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High school and two-year college composers are invited to submit scores for performance at a composition festival, New Music on the Bluff 21, at Loyola Marymount University (the festival will be online in 2021). The eight selected finalists will receive performances of their pieces on April 17th, 2021, will meet on Zoom with a faculty composer for an individual private lesson, and will participate in master classes with festival faculty. Works can be scored for violin and piano, a selection of solo instruments, or can be fixed media electroacoustic or electronic pieces in any style. Application is free and all eligible applicants will be invited to the master classes. The application deadline is January 31st, 2021. View the call for scores here: https://cfa.lmu.edu/programs/music/beyondtheclassroom/concertseries/newmusicontheblufffestival/

Dear Young Composers, The Symphonic Society of Limeira recently opened a call for scores for chamber music and symphonic works. Please consider submitting your work. For more information regarding this call for scores, click in the link bellow. https://www.sinfonicadelimeira.com.br/call-for-scores Best regards,

Dear young composers, The Symphonic Society of Limeira recently opened a call for scores for chamber music and symphonic works. Please consider submitting your works For more information visit call for scores by clicking on the link below: https://www.sinfonicadelimeira.com.br/call-for-scores Best regards,

Hi, i want to share our competition with you. It´s my first posting so please help me if i did something wrong 🙂 Write the Super hit! Inspire the audience with your music and win prize money totaling 11.000€ with your composition – take part in the Progressive Classical Music Award 2019! Compose new music for two violins that goes under the skin and sweeps audiences off their feet. There is no limit to your imagination. Using virtuosity or simply great emotionality– always remember that the audience has to be touched or carried away! The style does not matter. Playing technique should be challenging, unconventional, with new effects, nice melodies, extreme sounds or hot rhythms – let your imagination run wild! Orchestration: 2 violins. Form: about 5 minute music. Info: The work has to be composed for this competition. Adaption or arrangements are not permitted. Multiple submissions are allowed. Closing date for entries: 5. July 2019, 23:59 CET Finale with LiveStream: September 28, 2019, 20:00 CET, Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen D5, 68159 Mannheim UNESCO City of Music, Germany Prizes 1. Prize: 5.000€, sponsored by Spiegel Institut Mannheim 2. Prize: 3.000€, attribution pending 3. Prize: 1.000€, sponsored by Ingenieurbüro Bräuer + Späh 4. Prize: 800€, sponsored by Dr. Hans-Oskar Koch 5. Prize: 600€, sponsored by GMS CNC-Technik 6. Prize: 600€, sponsored by GMS CNC-Technik Additionally, the prizewinner works will be recorded by The Twiolins and added to their concert repertoire. Course After a thorough examination by the jury, six works will be selected from all submissions. These will be premiered in the prize winner concert by The Twiolins. Following the concert, the audience will vote on the awards. Additionally the prizewinner works will be recorded professionally on a CD. For details see terms and conditions. Registration Please read the terms and conditions. Please use the registration form to submit your composition. FAQ & more information Please visit the website at https://www.pcm-award.com/en/award-2019/announcement-2019/

I submit music to competitions and calls for scores a lot; at least 10 times a year. I mainly submit works that I have already written and often have already been performed or is ready to be performed. I look for competitions and call for scores that fits what I have already written. However, there are competitions and call for scores that are very specific and very niche. Some call for music for unusual; like trombone and piccolo, three percussionist and a tuba, or alto flute and guitar. Many of these calls come from new music ensembles that are just starting out or performers looking to fill their next season with new works but have limited and unusual available performing forces. And unless you are working with these instruments regularly one will most likely not have music written already for these calls for scores. It isn't just limited to small ensembles, however. There are often calls for scores or competitions that have very specific instrumentation, like orchestras that have a infinite number of wind instruments or specific percussion available. I have seen competitions that require composers to submit works that follow a very specific theme or (if it calls for vocal music) use a very specific text. There are also competitions that have very specific timelines for when a piece should have been written--some requiring a work to have been written prior two years of the competition deadline. So this brings me to the conundrum that is the topic of this thread; should one write music specifically for these calls for scores or competitions? Is the stress of producing music to fit the criteria of a competition, that you might not win, knowing that it might never be performed by anyone else? Or should one stick with competitions that fit music that you already have written or have usefulness outside of said competition? What are your thoughts on this topic and have you come upon this situation yourself?

Milieu is a percussion quartet based in Baltimore, MD. Milieu is inviting composers of all ages to submit percussion quartets to be premiered in the first quarter of 2016. Milieu's mission as a percussion quartet is to play music that reflects the values, ideas, and aesthetics of life in 2015; this is the source of our excitement to collaborate with new composers. Broadening the audience of contemporary classical music is a often assumed but undervalued prospect of commissioning new works. When it comes to new repertoire, Milieu is looking for music that starts conversations. The first steps toward engaging a wider audience is closely collaborating with the composer. 3 quartets will be chosen from a pool of applicants and featured at the premiere concert. In addition, 1 quartet will receive a professional film and audio recording of their work. Click here to submit your work. IMPORTANT DATES/DEADLINESOctober 1st, 2015: deadline for submissions November 1st, 2015: composers will be notified of results January/February of 2016: concert of premieres at a TBA venue and date in Baltimore, MD. OTHER INFORMATIONCompositions should not exceed 13'00" in duration. For a detailed list of the percussion equipment we will have access to: click here. For all other inquiries please email chrissalvito@gmail.com

