Message from Seth Brenzel,
Executive Director
Dear Walden friends,
Happy Halloween!
Fall is here, and our 2025 season officially came to an end on September 30 with the close of Walden’s fiscal year. We are so grateful to the more than 400 individuals, families, foundations, and corporations who collectively contributed more than $428,800 to Walden’s 2025 Annual Fund!
Thanks to your generosity, we met and exceeded our 2025 Annual Fund goal of $410,000. The Annual Fund is Walden’s lifeblood, supporting innovative pedagogy, inspiring artist residencies, and critical scholarships that broaden access to our programs, year after year.
Thank you, donors, for your incredible support!
In this edition of InterNetzo, you’ll find highlights from Halloween in July at Walden, an invitation to a special Walden reception in New York City on November 16, opportunities for composers, and lots more news and updates from around the Walden community.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a spooky Halloween!
Sincerely,
Seth Brenzel
Executive Director
(603) 563-8212
Happy Halloween . . . in October!
One of our newer traditions at Walden’s Young Musicians Program (YMP) is Halloween in July—a spooktacular day featuring a DIY haunted house with various creepy, fun, and music-nerdy rooms in which students can go trick-or-treating. These photos show some highlights from Halloween in July at Walden this past summer.
Haunted attractions included: The Room of Sounds Disorganized in Time, the Room of Endless Ads, the Room of Accelerated Time, the Room of Synchronized Luminance, the Eldritch Horrors Jazz Club, and the Sad Clown Bear’s Haunted Forest.
Read more about the origins of this tradition from Kittie Cooper, a YMP faculty member and the originator of Halloween in July. And have a happy Halloween in October!
Upcoming Community Events
Join us on Sunday, November 16, for the New York Philharmonic premiere of a new work by Caroline Mallonee!
Composer Caroline Mallonee is a Walden School alum, faculty member, and the director of Walden’s Creative Musicians Retreat. Her orchestral work Lakeside Game will be premiered by the New York Philharmonic in a series of concerts this November 13 through 16 at David Geffen Hall in Lincoln Center.
The composition was co-commissioned by the New York Philharmonic as part of Project 19, and it will be performed alongside works by Stravinsky and Wynton Marsalis.
A group of Walden alumni, staff, board members, families, and friends will be attending the New York Philharmonic concert on Sunday, November 16, at 2 pm. Walden has organized a group ticket purchase for the performance. If you would like to purchase discounted tickets through Walden, please let us know as soon as possible, as the order is close to being finalized.
After the concert, we’ll gather for an informal reception at a restaurant near Lincoln Center. You do not need to attend the concert to join us for the reception. If you have not yet been in touch, please let us know if you are planning to attend the reception, which will start at approximately 4:30 pm on Sunday, November 16.
RSVP for the November 16 Concert / Reception
Walden Holiday Parties
The holiday season is just around the corner! Walden community members will be gathering for holiday potlucks in cities throughout the country in December and January. Look for an email announcement of dates and cities soon. If you are interested in hosting a party in your area, or if you want to learn more about these upcoming gatherings, please write to us. We are so grateful to the many volunteers who have hosted Walden holiday parties over the years.
Volunteer to Host a Walden Holiday Party
Fundraising Events
A Walden Celebration and Fundraiser in San Francisco
Walden held a fabulous end-of-season celebration and fundraiser on Sunday, September 28, in the dazzling Green Room at San Francisco’s War Memorial. We are so grateful to our host committee and all of our event donors, who contributed $16,910 to Walden!
We enjoyed a dynamic, thoughtfully curated recital by Pedja Mužijević, a renowned pianist and former Walden School faculty member, who shared selections ranging from C.P.E. Bach and Robert Schumann to John Cage and Philip Glass, as well as a composition written this past summer by Sebastien Nothias, a student at Walden’s Young Musicians Program (YMP).
Above left: Charles Cecil, David Conte, and Juli Anna Johnson; right: Stephen Smith with the youngest event attendees
We are grateful to David Conte, a past Composer-in-Residence at Walden, and Corty Fengler, a former Walden Board member, who spoke movingly about Walden’s life-changing creative music programs and expressed gratitude to the many donors who help our organization thrive. Thanks also to Walden Board member Stephen Smith and Cultivar Wine for arranging a generous donation of wine for the event.
Thank you to our host committee: Erika and Andrew Bell, Seth Brenzel and Malcolm Gaines, David Conte, Corty Fengler, Juli Anna Johnson and Charles Cecil, Noah Mlotek, Stephen Smith, Mary Szczepanik and Matt Agard.
Save the Date – Saturday, March 14, 2026, in Los Angeles!
We are thrilled to be coming to Los Angeles for a fundraiser and celebration in the evening on Saturday, March 14, 2026. Please save the date and plan to join us!
