Music of the Present and Future – A Call for Scores from Student Composers
The Bellevue Chamber Chorus is calling for scores of new choral music and will award a first-prize winner $500 in our second biennial Emerging Composer Competition.
The winning piece will be featured in a concert that looks at music about music; more specifically, the piece will fit in the second half of the concert with texts that speak to making music and/or singing in the present and/or the future.
Call for Scores: The chorus will be accepting engraved scores for SATB choir through January 1st, 2024. Pieces must be under six minutes long. One winner will be selected by February 1st, 2024, and payment will be issued that month upon receipt of the composer’s final pdf of the engraved score. Final score will include a piano reduction for a cappella music and any other editorial requests from our Artistic Director. No entrance fee.
Eligibility: The composer must be a verified current student [as of Fall 2023 and/or Spring 2024] working on a music degree program at the undergraduate or graduate level. No age restriction. The text of the piece must in some way address the present or the future. Texts that address music or singing in the present or the future are preferred. The composer must demonstrate that the text is either in the public domain or that the composer has secured the rights. The piece must be unpublished and have no previous public performances or recordings.
Premiere: The Bellevue Chamber Chorus will have premiere rights. Premiere subject to any two dates in 2024 through the end of 2025. Actual dates in 2024-2025 are subject to change: the target concert/recording date is May 2024, with an additional online release in the following two weeks. The chorus owns the rights to the recording and synchronization rights for our public posting, though a free digital copy of the recording will be given to the composer to use in their own promotion as they see fit.
Recommendations: It is suggested that the piece be anywhere between three to six minutes and be of easy to intermediate difficulty level. The Bellevue Chamber Chorus is not a professional chorus, but is a 24-voice auditioned community group with a history of a high level of musicianship. Only moderate levels of divisi are acceptable. The piece can be a cappella, though piano accompaniment is strongly preferred. In addition to piano, the piece may utilize violin and/or cello (to be played by an auditioned student player), and/or percussion (one player). It is strongly recommended that composers submit a midi or mp3 sound file with their score.
Questions and submissions should be directed to:
Ben Luedcke
Artistic Director, Bellevue Chamber Chorus
director@BellevueChamberChorus.org