Music in your
voice, for
your voice.
Over two decades of musical theater experience — as a composer, orchestrator, and pianist. Custom cuts, arrangements, transcriptions, and tracks built for the singer, not the shelf.
- 01Sheet Music
- 02Arrangements & Orchestrations
- 03Performance Tracks
- 04Coaching
- 05About
Sheet Music
Audition cuts, piano arrangements, transcriptions, and full-song transpositions — all starting from what you bring me. Choose what you need below.
Audition Cuts
Upload your sheet music, mark the measures you want, and specify what the cut needs to do. You'll receive a professionally notated result — clean, performable, no back-and-forth.
Piano Arrangements
Sheet music exists, but it doesn't sound like the song. You know what the recording sounds like — the groove, the featured riff, the moment the chorus opens up. That's what I write: an accompaniment that puts all of that under your voice, so when you walk in with just a pianist, it still sounds like the song you fell in love with.
Transcriptions
The sheet music doesn't exist, or what exists isn't right. Send me the recording — YouTube link, streaming link, or an audio file — and I'll transcribe it by ear. You choose the format: a full piano reduction with every musical detail, or a clean lead sheet with melody and chord symbols. Turnaround depends on the complexity of the recording and how clearly the parts sit in the mix.
Transpositions
A full-song key transposition of your existing sheet music. I mirror your current layout precisely — same system, same page breaks, same look — just in a new key. This is a transposition, not a re-engrave or a formatting cleanup.
Arrangements & Orchestrations
Custom arrangements for any setting — from an intimate piano-and-voice cabaret set to a full orchestra, or the whole production handled start to finish. Tell me your forces — or just tell me the vision — and I'll take it from there.
Cabaret Arrangements
Custom arrangements for cabaret venues, concert halls, and any stage in between. Tell me your band, your vision, and your repertoire — I'll write arrangements that serve the show, the room, and the singer. From solo piano to a full rhythm section with horns and strings, every configuration is on the table.
Large Ensemble Orchestrations
Full orchestrations for whatever forces you have — concert, gala, theater pit, personal project, or anything else. Priced at real Local 802 (NYC musicians' union) minimum orchestration rates — no markup, just what the work is actually scaled at.
Orchestrations for live performance are generally straightforward. If your project involves producing a recording intended for commercial release or distribution — streaming, broadcast, sync — there are licensing and rights considerations that vary depending on the material. Selecting "Recording/studio session involvement" above routes this to an inquiry so we can sort that out together first.
Performance Tracks
Real orchestrations rendered through a $15k+ library stack built over years — not canned MIDI, not a template. Tiered to your purpose, from full-orchestra concert tracks to piano-only rehearsal aids to commercial-grade mockups of original work.
Custom Performance Tracks
Fully rendered backing tracks built from real orchestrations — not loop libraries, not stock MIDI. Whether you're a singer who needs a track for a performance or a composer who wants to hear their work realized, these are produced through a $15k+ library stack assembled over years of theater and concert work.
- Piano + rhythm section (bass, drums, guitar as needed)
- Stereo WAV delivery
- Full orchestration through the complete library stack
- Mixed for live playback
- Stereo WAV + stems by section
- Everything in Performance
- Full mastering pass
- Sync-ready metadata on request
- Two rounds of revisions
Audition Prep Tracks
Purpose-built tracks for learning your audition material with precision — whether you're memorizing a melody, internalizing your part, or learning to hold your own against harmony. Two track systems, each designed around a specific kind of learning. For callback and appointment auditions, these are built from the music you provide — no surprises in the room.
You receive a series of tracks where the melody (played on saxophone) gradually fades out across the set, leaving you with piano accompaniment alone by the final track. Each step builds your independence without ever losing the musical context.
You receive a series of tracks where your part gradually fades out as the other part(s) fade in — training your ear to stay on your line when the harmony around you gets louder. By the final track, you're singing your part with no support, against full harmony.
Orchestral Mockups & Masters
Professional orchestral realizations of your original music — rendered through a $15k+ VST library and mixing template stack built over years of theater and concert work. You write the music. I make it sound like an orchestra actually played it.