Support Walden Today
Staff Transition
We recently bade farewell to Ellie Murphy-Weise, who worked at Walden for one year as our stalwart Development Assistant. While we were sad to see her go, we are grateful for Ellie’s many contributions to Walden and excited for her next steps.
Ellie shared the following update:
I’m a month in to postgraduate studies in opera musicology at King’s College London and very much enjoying being in school within a stone’s throw of both of London’s opera houses! I’m taking the music research methods class and modules in 19th century sound objects and Latin American musical subcultures. I’ve also gotten to see a few productions at English National Opera and Welsh National Opera, and am visiting Oxford for its annual lieder festival this weekend. Sending all my love to the Walden community!
Walden is hiring for a Part-Time Development Assistant to join our dynamic, fun, and collegial San Francisco-based administrative team. The Development Assistant will play a crucial role in supporting and enhancing Walden’s fundraising efforts. This position offers an exciting opportunity to contribute to Walden’s growth and sustainability while gaining valuable experience in the field of nonprofit development.
Please help us spread the word about this exciting opportunity! View the full job description here.
Please direct any questions and inquiries to us at jobs@waldenschool.org.
Opportunities for Composers
Did you know that Walden hosts a continually updated webpage of competitions, awards, and calls for scores? Please let us know of additional opportunities that may be of interest to the Walden community.
Here are featured opportunities with upcoming deadlines:
RED NOTE New Music Festival Composition Competition
The RED NOTE New Music Festival Composition Competition, at Illinois State University, is an annual competition open to all composers, regardless of age or nationality. The composer of the winning piece in each category receives a $1,000 prize and a performance at the RED NOTE New Music Festival. In 2026, composers are invited to submit works for chamber ensemble (any combination of 1-16 vocalists or instrumentalist) or wind ensemble (minimum 8 players). Apply by November 1.
Capella Clausura Emerging Composers Commission Competition
Cappella Clausura seeks applications from emerging composers in the greater Boston area who identify as women, transgender, or gender nonbinary. To apply, submit 2-3 work samples and a proposal for a new 3-6 minute work for a capella chorus (any subset of twelve singers, 3xSATB). Winners will receive a $300 honorarium and a professional-grade performance of their piece. Winners can expect to be involved in the planning and rehearsal process for the performances. Apply by November 9.
BMI Foundation Awards
Emerging composers are invited to apply for BMI Foundation Awards, including the BMI Composers Award (classical composers under 28 years old), BMI Future Jazz Master Award (jazz composers and performers ages 17-24), Chris Trousdale Dream Awards (performers and songwriters in 11th and 12th grade), peermusic Latin Music Award (for songwriters and composers of Latin music ages 17-24), John Lennon Award (songwriters and composers ages 17-24), Dolly Parton Songwriters Award (emerging songwriters ages 17-24), Kavi Ohri Memorial Scholarship (for seniors in high school in one of the five boroughs of New York City planning to attend college majoring in music or music business), and Pete Carpenter Fellowships (aspiring film, television, and video game composers ages 21 and above). Apply by January 15.
Community News
Luna Lab Announces 2025-26 Fellows
Luna Composition Lab provides mentorship, education, and resources for young female, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming composers ages 13-18, including fellowships through which recipients work with an acclaimed composer mentor and compose a new work for a professional premiere. This year’s Luna Lab Fellows have been announced, including Walden Young Musicians Program (YMP) alumni Andromeda Wen (2025-26 Fellow; pictured at left) and Amelie Wright (Honorable Mention). Walden extends heartfelt congratulations to Andromeda, Amelie, and all of the young composers honored by the Luna Lab Fellowship!
In further news from Walden alumni at Luna Lab, Danity Pike, a YMP alum and a 2024-25 Luna Lab Fellow, is the recipient of the 2025 G. Schirmer Prize for Luna Composition Lab for her piece just like the dolls, which was premiered in June by International Contemporary Ensemble.
Luna Lab will also present a virtual master class with violinist, vocalist, and composer Mazz Swift, a past Walden visiting artist, on Monday, November 17.
Leah Reid Receives Barlow Prize 
YMP alum Leah Reid is one of ten composers to win a 2025 Barlow Endowment Commission, granted by the Barlow Endowment of Brigham Young University. Leah’s commissioned work is for Grossman Ensemble, ensemble-in-residence of the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition. Congratulations to Leah!
Past recipients of Barlow Endowment Commissions have included Walden alumni Stacy Garrop and Sky Macklay, Walden faculty members Katherine Balch and Sam Pluta, and past Walden Composers-in-Residence Amy Beth Kirsten, Chen Yi, and James Mobberley, who is also a past Walden Board member.
Elise Grant’s Music Performed by Hilary Kole
Composer and Creative Musicians Retreat (CMR) alum Elise Grant, a resident of Dublin, New Hampshire—Walden’s summer home—recently presented a pair of concerts featuring her own compositions. The program included Monadnock, a dramatic setting for voice and piano of a poem by the Rev. William Boum Oliver Peabody about the iconic mountain that overlooks Dublin. The work was first performed at a 2024 CMR Composers Forum by Hilary Kole (pictured at left), a Walden alum and faculty member, and Hilary returned to Dublin to reprise it for this occasion.
