New England Philharmonic Announces Winner of 2026 Call for Scores Competition

BOSTON — The New England Philharmonic is one of only a few volunteer orchestras in the country with a Composer-in-Residence program and a Call for Scores competition, both initiated in 1985. For this year’s 41st annual Call for Scores, the NEP received dozens of submissions from composers across the globe. After careful review by Composer-in-Residence Carlos Carrillo, Music Director Tianhui Ng, and a committee of orchestra musicians, Aaron Israel Levin’s composition ten remarks on a city was selected as the winning work. The piece will be performed by the NEP in the 2026–27 season.

Aaron Israel Levin is an American composer whose music is guided by the emotional dynamism of storytelling and drama. Drawing on an eclectic range of influences, his work weaves fluidly between playful and somber, lyrical and gestural, tender and fierce. He has been commissioned and performed by the Aizuri Quartet, the American Composers Orchestra, Eighth Blackbird Creative Lab, Onix Ensamble, Sputter Box, and the Historical Keyboard Society of North America. His music has been recognized by the American Academy of Arts & Letters, the Aspen Music Festival & School, and the Cortona Prize, and he has held residencies at MacDowell and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.

Originally from St. Paul, Minnesota, Levin is a graduate of Grinnell College (BA) and the Yale School of Music (MM), where he is currently pursuing his DMA. He serves as the 2024–26 Vanguard Composer-in-Residence with Chicago Opera Theater. Reflecting on the honor, Levin shared: “I’m truly honored and humbled to have been selected. I have been a big fan of NEP’s programming for a long time, and I’m really looking forward to collaborating with them.”