Since the LA Phil’s Composer Fellowship program was established in 2018, it has been a magnet for students from the Community School of Performing Arts. Samantha Adams-Blanco (Community School ’24) reflects on her experience in the program and how it developed her musical point of view.
As a cellist, every time Samantha Adams-Blanco draws her bow across the strings, she brings notes etched onto musical manuscripts to life. She never envisioned being the one to put those notes to paper. That is, until she began to explore composition. Adams-Blanco is one of numerous Colburn students to explore their talents and musical point of view as part of the LA Phil’s Composer Fellowship program over the past eight years.
Founded by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Steven Stucky and administered by Program Director Andrew Norman and Teaching Artist Daniel Allas, the fellowship offers high school-aged students a tuition-free opportunity to express themselves through the process and production of creating original music.
While attending Colburn Community School of Performing Arts, Adams-Blanco started to explore the idea of writing music. “I had written a piece for a dance that was for solo cello,” she recalls. “My friend saw it and thought that I might be interested in the program, so I applied with that piece.”
She also submitted a video of a Colburn performance for the Fellowship application and was selected for the two-year program, which follows a traditional school calendar. Adams-Blanco attended from 2022–24. During her first year, she concentrated on orchestration. The next year, she composed a piece titled Limina. However, the experience entailed more than writing a melody and coming up with chord changes. Each fellow’s piece is performed by members of the LA Philharmonic, chamber groups, or other orchestras, including reading sessions with the musicians. They also attend more than 20 concerts and interact with many guest artists and contemporary composers.
“Once your piece was read through, you had a short amount of time to give comments, but that was the really difficult part of it,” says Adams-Blanco. “You spent so long …thinking about how it would sound like, and there would always be things that could be better. … You have to think what would be the most critical feedback that could take it to where you want it to be.
“I always found it really difficult to give those comments, to think about and hear my own music, but when I look back, I think it was an extremely valuable experience,” she said.
Now studying at the San Francisco Conservatory, Adams-Blanco incorporates many of the skills and lessons she gained in the fellowship while advancing her musicianship as a cellist.
“I think being in the program really encouraged me to be curious about all aspects of life and art,” she says. “It taught me how to look through another lens to critically analyze music.”
Fellowship Roster
From cello to horn, piano to trombone, flute to Jazz Workshop, a variety of talented Colburn School students have enhanced their musical education through the LA Phil Composer Fellowship Program.
2024–25 Emma Siebenaler, Cello Chloe Kirk, Piano and Cello Charlie Cohn, Jazz Piano
2023–24 Samantha Adams-Blanco, Cello Alexis Cai, Flute Bryan Chiu, Horn
2022–23 Samantha Adams-Blanco, Cello Bryan Chiu, Horn
2021–22 Norah Fong, Cello
2020–21 Elijah Alexander, Trombone Norah Fong, Cello Joey Karz, Piano
2019–20 Elijah Alexander, Trombone Stanford Fram, Piano Micangelo Ferrante, Composition William Jae, Piano Joey Karz, Piano Apsara Kasiraman, Piano and Violin Leo Major, jazz workshop
2018–19 Apsara Kasiraman, Piano and Violin Leo Major, Jazz Workshop