MusicCOMP showcases student musical creativity with OPUS 40 concert April 27

April 14, 2026  |  By Waterbury Roundabout

Crossett Brook Middle School student composers (left to right) Jasper LaRocca, Emmy Dubois and Rosa Derman. Photo by Molly Dubois

Harwood freshman musician Grayson Eley. Courtesy photo

Five student musicians from Harwood Union High School and Crossett Brook Middle School will have their original compositions on the program for MusicCOMP’s OPUS 40 concert on April 27 in Colchester.

The free performance by professional musicians will feature a program of 21 works by student composers in grades 4-12 from around Vermont. The concert will be held at the Elley Long Music Center at 6:30 p.m. on April 27. A livestream is also being arranged. 

Students from the Harwood Unified Union School District with featured works are Harwood junior Julia Wulff and freshman Grayson Eley, along with Crossett Brook Middle School eighth-grader Emmy Dubois, seventh-grader Jasper LaRocca, and sixth-grader Rosa Derman. 

Each of the students in the program has been working one-on-one with composer/mentors through Music-COMP for the past few months to create their original pieces. 

The student works are written for a combination of strings, woodwinds and piano. 

Crossett Brook music teacher Molly Dubois says that each new composition highlights student creativity and “shows the personal flair of these young musicians.”

Julia Wulff at Battle of the Bands. Photo by Gordon Miller

For the April 27 concert, the student pieces will be performed by the TURNmusic chamber ensemble led by Anne Decker of Waterbury. 

Ahead of the performance where their music will premiere, the student composers help prepare by taking part in rehearsals with the professional musicians and attending workshops by special guest presenters. The collaboration results in the evening performance. 

Admission to the OPUS 40 concert is free. Founded in 1995, MusicCOMP is a nonprofit music education organization that’s been working to connect student and adult musicians for over 30 years. 

Special donor seats for OPUS 40 may be reserved online. More information: music-comp.org/opus-40.

The full list of student composers with music on the OPUS 40 program

Sam Acus • Mt Mansfield Union HS

Kirin Biancosino • Middlebury Union HS

Ella Colegrove • Manchester EMS

Finn Cray-Budington • Champlain Valley Union HS

Cooper Cunningham • Mt Mansfield Union HS

Max Demaine • Lake Region Union HS

Rosa Derman • Crossett Brook MS

Linden Dore • Champlain Elementary

Emmy Dubois • Crossett Brook MS

Grayson Eley • Harwood Union HS

Holden Friesel • Essex HS

Jasper LaConte • Manchester EMS

Jasper LaRocca • Crossett Brook MS

Firdaus Mkumbaru • Edmunds Elementary

Louis Napolitan • Burlington HS

Caleb Scherer • North Country Jr HS

René Simakaski • St. Johnsbury Academy

Leland Swift • Twinfield Union HS

Lola Traverse • Champlain Elementary

Julia Wulff • Harwood Union HS

Frida Zaloom/Amelia Waitkus/Hannah Hartnett/Opal Cari-Hare • Champlain Elementary