- Full orchestral realization of your score
- Delivered as stereo WAV + stems by section
- Ideal for pitching, demos, and internal reference
- Everything in Reference Mockup
- Full mix pass with dynamic shaping and balance
- Suitable for reels, presentations, and pitches to labels or supervisors
- One round of revisions included
- Everything in Presentation Ready
- Full mastering pass to commercial loudness standards
- Delivered as mastered stereo WAV + full stem package
- Two rounds of revisions included
- Sync-ready metadata on request
Count separate musical lines, not instruments — divided violins playing two parts = 2 lines.
Audition Coaching
This isn't a voice lesson — it's everything else. The performance, the room, the material, the cut, the moment you walk through the door. I work with singers who already know their instrument and want to sharpen how they use it when it counts.
I've spent years on both sides of the piano. As a music director and pianist at venues like Green Room 42 and 54 Below, I've accompanied hundreds of auditions and performances, and I accompany at MTCA (Musical Theatre College Audition). But the credential that shapes my coaching most directly is this: I sat behind the casting table as associate conductor for the Broadway, North American tour, Canadian, and London productions of Dear Evan Hansen.
I've also been at the piano for auditions for other Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, so I see the audition from more than one angle. I know what the table wants, and I know what your pianist needs.
I know what makes a creative team lean forward, what makes them write your name down, and what gets you the callback. I've watched it happen hundreds of times. Now I help singers make it happen for themselves.
That knowledge is grounded in real training: a music education degree from Syracuse University with a focus in strings, voice, and composition — followed by the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, where I trained as a composer. Over two decades of marinating in this field at every level, from the classroom to the pit to the casting room.
Think of it as a team. Your voice teacher builds the instrument; I help you play it. I know technique well enough to talk shop, and to notice when something's worth bringing back to their studio, but that work belongs with them. Our sessions are about the other half: the choices, the storytelling, and the minute or so in the room where all that technique finally gets to show off.
Full Production
You bring the vision, I handle the music — from the first note on the page to the downbeat. Three tiers, one point of contact.
- Full arrangement and orchestration
- Notation in Sibelius, delivered as PDF and editable file
- One round of revisions included
- Everything in Score Only
- Musician prep materials and charts
- Rehearsal scheduling and direction
- Performance Music Direction
- Everything in Score + Music Direction
- Musician sourcing and contracting
- Full production coordination
- One point of contact, start to finish
Real bar count, not an estimate — this is what Score Only is priced from, so it's worth getting right.
Jon Balcourt
Composer, orchestrator, and pianist based in New York City, with over two decades of experience in musical theater and concert work.
I've spent my career wherever music gets made — as a conductor, as a pit pianist, as the person at the keyboard when an understudy goes on for the first time. That experience lives in everything I write.
I've been music directing since 2004, when I took my first MD job back home in Syracuse. Since then the work has taken me across 49 states, throughout Canada, and over the pond to London. I was associate conductor/MD on the first national tour of The Book of Mormon and on Avenue Q, and music director/conductor on Dreamgirls and How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Behind the scenes, I've been at the piano for many Broadway and touring productions (The Outsiders, Back to the Future, MJ the Musical, and more), and behind the table as associate conductor for the Broadway, North American tour, Canadian, and London productions of Dear Evan Hansen.
Alongside all of that, I music direct At This Performance, the monthly Broadway understudy concert currently at Green Room 42. I also accompany at MTCA (Musical Theatre College Audition), play for auditions and rehearsals for Broadway shows, and arrange for singers' shows at 54 Below.
I'm a composer first, and my orchestration work reaches well beyond my own music. I orchestrate for theater writers like Joel Waggoner. I've arranged and orchestrated viral videos for Andrew Barth Feldman and The Advent Carolinder (Joel Waggoner and Julia Mattison), and my orchestrations are on Kennedy Caughell's solo album Just the Beginning. I also co-produced, arranged, orchestrated, and played on Adam Ray's debut album The Clown Parade, recorded overnight in Toronto while we were both on the Book of Mormon tour.
All of it has given me a close-up view of what singers actually need from their music. Not just notes on a page, but arrangements that breathe, cuts that land, and tracks that serve the performance. Every project I take on gets the same attention: what does this singer need to walk into that room and own it?
A fugue is built from independent voices — melody, countermelody, harmony — each one moving on its own, all locking together into a single piece. That's basically the job description: melody, lyric, arrangement, orchestration, becoming one finished piece of music.
A foundry is where raw material gets forged into something finished — deliberate, precise, built to actually hold up. Same idea here. A lead sheet, a full orchestration, a voice getting stronger through coaching — it all starts raw and gets shaped with real attention until it's ready.
