2024 Young Composer Competition
Supported with funding from the Hanson Institute for American Music of the Eastman School of Music
PURPOSE:
To encourage the composition of chamber music in New York State, the Society for Chamber Music in Rochester and the Hanson Institute for American Music of the Eastman School of Music sponsor competitions for young composers.
In 2024, our competition is a college-level competition. It carries an award of $1,000 and performance on a Society for Chamber Music in Rochester concert.
ELIGIBILITY:
Students must be currently enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate program in music at a college or university located in New York State.
INSTRUMENTATION AND LENGTH:
Submissions for the 2024 college-level competition may be up to 15 minutes in duration for any combination of two to seven instruments drawn from the following list: flute (or piccolo), oboe (or English horn), clarinet (or bass clarinet), saxophone (soprano, alto, tenor, or bari), bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba, harp, piano, guitar, violin, viola, cello, double bass, percussion. Mixed ensembles are encouraged. More than one of an instrument may be used (e.g. two violins) but the total number of players must not exceed seven.
SUBMISSION:
All submissions are to be submitted electronically in PDF format and must include both score and parts. The score should be anonymous; anything identifying the composer should be removed. Recordings (synthesized or live) of the composition must accompany the application as MP3 files. Submissions should be sent via e-mail to SCMRcompetition@gmail.com and must be received by March 1, 2024. Please include in the submission email the following information: 1) composer name, 2) college or university affiliation, 3) composer mailing address, 4) composer phone number, 5) composer email address. Emails must be sent from the student’s edu email address.
Composers may submit only one work. Previously-performed compositions are acceptable. Submissions that do not comply with the above guidelines will be disqualified, as will scores not meeting reasonable professional standards of notation.
JUDGING:
Submissions will be judged for their originality, artistic promise, technical skill and effectiveness in performance. Decisions of the judges will be final. The Society for Chamber Music in Rochester reserves the right to recommend that no award be given. Decisions will be announced during March 2024. The winning work will be performed at an SCMR concert during its 2024-25 season. The winner is invited to attend at least one rehearsal and the performance of the composition.
Questions or requests for further information should be directed by email to contact@chambermusicrochester.org.
PAST COMPETITION WINNERS INCLUDE:
Heng Yang (2022 College Competition) - Graduate student in Music and Music Education at Columbia University, prizewinner in the 2020 Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of New York’s Emerging Composers Competition.
Aaron Siebert (2020 College Competition) - Composing music for TV and Internet commercials, video games, websites, and short films; performances at Carnegie Mellon, Nazareth College, and the Superior Conservatories of Vigo and Mallorca.
Matthew Lucia (2019 High School Competition) - Harry Messina award for Composition and Music Theory at the Eastman Community School.
Julian Holmes (2018 College Competition)- National Federation of Music Clubs Young Composers Award, the Mannes College Bohuslav Martinů Prize, and the Second Prize at the Seventh International Antonín Dvorák Composition Competition.
Harry Stafylakis (2015 College Competition) - recipient of the Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, and New Music USA.
Grace Ann Lee (2014 High School Competition) - recipient of the NAfME (National Association for Music Educators) All-National competition for composers; performances by Women’s Works and Women in Music.
Scott Etan Feiner (2013 High School Competition) - Awards from ASCAP’s Morton Gould Young Composer Competition, the YoungArts Foundation, and the Tribeca New Music Young Composer Competition.