Bridges - Soundstreams

Bridges: Emerging Composers Program

Program Dates: March 15 – March 22, 2026
Visiting Mentor: Zosha Di Castri and Cassandra Miller
Resident Ensemble: Quatuor Bozzini
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Applications are now closed. Thank you to everyone who applied.

Soundstreams’ Bridges: Emerging Composers Program is an annual week-long tuition-free program that brings together celebrated mentors, a professional resident ensemble, and six emerging composers from around the world to each develop and premiere a new work, presented as part of Soundstreams’ main stage concert series in Toronto, ON.

This year we are pleased to announce Zosha Di Castri and Cassandra Miller as our visiting mentors and Quatuor Bozzini as our resident ensemble. Previous Bridges visiting mentor composers have included: Unsuk Chin, Paul Grabowsky, Chris Paul Harman, Tarik O’Regan, Steve Reich, Kaija Saariaho, and R. Murray Schafer.

Each participant will receive a $1,000 honorarium and free accommodation in Toronto for the duration of the workshop. Travel expenses to and from Toronto are the responsibility of the participants.

2024 Emerging Composer Cohort — 2024 Bridges composers
with mentors Paul Grabowsky & André Ristic

2024 Bridges composers
with mentors Paul Grabowsky & André Ristic

The workshop week includes seminars, networking events, rehearsals, 1-1 mentorship sessions, and professional development activities that foster new connections, artistic development, and lifelong career building.

The 2026 edition of Soundstreams’ Bridges Emerging Composers Program will feature Cassandra Miller and Zosha Di Castri as our mentor-composers-in-residence. Invited participants will write a short piece (5-minutes maximum) for our 2026 Bridges Resident Ensemble, string quartet, Quatuor Bozzini. Compositions must be written for an acoustic performance, and for the instrumentation of the string quartet (violin, violin, viola, cello). Works with additional instruments, electronics, or additional production requirements will not be considered.

The Bridges Composers works will be premiered in Soundstream’s mainstage concert Quatuor Bozzini: With Strings Attached, presented on March 21st, 2026, at the Jane Mallett Theatre, Toronto ON.

ABOUT THE MENTORS:

Zosha Di Castri, a Canadian “composer of riotously inventive works” (The New Yorker), currently lives in New York. Her music has been performed across Canada, the United States, South America, Asia, and Europe and extends beyond purely concert music, including projects with electronics, sound arts, and collaborations with video and dance that encourage audiences to feel “compelled to return for repeated doses” (The Arts Desk). She is currently the Francis Goelet Associate Professor of Music at Columbia University. [Read More…]

Dr Cassandra Miller is a Canadian-British composer living in London, UK. Her works are published by Faber Music. Her composition methods incorporate a unique practice of meditation-based uncontrolled singing to learn about melody and repetition from a deep-tissue perspective. She uses these vocal exercises together with creative transcription processes to transform pre-existing musical sources (from both within and outside the classical tradition), to magnify their expressive, personal, or fragile qualities. [Read More…]

ABOUT THE RESIDENT ENSEMBLE: QUATUOR BOZZINI

Quatuor Bozzini has been an original voice and strong advocate in new, experimental and classical music since 1999. Driving the hyper-creative Montréal scene and beyond, the quartet cultivates an ethos of risk-taking, experimentation, and collaboration, venturing boldly off the beaten track. With a rigorous eye for quality, it has nurtured a rich and diverse repertoire, regardless of trends, and leading to a great number of commissions and some 500 premiered works. Its open, collaborative, artist-led approach has resulted in the realization of numerous innovative and highly praised productions, including inter-disciplinary projects with video, theater and dance.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

Eligible applicants must self-identify as “emerging.” To help determine if you fit into this category, consider whether one or more of the following statements apply to you:

You are currently studying, or recently graduated from, a related post-graduate degree/program or other formal training.
You devote 24 hours a week or more to the pursuit of your art.
You are not yet recognized as “established” by your peers.
You have not yet had a major commission or presentation opportunity (or very few).
Those who have previously participated in the program are not eligible to apply.

Selected participants must be available to attend all workshop dates in Toronto, Canada from March 15- 22, 2026.

The program is open to applicants from Canada and internationally. International participants are responsible for obtaining the required visa to travel to Canada. All travel expenses are the responsibility of the participant. Accommodation is provided free of charge to participants.

We welcome applications from composers of all backgrounds and musical traditions. The Workshop depends on participants’ ability to use musical notation; however, if musical notation is not part of your practice, we may be able to consider ways to accommodate your needs if this has been identified at the time of application.

Please note that the Workshop is delivered in English.

ABOUT BRIDGES EMERGING COMPOSERS PROGRAM

Bridges is an annual week-long tuition-free program that brings together celebrated composer-mentors, a professional resident ensemble, and six emerging composers chosen through a competition. Composers selected to participate are given the opportunity to develop and premiere a short new work for a professional resident ensemble with mentorship from a distinguished visiting composer.

The program also includes professional development workshops on subjects including publishing, commissioning, approaching artistic directors/producers with your music, and making a living as a composer. Initiated in 2013, Bridges visiting mentor composers have included: R. Murray Schafer, Unsuk Chin, Steve Reich, Kaija Saariaho, and Chris Paul Harman, Paul Grabowsky, and André Ristic. Resident ensembles have included the Gryphon Trio, the Ralston String Quartet and TORQ.

ANTI-RACISM, ACCESS AND EQUITY AT SOUNDSTREAMS

At Soundstreams we recognize that barriers to services exist for members of diverse communities, particularly for equity seeking groups, and we are committed to acting as a positive force in eliminating these barriers.

To achieve this, Soundstreams will:

ensure that diverse communities have equitable access to its services, resources and decision making.
be non-discriminatory and promote the goals of antiracism, access, and equity; and
take reasonable steps to ensure its services, programs and decision making reflect the community it serves

Soundstreams is committed to maintaining an environment where all individuals are treated with dignity and respect and are free from all forms of discriminatory treatment, behaviour or practice.

Applicants may choose to disclose any accessibility needs or concerns related to applying and/or attending the Workshop. Soundstreams will endeavour to support accessibility needs wherever possible.