When she began her three-year appointment as Mead Composer-in-Residence in 2021, Montgomery hoped “to cultivate a community around young composers,” she said in a recent interview. While growing up in New York, she had participated in an apprenticeship for young composers at Lincoln Center, an important step in her development as a composer. “I was drawing on some of those experiences in coming up with this program,” she said of YCI. “I wanted to be able to give back in that way.”

“I also try, to the best of my ability, to create opportunities for a diverse network of students from various backgrounds,” Montgomery said. “The idea is to mix [experience] levels as well, because I like the idea of the younger students who are less experienced learning from students who are more advanced.”