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ABOUT MADELINE

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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).

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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. Her compositions have also 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.

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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.

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At USC, Madeline has music directed five 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

2024

  • Concertgebouw (Amsterdam) - composition programmed for performance in April 2024 by members of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

  • 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

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2023

  • National YoungArts CompetitionMerit 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

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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

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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

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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 Competition3rd 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

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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 Contest1st 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

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2018

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

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