From its inception in 1921, the Eastman School of Music has been a center for the composition and performance of contemporary twentieth-century music. Eastman faculty and students have been internationally recognized since Howard Hanson's advocacy of American composition in the 1930s. The department often features distinquished guests, who lecture or present master classes in the Composition Symposium.

Individual composition tutorials (one hour per week) and participation in the master classes and other events in the Composition Symposium, provide the core of the program. In addition, the faculty continually analyzes and evaluates each student's creative development as she or he negotiates the program. Students have many opportunities to hear their works played in a variety of performance settings. The final result is a thorough knowledge of all contemporary forms of musical expression and the ability to present one's personal style in each of them.

New music is heard frequently in concert halls and alternative performance spaces throughout Rochester. Eastman's reputation for performance excellence combined with performer enthusiasm for new music offers a great benefit to composers. Performance students often satisfy their ensemble requirements by playing new music in the Musica Nova ensemble, directed by Brad Lubman, the Eastman School Symphony Orchestra (ESSO), Eastman Philharmonia, the Eastman Wind Ensemble, and various chamber and choral ensembles. Performance majors are required to play at least one piece of twentieth-century music written since 1960 on their senior recitals, but in recent years there has been so much interest in new music performance on the part of undergraduate and graduate students that autonomous performance organizations such as Ossia, the ImageMovementSound festival, the art|sound|space have emerged to perform new music not easily presented by traditionally established performance forces and venues.

In addition, the Eastman Computer Music Center offers some of the most advanced software and equipment available, including its its own mobile performance equipment, usable by student composer for professional DVD-quality recording and production, as well as a sophisticated permanent studio offering hardware and software developed locally and in conjuntion with major Centers around the world, designed to facilitate a diversity of compositional interests.

Other forms of American music, such as jazz and popular music, are studied and performed at Eastman as well. Non-western and other traditional musics can be heard in World Music Series concerts and associated lecture/demonstrations, which feature artists and performing groups from all parts of the world. Eastman's Department of Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media offers another avenue for pursuing compositional studies.

Rochester's own prestigious orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, has an exemplary history of performing new and established works of American composers and has a rich history of interaction with the Eastman School in reading and performing Eastman composers' music.

The study of new music and its repertoires is greatly facilitated by the vast holdings of the Sibley Music Library, one of the largest music libraries in the world. Books, periodicals, dissertations, scores, manuscripts, and recordings of twentieth-century music are readily available for performance and analysis.