The Nannerl Fund
The American Maestra Fellowship for Young Composers
“The Nannerl* Fund”
Confronting history. Changing the future.
A private philanthropic initiative fully funding three young female composers annually in the Tucson Symphony Orchestra Young Composers Project, built in proud community partnership with the Tucson Girls Chorus.
Our Mission in Action
To turn structural critique into local opportunity, this fellowship completely eliminates financial barriers for three young musical artists each academic year. Rather than asking institutions to audit their current rosters, we actively recruit talent from local youth organizations to expand the classical pipeline. We provide 100% tuition funding across all three tiers of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra Young Composers Project (YCP):
The Beginning Tier Fellowship: Full annual tuition coverage for a first-year student discovering the fundamentals of orchestration.
The Intermediate Tier Fellowship: Full annual tuition coverage for a returning student expanding their harmonic and structural skills.
The Advanced Tier Fellowship: Full annual tuition coverage for an advanced student preparing an original score for full orchestral reading.
How to Enter the Pipeline
Eligibility: This fellowship is dedicated to supporting girls** between the ages of 8 and 18 residing in Southern Arizona.
The Process: Students apply directly to the TSO Young Composers Project through the symphony’s standard application process. On the financial aid or comments section of the application, simply input: “Applying via The American Maestra Fellowship/The Nannerl Fund.”
Selection & Privacy: To respect student privacy, candidates are evaluated independently by the TSO staff based on standard program entry requirements. Once accepted, tuition invoices are routed directly to our fund for settlement. Please be sure to enter The Nannerl Fund or American Maestra on your application.
Why This Fellowship Exists: Equality Interrupted
Last year, I sat through three days of incredible concerts at the Tucson Symphony Young Composer Project. The music was beautiful, but the stage revealed an alarming reality: not a single piece was written by a girl.
In the 18th century, systemic misogyny and racial barriers silenced brilliant women from claiming their place as classical composers. Decades ago, as a teenager, I felt that same lack of imagination and opportunity, only now bringing my own childhood and teenage musical ideas to life at 44. But seeing an empty stage today proves that the historical excision of female genius is not just a thing of the past. It is happening right now, in our own community.
Too often, modern frameworks pigeonhole the female experience. Our creative work reopens the expanded
identity of girlhood and femininity (female biology)—proving it is not a limited, restrictive category,* but a vast and powerful lineage of genius and possibility that deserves to be fiercely imagined, protected, and championed.
This fellowship operates in tandem with my upcoming historical fiction novel, The Viennese Tale of English Music. Set in a reimagined 18th-century musical world, the novel examines how women were systematically barred from the architecture of composition—using the canvas of the past to critique the structural misogyny that persists today, reignited in our cultural imagination.
We believe that to change the future, we must fund it. The Viennese Tale’ is full of colorful characters battling for musical glory, and if ever adapted for stage or screen, I want women to write all of the music they were (and, quite frankly, still are) forbidden to imagine.
By partnering with the Tucson Girls Chorus, we are actively training the hands that will write the masterpieces of tomorrow.
*Everyone knows about Wolfgang Mozart, but he had an equally talented older sister named Maria Anna Mozart, affectionately called Nannerl, who was by some considered to be a superior musical talent. When Wolfgang came of age, he was able to fight for his place in the world as a composer while Nannerl, becoming marriageable, was forbidden to compose. Women were not legally permitted to formally learn composition or work in official capacity as composers.
**The Nannerl Fund advocates for a return to equal rights frameworks that view gendered femininity and masculinity as social constructs designed to establish a gendered caste system that keeps the majority of human population (female biology) out of competition by limiting or restricting their access to resources (such as equal food allotment, equal education, and gainful work for equal pay). By challenging these restrictive definitions, we aim to ensure that all young artists are free to create, compose, and express themselves fully without the constraints of violent and personally limiting gender expectations.
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