2024 Call for Scores Ensemble CONCEPT/21 just announced!

By |

2024 Call for Scores

Ensemble CONCEPT/21 is pleased to invite applications for the 2024 emerging composers competition “New Voices in Michiana” 2024.  We invite emerging composers residing in the Michiana and Chicago area who are enrolled or have been enrolled in music courses in a secondary or higher education institution and have not yet completed their Master’s degree. Up to four compositions will be selected for premiere by the professional musicians of Ensemble CONCEPT/21 on April 12, 2024 in South Bend, Indiana. 

Timeline

  • Submissions must be received via email by October 15, 2024 at 11:59 pm EST. They should be sent to ensembleconcept21@gmail.com.
  • A first selection of works will be read by the ensemble in November 2023. Composers are required to attend this reading in order to later be considered for the premiere performance.
  • A final selection of up to four compositions will be announced by February 5, 2024. These works will be premiered at the concert “New Voices in Michiana” that Ensemble CONCEPT/21 will offer 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 March 1, 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 top two selected composers may be offered a scholarship for up to 30 credits a year of undergraduate study at IU South Bend or 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 2024 IU EC/21 Composition Competition.”  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.
  • An outside juror will evaluate the scores during the first round. Up to six semifinalists will be selected for a workshop reading in November.
  • The winning selection(s) for premiere in 2024 will be adjudicated by the ensemble performers and the artistic director. Up to four finalists will have their compositions performed in concert in April.

Jorge A. Muñiz, D.M.A.

Founder and President

Ensemble Concept/21