SACRA/PROFANA introduces the first annual SOUND/PROJECT Summer Choral Intensive, a week-long program open to recommended high school vocalists in San Diego County. The 2014 Call for Scores aims to provide students involved with the opportunity to premiere a new composition in tandem with the 20-voice professional choir SACRA/PROFANA. (For more information, please visit sacraprofana.org.) Deadline: May 1, 2014 - winners will be announced June 1, 2014. Fee: There is no fee to enter. Our Mission: To provide the high school students involved in the Sound/Project Summer Choral Intensive with the opportunity to premiere a new work. Eligibility: Compositions should use one of the following texts; (see attached page for full texts) “The Singers” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow “Refuge” by Sara Teasdale “I Dream a World” by Langston Hughes American composers of any age or institutional affiliation are eligible to submit scores. Compositions should not exceed ten minutes. Compositions should be scored for SATB Chorus (divisi optional) with or without piano accompaniment. Submission: Please e-mail kirsten@sacraprofana.org to receive and complete the application form. All required application materials (score/parts, application form) must be submitted via email to kirsten@sacraprofana.org. Multiple submissions must be submitted separately. Scores should be submitted in PDF file format. A composer bio or resume (attached to the application form) is encouraged, but not required. The selection committee will not see the bio until after the judging process is complete. Only complete applications/compositions will be considered for performance. On the score, please eliminate all identifying information, except for the title of work. Compositions will remain anonymous throughout the judging process. Submissions will be judged by SACRA/PROFANA artistic staff members for the Sound/Project Summer Choral Intensive 2014. Questions can be sent to kirsten@sacraprofana.org. Please refrain from including work titles in inquiries to preserve anonymity in the judging process. Prize: Winner (1): $250 cash prize and a featured premiere performance on Saturday, July 19th at the University of San Diego. The performing choir will consist of 50 (or more) of San Diego County’s most talented high school vocalists, as well as the 20-voice professional choir SACRA/PROFANA. Additional submissions may be considered for future SACRA/PROFANA performances. Winners will be notified via e-mail, and announced via SACRA/PROFANA’s webpage, Facebook page, and Twitter page. SACRA/PROFANA reserves the right to not select winners, but in doing so will forfeit the rights to perform submissions The Singers Henry Wadsworth Longfellow God sent his Singers upon earth With songs of sadness and of mirth, That they might touch the hearts of men, And bring them back to heaven again. The first, a youth, with soul of fire, Held in his hand a golden lyre; Through groves he wandered, and by streams, Playing the music of our dreams. The second, with a bearded face, Stood singing in the market-place, And stirred with accents deep and loud The hearts of all the listening crowd. A gray old man, the third and last, Sang in cathedrals dim and vast, While the majestic organ rolled Contrition from its mouths of gold. And those who heard the Singers three Disputed which the best might be; For still their music seemed to start Discordant echoes in each heart, But the great Master said, "I see No best in kind, but in degree; I gave a various gift to each, To charm, to strengthen, and to teach. "These are the three great chords of might, And he whose ear is tuned aright Will hear no discord in the three, But the most perfect harmony. Refuge Sara Teasdale From my spirit's gray defeat, From my pulse's flagging beat, From my hopes that turned to sand Sifting through my close-clenched hand, From my own fault's slavery, If I can sing, I still am free. For with my singing I can make A refuge for my spirit's sake, A house of shining words, to be My fragile immortality. I Dream a World Langston Hughes I dream a world where man No other man will scorn, Where love will bless the earth And peace its paths adorn I dream a world where all Will know sweet freedom's way, Where greed no longer saps the soul Nor avarice blights our day. A world I dream where black or white, Whatever race you be, Will share the bounties of the earth And every man is free, Where wretchedness will hang its head And joy, like a pearl, Attends the needs of all mankind- Of such I dream, my world!

Hello! I have two high school friends who have asked me to post a call for scores here for a duet of horn and percussion. Deadline: Scores must be submitted no later than 11:59pm, March 7th, 2014, Arizona time (Mountain Standard Time, with no daylight savings). Grand Prize: The winner's piece will be performed by the duo in an April concert at Payson High School, in Payson, Arizona. A video recording of the piece will be made and a copy of the video recording will be provided to the winning composer. A copy of the winning composition will also be kept in the Payson High School Music Library for future study and performance by students. Process for Deciding a Winner: The winning score will be chosen by a jury of the two performers and their director (a total of three jury members). The jury will select the winning piece no later than March 14th, 2014. The winning score will be announced here and the winning composer will be contacted by personal message on this site, unless another form of contact is requested. The winning composer must provide their name, or the pseudonym they wish to appear on the program, as well as information on how a digital copy of the recording of the performance may be sent to them. Legal Mumbojumbo: The Payson High School Band/Music Director reserves the right to remove the piece from the program without notice and at any time. The Payson High School Band/Music Director reserves the right to remove the piece from the Payson High School Music Library at any time and without notice or notification. The following is a message from the duo with their further requirements for the piece. :