It is with great pleasure that we announce the selected works for the 2023 Call for Scores of Ensemble CONCEPT/21. Three works will be premiered and recorded on Friday, April 14, 2023 at 7pm at the Louise E. Addicott & Yatish J. Joshi Performance Hall at Indiana University South Bend:
“Halves and Pairs,” by Miles Carroll “nocturne no. 1 – portrait of night grief,” by Zachary Paul Flasch “Invocation of Eternal Voices,” by Kyle Rivera
In addition, six composers are receiving Honorable Mentions:
Donald Brittain Clara Hooton Biddyclair Moore Sam Scheele Ariel Sol Bertulfo Schwartz Peyton Trowbridge
The New Voices in Michiana concert of Ensemble CONCEPT/21 on Friday, April 14, 2023 is been made possible in part by the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County, the Indiana Arts Commission, which receives support from the State of Indiana and the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Florence V. Carroll Charitable Trust. Congratulations to all!
Ensemble CONCEPT/21 is pleased to invite applications for the 2023 young composers competition “New Voices in Michiana” 2023. We invite young composers residing in the Michiana and extended Chicago area who are enrolled in music courses in a secondary or higher education institution and have not yet completed their Master’s degree. Four compositions will be selected for premiere video-recordings by the professional musicians of Ensemble CONCEPT/21 on April 14, 2023 in South Bend, Indiana.
Submissions must be received by January 31, 2023 at 11:59 pm EST. Decisions will be announced by February 13rd, 2023
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, –include the counties in between–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 including the score notated with digital software (Finale, Sibelius, etc.) via email to ensembleconcept21@gmail.com. The email should have the subject: “Application to the 2023 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 scores 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.
Ensemble CONCEPT/21 will evaluate the scores during the first round and make the selection of finalists.
An outside juror will make the final winning selection(s) out of the finalist works.
Submission
Email submissions must be received by January 31st, 2023 before 11:59pm EST. They should be sent to ensembleconcept21@gmail.com. Decisions will be announced February 13, 2023.
Welcome to the 2022-2023 Season of Ensemble CONCEPT/21!
We have decided to completely focus this season on an in-depth shepherding of the new generations of young composers.
While they have always focused on fostering new voices in composition, with about 60 premieres of young composers’ works in the last 9 years, EC/21 would like to develop deeper and even more fruitful relationships with educators, institutions, and young composers in our area.
To this end, we are planning to engage several local public schools through composition workshops where young high school composers will develop from concept to page to stage compositional projects. These workshops will feature professional composers that will lead the young composers through this process and assist high school teachers in follow-up work in developing new pieces, which eventually could be submitted to a Call for Scores by January 2023. Young composers still affiliated to regional educational institutions submit their works for evaluation by a jury of professional composers and conductors through the Call for Scores. The selected works receive a fully professional performance and recording by EC/21.
Selected works from the Call for Scores will receive their premiere in our traditional concert on April 14, 2023 “New Voices in Michiana.” The format of EC/21 concerts have always included not just music, but also engaging “Concert Conversations,” with introductions to the works on each program, and a Q&A opportunity for the audience.
This year, we are also continuing our partnership with South Bend Lyric Opera, which started last season with the performance of Jake Heggie’s opera Three Decembers. This season, EC/21 is collaborating again with the SBLO to bring to you a brand new opera by Indiana composer Paul Herman, The Gift. The premiere performances will be offered on January 27 and 28, 2023. For more information, please visit the South Bend Lyric Opera website.
All performances will take place at Indiana University South Bend.
We hope you enjoy our season what we are preparing for you! Thank you for your support of new music and for visiting our website. Please stay tuned for upcoming details on our new 2022-2023 season!
The 2022-2023 season of Ensemble CONCEPT/21, Inc. is supported by the following grants:
The Paul and Diane Herman Family Fund in the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County, Inc.
The Florence V. Carroll Charitable Trust
An Arts Project Support Grant from the Indiana Arts Commission, with the support of the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County and the Indiana Arts Commission, which receives support from the State of Indiana and the National Endowment for the Arts.
It is with great pleasure that we are announcing the winners and honorable mentions of the 2022 Ensemble CONCEPT/21 Call for Scores.
