G. Schirmer & Associated Music Publishers, part of Wise Music Group, is proud to announce the winner of the 2025 G. Schirmer Prize for Luna Composition Lab: Danity Pike, for her composition just like the dolls. An honorable mention goes to Zoe Verduin for her work Joshua Tree.
Awarded since 2019, the G. Schirmer Prize recognizes select works by composers participating in Missy Mazzoli and Ellen Reid’s program for young female, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming composers. Now celebrating its 10th season, Luna Composition Lab supports aspiring young composers through one-on-one mentorship, performance opportunities, and recordings of their work. The G. Schirmer Prize is given annually to one Luna Lab Fellow and offers financial support, developmental resources, and publishing industry advising.
“We are proud to recognize these talented young composers with the G. Schirmer Prize and to help introduce their work to the wider music community,” said G. Schirmer Vice President Peggy Monastra. “We’re also honored to continue highlighting the invaluable contributions of Luna Composition Lab—its visionary founders, Missy Mazzoli and Ellen Reid, their dedicated team, and the many mentor composers who have supported the program over the years. We warmly congratulate them on their 10th anniversary and celebrate the tremendous impact they’ve had in nurturing the next generation of composers.”
2025 Schirmer Prize Winner
Danity Pike
just like the dolls (2025)
“With the help of my mentor Mari, I took meticulous care in timing each poetic lyric and crafting the score to reflect the message of the piece. I wrote the accompanying poem after reading The Metamorphoses by Kafka in English class and feeling a unique pull in my identity from seeing other girls dressing for the "male gaze" at school and wanting to build my personal style as a queer student. This piece is very special to me in not only reflecting these personal struggles but also expressing a commentary on contemporary beauty standards.” -Danity Pike
“I used to flinch at calling myself a "composer" out of fear I couldn't align with the label. Then, I received mentorship with Mari Esabel Valverde from the Luna Lab Fellowship with five other talented composers my age. I learned how to cultivate my ideas into deliberate musical phrases. I realized that my nontraditional instincts in music did belong in the composition space. Luna Composition Lab is an indispensable opportunity for any gender-marginalized composer like me, who craves to grow as a composer in a supportive and inclusive space. I could not be more thankful for this remarkable program!” -Danity Pike
“Our selection committee found just like the dolls original, daring, and memorable, with an evocative atmosphere and sonic storytelling that are deeply deserving of the G. Schirmer Prize,” writes Peggy Monastra.
Missy Mazzoli and Ellen Reid also enthusiastically endorse Danity’s selection: “As Luna Lab’s Artistic Directors, we’re thrilled that Danity Pike has been awarded this year’s Schirmer Prize. Danity’s work just like the dolls, premiered last June by the International Contemporary Ensemble at our 9th annual festival, is theatrical, topical, and wholly original. Luna Composition Lab is honored to partner with G. Schirmer to recognize Danity’s singular talent, and we’re confident that she will soon be making waves in the composition field.”
2025 Schirmer Prize Honorable Mention
Zoe Verduin
Joshua Tree (2025)
“We particularly appreciated Zoe’s refined and thoughtful approach to timbre throughout Joshua Tree; the work is rich in color and expression within its brief duration,” observes Peggy Monastra.
Zoe Verduin is a composer and violinist from Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. She is an advanced violin student at the Hoff Barthelson Music School in Westchester, where she also studies composition under the mentorship of Dr. Derek Cooper. Zoe has been awarded several scholarships in music composition, which is her passion, including an ASCAP Foundation scholarship to study at the Manhattan School of Music’s Summer Composition program. Her work was also selected for performance at the Young Composers Honors Concert at the annual NYSSMA conference.
About Luna Composition Lab
Luna Composition Lab’s mission is to close the gender gap in the field of music composition. Founded in 2016 by composers Missy Mazzoli and Ellen Reid, Luna Composition Lab provides mentorship and resources for young female, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming composers. Luna Composition Lab is the only initiative of its kind in the United States. It has achieved national recognition as a program that not only celebrates underrepresented voices but also shapes music’s future by providing a support system for continued success. Luna Lab’s signature program—the Luna Lab Fellowship—offers six young composers one-on-one mentorship with acclaimed professional composers annually. Mentors guide fellows in the composition of a new piece of music that is premiered by a professional ensemble as part of a weeklong festival in New York City. In addition, Luna Lab offers a series of group composition courses—Adventures in Sound—that support young female, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming musicians who are interested in creating their own music. Alumni of the fellowship program have gone on to receive national awards, attend the nation’s top colleges and conservatories, and have been commissioned by renowned chamber ensembles and orchestras.
About G. Schirmer
Part of Wise Music Group’s international network of publishing houses, G. Schirmer, Inc. is the oldest continuously active North American classical music publisher. Through its international network of publishing houses, including Chester Music, Edition Wilhelm Hansen, Alphonse Leduc, and Edition Peters, the Group represents works by many of the most important creators from the 20th and 21st centuries, including Samuel Barber, Daniel Catán, John Corigliano, Donnacha Dennehy, Ludovico Einaudi, Duke Ellington, Julius Eastman, Gabriela Lena Frank, Charles Ives, George Lewis, Gian Carlo Menotti, Missy Mazzoli, Nico Muhly, Sergei Prokofiev, Kaija Saariaho, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Dmitri Shostakovich, Sarah Kirkland Snider, Bright Sheng, Tyshawn Sorey, Tan Dun, Joan Tower, and John Tavener.
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