And it's one roof for a lot of different crafts. Writing, arranging, orchestrating, coaching, producing — not a single tool, a whole foundry.
Questions, answered
The stuff that comes up most. If it's not here, just email — that works too.
The more pages you need, the less each additional page costs. Think of it as a little volume discount for the bigger projects!
Cuts, Audition Prep, Transpositions, Piano Arrangements, and Transcriptions all follow the same pricing structure:
- Pages 1–2: $20 per page
- Pages 3–5: $15 per page
- Pages 6 and beyond: $12 per page
Pricing works in tiers, meaning each group of pages is charged at its corresponding rate. For example, a 10-page project costs $145, rather than charging all 10 pages at the lowest rate:
(2 pages × $20) + (3 pages × $15) + (5 pages × $12) = $145
Everything is calculated automatically at checkout, so you'll know exactly what your project costs before placing your order.
No surprise math homework. I've already done the counting.
In a perfect world, a page would simply be a page. Unfortunately, music notation has never been particularly interested in making our lives easier.
For Cuts, Audition Prep, Transpositions, Piano Arrangements, and Transcriptions, one page equals 16 measures of music. This keeps pricing consistent regardless of how the music is laid out on the page.
For Large Ensemble Orchestrations and Full Production, one page equals 4 measures, following the professional orchestration rate structure used by Local 802 (New York's musicians' union).
Partial pages always round up to the next full page, and your initial quote is based on the measure count you provide. Not sure how many measures you have? Send what you've got and I'll count for you. If the submitted music has a different count, I'll review any necessary pricing adjustments with you before proceeding.
The goal is simple: fair, consistent pricing that reflects the actual amount of music being created.
Two very similar words. Two very different jobs. Music terminology really saw an opportunity to be confusing.
Transposition takes existing sheet music and moves it into a different key while keeping the arrangement itself intact. Same music, new neighborhood.
Transcription starts with a recording and turns what I hear into written sheet music. No existing score required — just good ears, musical detective work, and a healthy relationship with the rewind button.
The short version: If you already have sheet music and need a different key, you're looking for a transposition. If you've only got audio and need it written down, that's a transcription.
Only have a recording, and it's in the wrong key? I can transcribe it straight into the key you need.
For larger arranging and orchestration projects, you don't have to pay the entire amount up front.
Cabaret Arrangements, Large Ensemble Orchestrations, and Full Production's Score Only option use the following deposit structure:
- Projects of $500 or less: 50% at checkout, with the remaining 50% due upon completion.
- Projects over $500: One-third at checkout, with the remaining two-thirds due upon completion.
Once your project is finished, you'll receive an invoice with a secure payment link for the remaining balance.
I want getting started to feel exciting, not like you're financing a grand piano.
Some projects are straightforward to price. Others deserve an actual conversation.
Coaching and Custom Tracks depend on scheduling, your goals, the style and production level you're after, and a few other details that don't fit neatly into a checkout form.
The same goes for Music Direction, Conducting, Recording, and Musician Contracting. You'll find them as options on the arranging and orchestration services, and selecting any of them turns your order into an inquiry. Rehearsals, performances, studio time, and hiring a band all depend on dates, availability, and the scope of your production.
Rather than hand you a generic number that might have very little to do with what you actually need, I'd much rather hear about your project and put together something that makes sense.
Orchestral Mockups land somewhere in between. You'll see an estimate on the site right away, and I'll confirm your final price once I've looked at your files. (More on that below.)
For everything else — cuts, transpositions, arrangements, orchestrations, and the rest — pricing is calculated directly on the site, so you can go straight to checkout.
After all, there's a reason we still have rehearsals instead of just emailing everyone the score and hoping for the best.
A mockup turns a finished score into a realistic orchestral recording using professional sample libraries, instead of a room full of very expensive musicians.
Your estimate is based on three things:
- Length of the track. Mockup work happens in real time, so a three-minute track is priced as a three-minute track, no matter how many measures it takes to get there.
- Ensemble size. Counted in separate musical lines, not instruments. If the violins split into two different parts, that's two lines. You'll just pick a range — no exact count required.
- Tier. Reference Mockup, Presentation Ready, or Commercial Master, depending on how polished the final audio needs to be.
The estimate assumes you're sending a finished score or MIDI file. If you only have a piano-vocal score and need it orchestrated first, that's orchestration plus mockup, and I'll quote the orchestration separately at my standard rate.
