Ensemble CONCEPT/21 is pleased to invite applications for the second 2024 emerging composers competition “New Voices in Michiana” 2024. We invite emerging composers residing in the Michiana and Chicago area who are currently enrolled in a higher education institution. Up to four compositions will be selected for premiere by the professional musicians of Ensemble CONCEPT/21 on April 2, 2024 at Columbia College Chicago and on April 12, 2024 in South Bend, Indiana.
Timeline
• Submissions must be received via email by January 31, 2024 at 11:59 pm EST. They should be sent to ensembleconcept21@gmail.com.
• The selected composition will be announced by February 5, 2024. This work will be premiered at the concert “New Voices in Michiana” that Ensemble CONCEPT/21 will offer at Columbia College Chicago on April 2, 2024 and at Indiana University South Bend on April 12, 2024.
• Composers must confirm attendance to the rehearsals and concert and submit the parts no later than February 17, 2024 in order to have their works included in this program.
Eligibility
• Priority will be given to students enrolled in either high schools or colleges in the northern Indiana Michiana and Michiana areas (St. Joseph, Elkhart, La Porte, Marshall, and Starke Counties in Indiana and Berrien and Cass Counties in Michigan) as well as students residing in the city of Chicago.
• Works should have never been publicly performed before and never published or awarded a prize in a competition.
• Compositions should be no more than 10 minutes in length.
• Compositions should be scored for a maximum instrumentation of flute, clarinet, violin, violoncello, one performer in percussion, and piano. Smaller subsets of this instrumentation could be used, with a minimum ensemble requirement of three instruments.
• Incomplete, illegible, or late applications will not be considered. The winning composers must provide professional-quality, legible parts.
• The selected composers may be offered a scholarship for up to 18 credits of graduate study (subject to verification of minimum scholarship requirements in GPA/SAT and acceptance to the music composition program to start in the next academic year).
Application Process
• Composers should submit a PDF file of the score notated with digital software (Finale, Sibelius, Dorico, Musescore, etc.) via email to ensembleconcept21@gmail.com. The email should have the subject: “Application to the Spring 2024 EC/21 Call for scores.” The name, title of the work, and a short biography should be included in the body of the message. Manuscript scores will not be accepted.
• The score included in the PDF must be anonymous for distribution to the jury; they should bear no name or any reference that could be traced to the name of the composer. Non-anonymous entries will be disqualified.
Selection Process
• The creativity, quality, and idiomatic instrumental writing of the score submitted will constitute the primary evaluation criteria. It is in the applicant’s best interest that the score be clear, accurate, and the best representation of the composer’s work.
• The winning selection for premiere in 2024 will be adjudicated by an outside juror, the ensemble performers, and the artistic director.
Jorge A. Muñiz, D.M.A.
Founder and President
Ensemble Concept/21