ABOUT MADELINE

Madeline Clara Cheng is a composer, saxophonist, and pianist originally based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Composition with minors in Business Law and Music Industry as a Presidential Scholar at the University of Southern California (USC).

As an alumna of Missy Mazzoli and Ellen Reid's Luna Composition Lab, Madeline has been commissioned by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's May Festival to compose a choral work for the Cincinnati Camerata for the festival's 150th anniversary season. As the 2024-25 Hearing in Color Young Composer in Residence, she has been commissioned by the Music Institute of Chicago and La Caccina. Other notable commissions include Ensemble for These Times and the UUCWC Crossing Chorale.

Madeline's compositions have been programmed by Amsterdam's Concertgebouw Orchestra, Norway's Bergen International Festival, the International Contemporary Ensemble, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the New Music on the Bluff Festival, Chamber Project Saint Louis, the Boston New Music Initiative, the Julius Quartet, and the Triple Helix Ensemble.

Madeline is a National YoungArts Award Winner and a recipient of the ICEBERG New Music and Lift Up Our Voices scholarships. She is the winner of the National Federation of Music Clubs Junior Composers Contest and a finalist in the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards. Madeline has studied at some of the nation's preeminent programs for young musicians, including the Yellow Barn Young Artists Program as well as the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, for which she received a full merit scholarship.

At USC, Madeline has music directed six sold-out performing arts productions, managed operations and logistics for the Undergraduate Student Government’s Performing Arts Committee and the OWN IT Leadership Summit, and designed and built innovative escape rooms on campus. This past summer, she worked as a Development Intern at the internationally-acclaimed chamber music festival and institute, Music@Menlo. Outside of music, Madeline is also an avid enjoyer of mythology and folklore, theatre, crosswords, and guinea pigs.

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AWARDS AND HONORS

Recognition in Composition

2025

Ensemble for These Times (E4TT San Francisco, CA) - commissioned to write for E4TT, new piece programmed for premiere in January 2025

2024

Concertgebouw (Amsterdam) - composition programmed for performance in April 2024 by members of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Hearing in Color - 2024-25 Young Composer in Residence, commissioned to write for Music Institute of Chicago and La Caccina
Unitarian Universalist Church at Washington Crossing Chorale (Titusville, NJ) - Winner of UUCWC Chorale Commission, new piece programmed for premiere in March 2024
Ensemble for These Times (San Francisco, CA) - Winner of Call for Scores, composition performed at Center for New Music

2023

National YoungArts Competition - Merit Award Winner
Bergen International Festival (Bergen, Norway) - invited to compose and workshop a new piece for the festival
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's May Festival - commissioned to compose a choral work for the festival's 150th anniversary season

2022

Yellow Barn Young Artists Program - selected to study under Stephen Coxe
Lift Up Our Voices Scholarship - National Winner
Gonzaga Composition Competition - 1st Place Winner
American Composers Orchestra Next Festival of Emerging Artists EarShot Readings - Finalist
National Federation of Music Clubs (NFMC) Junior Composers National Contest - Incentive Award
Luna Lab Festival (New York, NY) - composition performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble
Foundation for Modern Music Robert Avalon International Competition for Composers (Houston, TX) - composition selected for performance at Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston (MATCH)
New Music on the Bluff Festival - Winner
- composition performed by Ken Aiso on KXLU-Los Angeles 88.9 FM radio
Tribeca New Music (TNM) Young Composer Competition -Honorable Mention
Tribeca New Music (TNM) Young Composer Competition -Emerging Composer
Penn State Ballora-Wang Young Composers Award -Finalist
National Federation of Music Clubs (NFMC) Junior Composers Western Region Contest - Winner
National Federation of Music Clubs (NFMC) Junior Composers State Contest - Winner