Winners: Persistence of Memory – Oliver Rigsby (Flute, Clarinet, Percussion, Piano, Violin, and Cello) Dark Symbols – Eric Saroian (Flute, Clarinet, Percussion, Piano, Violin, and Cello)
Honorable Mentions: Entwining – Paul Novak (Clarinet, Cello, Violin, Piano) Piano Trio No. 1, Movement 1 – Aidan Feeney (Violin, Cello, Piano)
These four works will be performed at the March 25 concert at IU South Bend conducted by Maestro Caleb Wenzel.
Friday, March 25, 2022, 7:00 pm – New Voices in Michiana – Louise E. Addicott & Yatish J. Joshi Performance Hall, Indiana University South Bend
EC21 is planning a 2021-22 season in the hopes that we will soon overcome the limitations of the pandemic. We will announce full details shortly, but do check this page for:
VIDEO CONCERT NO. 2, with works by Ryan Olivier, Jorge Muñiz, Paul Herman, Ilya Levinson and Gustavo Leone, coming up in May!.
And, in the meantime, follow the musings of contemporary music of our artistic director Carmen-Helena Téllez on Twitter at twitter.com/chtellez
Our VIDEO CONCERT NO.1 has stayed online, per your request and is available in our media page in this website, and on YouTube.
Jorge Muñiz, Founder and President Carmen-Helena Téllez, Artistic Director
Our thanks to all of you who watched the premiere of the virtual performance of our annual project,
NEW VOICES IN MICHIANA 2020: FROM THOUGHTS TO MUSIC
under the direction of our distinguished guest conductor
NANCY MENK
YOU CAN REVISIT THIS WEBSITE WWW.ENSEMBLECONCEPT21.COMTO WATCH IT AGAIN HERE UNTIL MARCH 1ST. JUSTCLICK ON THE IMAGE ABOVE.
Since its foundation, Ensemble Concept/21 has curated the annual program NEW VOICES IN MICHIANA, to promote the work of young composers of Michiana and the Greater Chicago area who won their selection by competition. This annual event also includes works by established composers, frequently under the direction of a guest conductor. Last Spring 2020, the pandemic stopped us from offering our concert, denying the young composers the opportunity to hear their works, and all of us the pleasure of discovery of new music by our emerging talents. However, with the help of our institutional and private donors, we were able to get together for a reading of their works, and we are thrilled to share this documentary recording with you all, our friends and audience members.
You will meet the young and gifted composers Hannah Azcuna, Macy Camille, Lupita Diaz-Donato and Joey Meyers, as they explain how their thoughts and images are translated into musical compositions. The program also includes two works by Ilya Levinson, Associate Professor of Composition at Columbia College in Chicago, and Carmen-Helena Téllez, EC/21’s new artistic director. Guest conductor Nancy Menk is a central figure in the musical scene of South Bend. It is a privilege to count with her artistic leadership for this virtual reading.
DO NOT MISS THIS WONDERFUL ENCOUNTER WITH THE COMPOSITIONAL VOICES OF THE FUTURE!
FEEL FREE TO SHARE THIS PAGE WITH YOUR FRIENDS. WE WILL LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR COMMENTS!
EC/21 wants to announce with gratitude that we recently have received support from the Indiana Arts Commission, the Stanley A. and Flora P. Clark Memorial Community Trust Foundation and the John Eaton Foundation, to pursue new musical initiatives adapted to the challenges of the pandemic. We also want to thank all of you in our audience, who have faithfully followed our efforts to showcase and disseminate new musical creativity in our region. We will be joining you all back soon!
IMPORTANT NOTE: Our last concerts of the season (March 6, April 3 and 22, 2020 in South Bend and Chicago) had to be canceled due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dedicated as we are to our long-standing project NEW VOICES IN MICHIANA, supporting young composers of the region, we are now preparing a new video performance that we will announce in the next few days! Please stay tuned and visit our page for updates!
We will also announce a series of events adapted to the new social conditions imposed by the pandemic, seeking to keep you all engaged with the miracle of creating new music for our times. If you wish to be placed in our mailing list, send us a note at ensembleconcept21@gmail.com
