2026 - 2027 COMPOSERs-IN-RESIDENCE
San Francisco Girls Chorus is proud to partner with Luna Composition Lab this season as part of Luna Lab@10, the organization's milestone tenth-anniversary celebration. Founded in 2016 by composers Missy Mazzoli and Ellen Reid, Luna Composition Lab is the nation's only initiative of its kind dedicated to closing the gender gap in music composition, offering mentorship, performance opportunities, and a sustained professional community to young female, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming composers ages 13–18. Through its signature fellowship, Luna Lab pairs emerging composers with acclaimed mentors for a year of one-on-one guidance, culminating in newly commissioned works performed by leading ensembles across the country. SFGC is honored to help carry that mission forward by presenting works from Luna Lab fellows Haeon Lee and Joanna Moutouama as part of its 2026–27 Season, giving these rising voices a platform as SFGC's Composers in Residence and continuing the Chorus's commitment to championing new and inclusive music.
Haeon Lee
19 year old is a composer and pianist from New York City currently studying at Princeton University. Inspired by colors, numbers, patterns, and wordplay, she writes music that is at once conversational and highly structured. Her work has been recognized by NPR’s From the Top, MATA Jr., ASCAP, YoungArts, Tribeca New Music, and the American Prize, among others. She studied composition with Manuel Sosa at Juilliard Pre-College and was a fellow at composition programs such as Luna Composition Lab, New York Youth Symphony, and Boston University Tanglewood Institute. Her recent commissions have included Kronos Quartet, New York Philharmonic, and Sō Percussion.
Joanna Moutouama (she/her)
A Vancouver-based composer originally from Oklahoma, who loves multi-faceted music projects. After receiving her Bachelors degree in music composition from Rice University, she has become deeply curious about how she can incorporate elements like electronics, movement, video, or lighting with music to create compositions that are interesting on both the auditory and visual levels. Joanna also strives to make her compositional projects or performances contain some type of connection to a local community or person, and she loves finding ways to interconnect her work to topics or fields outside of music.
ABOUT THE COMPOSER-IN-RESIDENCE PROGRAM
The San Francisco Girls Chorus Composer-in-Residence program gives our young singers a chance to learn more about the process of creating new music. Collaborating with modern composers, gives our members access to fresh, contemporary perspectives on the world through music. During the year-long residency, the Composer visits rehearsals, meets with Level Directors, and creates a new work expressly for SFGC, engaging each group at their own musical level, reaching out to musical minds spanning a broad age range. As The excellent training of our members gives the composer dynamic possibilities in composing for young girls' voices, finding new and colorful ways to bring this unique instrument into the broader musical life of the San Francisco Bay Area.