WomenSing Youth Inspiring Youth 2012-2013 Composition Competition

New Announcement

WomenSing Youth Inspiring Youth 2012-2013 Composition Competition

Date: January 24, 2012

by Rachel Eidbo

Views: 2087

Location: California, USA

Voicing: Women

Youth Inspiring Youth Composition Competition

As part of its Youth Inspiring Youth project, WomenSing is pleased to announce its 2012-2013 choral youth composition competition. Young composers (ages 18 through 25) who are residents of California are eligible to submit samples of their works for consideration.

The two winning composers will each create a new work based on River of Words poetry. One work will be a setting of a poem in Spanish, and the other will be a poem in English.

Project Description

WomenSing (www.womensing.org) and River of Words, Center for Environmental Literacy at St Mary’s College of California (www.riverofwords.org) are creating the opportunity for young composers to create new choral music, mentored by teaching artist and composer Libby Larsen and advising composer Cristian Grases. The two winners will be commissioned to write a treble choral work to be premiered by WomenSing in early June of 2013, based on the highly inspired children’s poetry from the River of Words project. Each commissioned composer will receive a commissioning fee of US $1,000 and a recording of the work.

Founded in 1995 by former US Poet Laureate and 2008 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, Robert Hass, along with writer Pamela Michael, River of Words has energetically enlisted youth from around the world to compete annually in both art and poetry on the subject of the environment.

Details

The competition is open to California residents who have reached their 18th birthday but have not yet reached their 25th birthday by the submission deadline of April 9, 2012.
Submissions must be an original work for accompanied or unaccompanied chorus (not necessarily treble), must have been composed within the last three years, and the length of the work should be somewhere between three and five minutes.
All submissions must be anonymous. The composer’s name must not appear on the score. Please remove all names and identifying marks.
Judges for the competition will be Libby Larsen, composer; Cristian Grases, advising composer; Charles Bruffy, conductor of the Kansas City Chorale and Phoenix Chorale, and advisor to WomenSing; and Martín Benvenuto, artistic director for WomenSing. The decisions of the judges are final, and the two winners will be notified by May 25, 2012. WomenSing reserves the right not to award a prize.

To enter

Submit five clearly legible copies of the work. A sealed envelope labeled with the title of the work must accompany each submission. The sealed envelope shall contain the composer’s name, address, phone, email, title of the work, and a brief bio. Please send submissions to:

            WomenSing Youth Inspiring Youth Composition Contest
            P.O. Box 2014
            Orinda, CA 94563

Scores and applications must be postmarked by April 9, 2012. Scores will be returned if a stamped, self-addressed envelope is included with your submission.

For further questions please contact Rachel Eidbo, Youth Inspiring Youth Project Manager at yiy@womensing.org.