Every mockup gets a final price once I've seen your files, and you'll approve it before anything starts. Two minutes of sustained strings and two minutes of frantic woodwind runs are, unfortunately, not the same amount of work.
Ah, yes. The theatrical calendar. Where everything is three weeks away until suddenly it's Thursday.
I get it, and I'll always do my best to accommodate a tight deadline.
If your requested turnaround falls within the rush window (generally about a week), you'll see a notice at checkout. You can still place your order at the regular listed price, but expedited delivery is subject to availability and may involve an additional rush fee.
Rush fees aren't one-size-fits-all. A 16-bar piano cut and a 200-bar orchestration have very different opinions about how long they take to finish.
I'll consider the scope and complexity of your project, the time available, and my current workload. If an additional fee is necessary, I'll reach out to discuss it and send a separate invoice through the secure payment portal. You'll always know about and approve any additional charge before I proceed with expedited work.
If I can't accommodate your requested deadline, I'll discuss an alternative timeline or cancellation and a refund with you before work begins.
No surprise charges, no impossible promises, and no pretending that 200 bars orchestrate themselves overnight.
Absolutely! We're musicians. If we thought the first version of everything was sacred, rehearsals would be significantly shorter and significantly worse.
Small adjustments, note corrections, and minor refinements are all part of getting your music right, at no additional charge.
If you're looking for something more substantial — a major rewrite, a different arrangement, or an entirely new creative direction — that's a larger conversation. I'll always discuss what that involves and any additional costs with you before moving forward.
We love a good creative breakthrough. We just like knowing when Act Two has become an entirely different musical.
Ultimately, the goal isn't just to deliver music that's technically correct. It's to deliver music that feels right for you.
Digitally, straight to your inbox!
Once your project is complete, you'll receive an email with a download link to your finished materials, whether that's sheet music PDFs, audio files, or whatever your particular project calls for.
No shipping, no waiting by the mailbox, and no suspiciously large packages containing a contrabassoon part.
Just your music, ready to download and put to work.
Music in your voice, for your voice.
Terms of Service
Fugue Foundry / Jon Balcourt Music Services · Last updated July 13, 2026
Fugue Foundry provides music preparation and creative services for musical theater performers, producers, and creative teams, including but not limited to: audition prep tracks, cabaret arrangements, and full production music direction/orchestration. Every service is a deliverable — a finished audio file, a written chart, a rehearsal, a score — built to your specifications and delivered on the agreed timeline.
Fugue Foundry does not guarantee, promise, or imply any particular result from the use of its services, including but not limited to: casting decisions, callbacks, audition outcomes, agent or manager interest, audience or critical reception, or commercial success of any production. These outcomes are determined by people and processes outside Fugue Foundry's control — directors, casting panels, producers, audiences — and are not something craft alone can guarantee, no matter how good the work is. You are booking the work, not a result.
If a deliverable doesn't match what was discussed at booking — wrong key, wrong cut, missed spec — I'll fix it. Small adjustments are part of getting it right and are included at no extra charge. A request that turns into something substantially larger than what was originally booked is a separate conversation, and I'll always talk it through with you before charging anything additional. "I didn't get the callback" or "the show didn't go the way I hoped" are not, on their own, grounds for revision or refund, since those outcomes sit outside what was delivered.
Payment is due at booking unless otherwise stated on the service page. Larger orchestration and arrangement work may be billed as a deposit at booking with the balance due on completion; the applicable split is shown at checkout. Refunds are issued only for Fugue Foundry's failure to deliver the agreed work, not for downstream results of that work. Specific refund windows and conditions are listed per service.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Fugue Foundry's total liability for any claim arising from a booking is limited to the amount paid for that specific service. Fugue Foundry is not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages — including lost opportunities, lost income, or career impact — arising from the use of any deliverable.
Fugue Foundry retains ownership of the specific arrangement, orchestration, or transcription created for you. What you're purchasing is a broad license to use that work freely — in auditions, performances, rehearsals, and recordings for your own purposes — for as long as you like. You may not resell, redistribute, or relicense the arrangement itself to a third party.
This applies only to the arrangement work itself. Fugue Foundry does not clear, license, or make any claim regarding rights to the underlying composition — the original song, its lyrics, or its melody remain the property of the original rights holders. It's your responsibility to secure any rights clearance a specific use may require (for example, commercial release or public performance beyond typical audition/cabaret use).