BMI Congratulates its 74th Annual BMI Composer Award Winners

L-R: 2026 Winner Calvin Rice, 2026 Winner Jacky Jiaqi Liu, BMI AVP, Creative - Classical and Jazz Deirdre Chadwick, 2026 Winner Jackson A. Waters, 2026 Winner Cheryl Gau, 2026 Winner Cole Reyes, 2026 Winner Kevin Cromer, 2026 Winner Maya Miro Johnson, BMI Foundation Senior Director Susan Bywaters attend the 2026 BMI Composer Awards at Joe's Pub on Mary 27, 2026. Photo: Brian Berson for BMI.

BMI and the BMI Foundation were excited to announce the recipients of the 74th Annual BMI Composer Awards on May 27 at Joe's Pub in New York City. The awards, which celebrate excellence in composition, were presented to seven emerging composers by BMI Foundation President and BMI AVP Creative, Classical & Jazz Deirdre Chadwick, BMI Chief Executive Officer, Mike O'Neill, and BMI Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue and Creative Officer Michael Steinberg.

Thanks to a recent gift to the Foundation from Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Adams, as well as other donors, total awarded funds in 2026 exceeded $30,000, over $10,000 more than in previous years.

The 2026 award winners are:

• Kevin Cromer - Age 22, student of Susan Botti
• Cheryl Gau - Recipient of the Carlos Surinach Award for the youngest winner of the competition - Age 13, student of Alan Belkin
• Maya Miro Johnson - Recipient of the Ellen Taaffe Zwilich Award - Age 24, student of Katherine Balch
• Jacky Jiaqi Liu - Recipient of the John Adams Award - Age 23, student of Melinda Wagner and John Corigliano
• Cole Reyes - Age 27, student of Michael Daugherty and Julia Wolfe
• Calvin Rice - Age 21, student of Robert Kyr and David Crumb
• Jackson A. Waters - Age 24, student of Julia Wolfe and Shelley Washington

As a result of the partnership between BMI Foundation and ensembles American Composers Orchestra (ACO) and International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) announced in 2025, two BMI Composer Award recipients will also have their award-winning compositions performed in an upcoming concert. The selected works for this year's performances, announced at Wednesday's celebration, were [un]aspirated by Maya Miro Johnson, which will be performed at an American Composers Orchestra EarShot Reading; and Mindcrank-Dancebreak by Calvin Rice, which will be performed at an International Contemporary Ensemble concert.

The evening also featured a performance of excerpts from Alan W. Mackwell's 2025 BMI Composer Award winning score Rail Dynamics by violinist Christopher Otto, violist David Fulmer, and cellist Michael Nicolas.

The BMI Composer Awards recognize superior ability in music composition with annual awards totaling over $30,000. This year, nearly 650 applications were submitted to the competition from young composers around the world, and all works were judged anonymously. Preliminary judges for the 2026 awards included composers Jennifer Jolley, Daniel Temkin, and Alyssa Weinberg; final judges were Katherine Balch, Richard Carrick, and Elena Ruehr. BMI, in collaboration with the BMI Foundation, has awarded over 600 grants to young composers throughout the history of the competition.