Nicolás Benavides releases debut album 
Nicolás Lell Benavides, a CMR and Teacher Training Institute (TTI) alum, released his debut album, Canto Caló, on October 10. The album includes two extended works honoring the composer’s New Mexico family heritage, Canto Caló and El Correcaminos. The album’s performers are mezzo-soprano Melinda Martinez Becker (a fellow TTI alum) and Friction Quartet, which was in residence at Walden for the 2024 Faculty Commissioning Project at YMP.
In August, Benavides’ opera Dolores, set during the 1968 grape pickers’ strike in California, was premiered by West Edge Opera in San Francisco. The opera’s titular character is Dolores Huerta, an important labor advocate. Huerta, who is 95 years old, attended the opera’s premiere. The opera is receiving further performances by Opera Southwest in Alburquerque, New Mexico. In celebration, Albuquerque mayor Tim Keller declared October 26 as Nicolás Lell Benavides Day. Congratulations, Nicolás!
Ear Taxi Festival features Walden artists
Ear Taxi Festival, running from October 3 through November 2, is a month-long festival of contemporary composition, presenting concerts, presentations, professional development events, and more at venues across Chicago and in Evanston, Illinois. Just a few of the Walden visiting artists, alumni, and faculty featured this month at Ear Taxi include Kyle Flens and Mabel Kwan with Ensemble Dal Niente, Kate Soper, Stacy Garrop, Marcos Balter, and Osnat Netzer!
Shawn Crouch wins American Prize for Opera
YMP alum and former Walden faculty member Shawn Crouch has won a 2025 American Prize in Composition— Thomas Putsché Award, for his opera Stained Glass. Congratulations to Shawn! Also this month on October 4, Shawn conducted Ensemble Ibis at the University of Miami on a program including music by past YMP faculty member Daniel Felsenfeld and by Marcos Balter, who has been Composer-in-Residence at both of Walden’s programs.
Zoe Yost performs Bartók Viola Concerto
In September’s InterNetzo, we shared the news that violist Zoe Yost, a CMR alum, won the 2025 concerto competition at San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM), where she studies viola and composition. On October 3, she performed Bela Bartók’s Viola Concerto as part of the Concerto Competition Winners Concert with the SFCM Orchestra, conducted by Kedrick Armstrong, Music Director of the Oakland Symphony. Among the attendees were fellow CMR alumni Sina Karachiani and Stephen Woltosz, along with Noah Mlotek, Walden’s Director of Development and Alumni Relations, who reports that Zoe delivered a stunning performance. Congratulations, Zoe!
Zoe Fong celebrates wedding
YMP alum Zoe Fong married her husband, Tanner McNamara, on September 6, at Harding Waterfront Estate near Toronto, Ontario, where the couple lives. At the wedding, Joshua Fath (known to the Walden community as Joshua Clampitt), a fellow YMP alum, arranged and performed music specially chosen by Zoe, including Spiegel im Spiegel by Arvo Pärt for the wedding party processional, The Swan by Camille Saint-Saëns for the bridal processional, and Married Life by Michael Giacchino for the recessional. Zoe was also in attendance at Joshua’s wedding to Caleb Fath in 2023. Zoe writes, “Celebrating each other’s milestones, such as his wedding in 2023 and my recent wedding, after growing up and going through so much together, was very special! We’re grateful to Walden for being such an important part of our lives, both musically and emotionally, and for strengthening our friendship.” Congratulations, Zoe!
Pictured above: Zoe Fong and Joshua Fath (photo courtesy of Zoe Fong)
Walden artists featured on Talea Ensemble programs
Talea Ensemble, a New York City-based contemporary music group, is presenting a series called Talea Sequenze, a set of concerts that feature Talea musicians curating and performing programs inspired by Luciano Berio’s Sequenzas. As part of the series, on October 28, pianist Steve Beck (a past Walden visiting artist) performed the world premiere of Novella, a new work by Walden alum and faculty member Loretta Notareschi, alongside several works by Berio.
On November 21, Talea will perform Born Obbligato by George Lewis, a past Composer-in-Residence at both of Walden’s programs, alongside Pierre Boulez’s Dérive II.
Pictured above: Loretta Notareschi
We Want To Hear From You!
If you have a recent or upcoming premiere or concert, publication, award, new job, or a celebratory life event, please share your news, which needn’t be music-related (although we love your music-related news to be sure!). Email your news to alumni@waldenschool.org.
Stay in Touch
You can like The Walden School page on Facebook and join The Walden School private group to hear about events and opportunities throughout the year. You can also find us on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, bandcamp, and at waldenschool.org.
