ENCOURAGING CREATIVITY: Ken Guilmartin led a group of budding musicians at a recent Young Composers Project workshop held at Music Together in Hopewell. (Photo by Carole Moore)

Voices Chorale NJ’s (VCNJ) Young Composers Project held its annual concert last week at Music Together in Hopewell. Twelve budding composers, aged 6 to 11, premiered their original pieces.

This program reflects VCNJ’s core mission of providing music education and community engagement, offering an opportunity for children in grades K-7 to create compositions, develop them in workshops, and receive mentoring from local composers.

This year, composer and producer Ken Guilmartin, founder and artistic director of Music Together, collaborated with Helen Linz to bring the young musicians’ creations to life. Their compositions spanned a wide range of themes: from nature and animals (such as spring, seahorses, rain, and rabbits) to weightier topics like love, war, power, hopes, and dreams.

Among the whimsical arrangements was a piece titled “Your Soda Can is Almost Empty” and an ode dedicated to Lionel Messi, the Argentine soccer player. An ensemble of over 20 Voices Chorale singers provided accompaniment for most of the performances, complemented by a variety of instruments including piano, drums, cello, and glockenspiels. After a shy 6-year-old bravely sang his composition “It’s Time to Play in the Rain” on his own, Guilmartin then encouraged Voices Chorale and the entire audience to accompany him for an encore that brought down the house.

The Young Composers Project is set to reconvene in the 2024-2025 academic year. Voices Chorale NJ, a nonprofit, member-run, auditioned chorus based in Hopewell, includes singers from New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Visit voiceschoralenj.org for more information.