2021

Luna Composition Lab
- Bergen International Festival (Bergen, Norway) - composition performed by the BIT20 Ensemble, premiered alongside works by John Adams and Missy Mazzoli
- Luna Lab Festival (Los Angeles, CA) - composition performed by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO)
ICEBERG New Music Young Composer Scholarship Award - one of two national winners
Illinois Young Composer Contest - 1st Place Winner
New Music on the Bluff Festival - Winner
- composition performed by Sara Andon on KXLU-Los Angeles 88.9 FM radio
Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI) Young Artists Composition Program (YACP): awarded full scholarship to attend YACP as one of 10 students selected internationally
NPR's From the Top: Classical Music Podcast - Finalist
Salastina Sounds Promising - selected for mentorship by Derrick Skye
Sunset ChamberFest Young Composers Workshop: selected to study under Eric Pham
- Sunset ChamberFest Concert (Glendale, CA) - composition performed by Ken Aiso
National Federation of Music Clubs (NFMC) Junior Composers National Contest - Incentive Award
ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards - Finalist
Music Teachers' Association of California (MTAC)
- MTAC Young Composers Guild Award
- Young Composers Guild - selected as 2021-2025 member
Boston New Music Initiative (BNMI) Quarantune Snacks Festival - composition selected for performance by Dorisiya Yosifova of BNMI
National Federation of Music Clubs (NFMC) Junior Composers Western Region Contest - Winner
National Federation of Music Clubs (NFMC) Junior Composers State Contest - Winner

2020

National Federation of Music Clubs (NFMC) Junior Composers National Contest - 1st Place Winner
Luna Composition Lab Fellowship - mentored by Tamar Muskal as one of five National Fellows
- Luna Lab Festival (New York, NY) - composition selected for performance by Manhattan School of Music at Merkin Concert Hall, canceled due to COVID-19
Foundation for Modern Music Robert Avalon International Competition for Composers - 2nd Place Winner
American Beethoven Society (ABS) - selected as composition presenter for Beethoven 250 Convention, presentation postponed to April 2021 due to COVID-19
Golden Key Music Festival National Piano Composition Competition - 1st Place Winner
- Golden Key Music Festival World Composers Recital (Vienna, Austria) - composition selected for performance at Ehrbar Hall, canceled due to COVID-19
Community Music School (CMS) of Webster University Young Composer Competition - 2nd Place Winner
- CMS Young Composer Competition (St. Louis, MO) - performed by Chamber Project Saint Louis at CMS Concert Hall
American Composers Forum (ACF) NextNotes High School Music Creator Awards - Honorable Mention
Tribeca New Music (TNM) Young Composer Competition - Emerging Composer
National Federation of Music Clubs (NFMC) Junior Composers Western Region Contest - Winner
National Federation of Music Clubs (NFMC) Junior Composers State Contest - Winner
Music Teachers' Association of California (MTAC) Composers Today State Contest - 2nd Place
- MTAC State Convention Composers Today Winners Recital (Los Angeles, CA) - composition selected for performance at Hilton LA Airport, virtual convention due to COVID-19
U.S. Open Music Competition (USOMC) Own Composition Competition - 3rd Place Winner
ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards - Semi-finalist
Boston New Music Initiative (BNMI) Quarantune Snacks Festival (Boston, MA) - composition performed by Deirdre Viau of BNMI
Young Women Composers Camp (YWCC) - selected to study under Melissa Dunphy
- YWCC Concert - composition performed by Isabel Lepanto Gleicher of the International Contemporary Ensemble

2019

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign School of Music Illinois Young Composer Contest - 1st Place Winner
- Illinois Young Composer Contest (Urbana, IL) - selected for performance at Smith Recital Hall
Boston Conservatory at Berklee High School Composition Intensive (HSCI) - selected to study under Marti Epstein, Marc McAneny, and Kirsten Volness
- HSCI Concert - composition performed by the Julius Quartet at Ipswich 106
Sun Valley Music Festival Solo Recital (Sun Valley, ID) - composition performed at the Sun Valley Community School Theatre
University of Miami Frost School of Music with Ensemble Ibis International Composition Competition for Student Composers - Honorable Mention
National Federation of Music Clubs (NFMC) Junior Composers State Contest - 1st Place Winner
Music Teachers Association of California (MTAC) Composers Today State (CT) Contest - 2nd Place Winner
- MTAC State Convention CT Winners Recital (Santa Clara, CA) - composition performed at Hyatt Regency Santa Clara
Music Teachers' Association of California (MTAC) State Convention Symposium Recital (Santa Clara, CA) - selected for performance at Hyatt Regency Santa Clara
Ohlone College - composition selected for in-class use by tai chi Professor May Chen

2018

PianoTexas International Festival (Fort Worth, TX) - composition performed at PepsiCo Recital Hall

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