35 years old, so it takes your body of work up to a certain point and says, let us treat this as an opportunity rather than as the end of a sentence. So I hope that feels, for younger composers, like more of a commitment to furthering their craft rather than saying, 'Hey, you're awesome. Here's a bunch of money.'"

Learn more about the Emerging Black Composers Project. Black American composers (U.S. citizens or permanent residents) aged 35 or under who have completed a degree program in composition or music performance, or have equivalent experience, are encouraged to apply.