The New York Youth Symphony’s Musical Theater Songwriting Program is specially designed to lead students between the ages of 12 to 22 through a range of musical theater songwriting processes. Whether their background is as a classical composer, singer-songwriter, performer, writer, or some cool hyphenate, this program will provide students with the opportunity to both study the fundamentals of musical theater songwriting and take artistic risks. Led by Director Anna Jacobs, weekly sessions will feature seminars, workshops, and masterclasses with some of Broadway’s most distinguished composers, writers, performers, musicians, producers, directors, and designers. Throughout the year, students will also have the unique opportunity to workshop new material with performers from the Harlem School of the Arts and New York Film Academy, as well as a Broadway pit band.
The Musical Theater Songwriting Program will meet weekly on Tuesdays between 5-8pm at the NYYS offices, located at 110 West 40th Street, New York, NY.
Past MTS seasons have featured as guest lecturers many of Broadway’s most acclaimed artists, including Stephen Flaherty (Ragtime; Once on this Island), Jeanine Tesori (Fun Home; Jagged Little Pill), Michael R. Jackson (A Strange Loop), Alex Lacamoire (Hamilton; Dear Evan Hansen), Tom Kitt (Next To Normal; Jagged Little Pill), David Yazbek (The Band’s Visit; Tootsie), and Helen Park (K-POP; Over the Moon).
Sharing of student works will take place throughout the year and culminate in a public performance at one of NYC’s iconic cabaret venues, Joe’s Pub in May, 2023.
By the end of the season, students in the Musical Theater Songwriting program will:
Applicants should review the guidelines on this page to ensure they can fulfill the commitment to the program before applying.
Musical theater songwriting interviews will be held on October 7th and 8th at the NYYS offices at 110 West 40th Street, New York, NY. Upon completing the online application, you will receive a confirmation email with a link to schedule your interview online as well as the supplemental form, which must be completed no later than 5PM on October 6th. All interviews will be held in-person, however, if you are not in the NYC area at the time of the interviews, please contact the NYYS office to schedule a virtual audition, which will be granted on a limited basis.
New York Youth Symphony serves students between the ages of 12 and 22. In order to participate in the 2022/2023 season, the applicant's birth date must be no earlier than May 28, 2000 and no later than November 20, 2010, inclusive. Please do not apply if your birth date falls outside of these dates as you will not be eligible for the program and we are not able to refund your application fee.
Students are required to be vaccinated and boosted with an FDA-authorized vaccine to participate in our programs.
Interviews are 15 minutes long, and at your interview, you will meet with the Director and the Assistant Director of the Musical Theater Songwriting Program. Each applicant will be asked about the materials they submitted as part of their supplemental form, and as well as their reasons for applying to the MTS program.
As part of your application, you will be asked to attach two (2) original work samples in the MTS supplemental form. Your work samples can belong to any of the following categories: an original song (attach mp3 recording), an original composition (attach mp3 recording), an original lyric (attach as PDF), an original poem (attach as PDF), an original scene from a script (attach as PDF). You can include two work samples from the same category. If possible, please select samples that illustrate both your skill and range as a young artist. If you do not have two existing samples you can include, we encourage you to create new ones for your application.
The Musical Theater Songwriting Program will meet weekly on Tuesdays between 5-8pm at the NYYS offices, located at 110 West 40th Street, New York, NY.
Past MTS seasons have featured as guest lecturers many of Broadway's most acclaimed artists, including Stephen Flaherty (Ragtime; Once on this Island), Jeanine Tesori (Fun Home; Jagged Little Pill), Michael R. Jackson (A Strange Loop), Alex Lacamoire (Hamilton; Dear Evan Hansen), Tom Kitt (Next To Normal; Jagged Little Pill), David Yazbek (The Band's Visit; Tootsie), and Helen Park (K-POP; Over the Moon).
Sharing of student works will take place throughout the year and culminate in a public performance at one of NYC's iconic cabaret venues, Joe's Pub in May, 2023.
Donate today and help support our students continue their journey and become a part of our community of musicians and change the landscape of what the musical world look like today.
DonateExperience all the hard work, practice and rehearsals that our students take on and show up to see them perform at one of our many concerts throughout the season.
Get TicketsTake the plunge and give yourself an opportunity to become a part of our amazing community of musicians, songwriters, composers and conductors.
Enroll Today