Missy Mazzoli has been selected as the second Composer-in-Residence of the Opera Company of Philadelphia, in collaboration with Gotham Chamber Opera and the Music Theatre Group in New York. She will embark on a three-year development programme, designed to advance her career as an operatic composer.

Funded over a period of five years by a $1.4m grant from The Andrew W Mellon Foundation, the scheme aims to foster a new generation of American operatic masterworks by offering creative opportunities to promising composers. Mazzoli, who was chosen from over 100 applicants, will join the programme in September 2012. The first composer in residence, Lembit Beecher, was appointed in September 2011, and will continue his development in tandem with Mazzoli.

‘I am thrilled and grateful to have been chosen for the Composer-in-Residence programme,’ said Mazzoli. ‘There are few opportunities to develop one's work as a young opera composer, and there is no better learning experience than writing a new work with the help of ambitious and forward-thinking companies. I welcome the opportunity to hone skills like scene pacing, development of a libretto from scratch, and how to best workshop a new piece; these are skills not typically taught in conservatories and I plan to make the most of these tremendous resources over the next three years.’

Mazzoli has composed works for eighth blackbird, the Kronos Quartet, violinist Jennifer Koh as commissioned by the LA Philharmonic, and the Santa Fe Chamber Players. The 31-year-old is also the winner of four ASCAP Young Composer Awards and a Fulbright Grant to the Netherlands. In February 2012, she premiered her first full-length opera, Song from the Uproar, at The Kitchen in New York.