Wilma Machover Residency and Commission
In memory of Wilma Machover—beloved Hoff-Barthelson faculty member, pianist, colleague, and friend—the School established a contemporary music residency, composer commission, and student creative development fund. These initiatives honor Wilma’s vision and form signature components of the Music of Our Time Festival and Compose Yourself! Project, both of which she founded more than 30 years ago and which continue to thrive today.
Residency and Commission
Each year, in partnership with Copland House—a collaboration initiated in part by Wilma—Hoff-Barthelson engages an emerging composer to create a new work for a student chamber ensemble. Developed in close collaboration with the students, the work premieres at the Music of Our Time Festival. The Wilma Machover Fund provides generous support for the composer’s commission and honorarium.
Creative Development Fund
The Wilma Machover Creative Development Fund supports promising composition students at various stages of their growth, offering access to extraordinary learning experiences—such as visits to the MIT Media Lab, The Greene Space at WQXR, Carnegie Hall, Copland House, and New Music USA—and opportunities to observe how new music is created, performed, and shared. Students may also receive private lessons, mentoring sessions, or studio visits with leading composers, performers, producers, and music technologists. Recipients are selected by a panel of School leadership, composition faculty, and guest artists.
About Wilma Machover
Wilma’s teaching embraced both the classical canon and the full spectrum of contemporary music—electronic and acoustic, tonal and avant-garde—making creativity central to her pedagogy. She built a remarkable library of works for students of all abilities and, in 1989, launched the Music of Our Time Festival. Her commitment to contemporary music led to the creation of the Compose Yourself! Project, which continues to inspire students to write original works for performance at the Festival.
These programs are made possible through the generosity of Wilma’s family, friends, and students, ensuring that her legacy of innovation, collaboration, and artistic exploration lives on for generations to come. foundation of music instruction at the School.
