Welcome Christmas Carol Contest

Since 1998, ACF has partnered with Minneapolis-based VocalEssence

on the annual Welcome Christmas Carol Contest. Each year the contest seeks new carols for chorus with a variety of instrumental accompaniments. This year’s call is for carols scored for mixed chorus and viola.

Two composers are selected annually as the winners of the competition. They receive a $1000 prize and their carols are premiered at the VocalEssence Welcome Christmas concerts in December. These concerts have been recorded for regional broadcast on the network stations of Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), and distributed nationally by American Public Media.

The application deadline for this year’s competition is August 21, 2009 (postmark). Eligibility: Composers of all ages whose permanent residence is North America.

Complete competition guidelines, program description and the application form are available at http://www.composersforum.org/programs_detail.cfm?oid=11287&section=performances

See also:

www.vocalessence.org

For more information about this program contact Craig Carnahan.

ccarnahan@composersforum.org

(p) 651.251.2833

Call for soprano and violin music

Hope Wechkin and Washington Composers Forum present a call for scores for soprano and violin (one performer). Chosen music will be performed on a concert in Seattle with date TBA.

ABOUT THE PERFORMER

Hope Wechkin is best known to Seattle audiences for innovative and virtuosic pairings of the voice and violin. Her recent show Charisma featured such a pairing, and was presented at ACT Theatre. A well-known interpreter of contemporary vocal literature, she has premiered many works by Northwest composers and is the soprano soloist with Affinity. In 2006 she performed George Crumb's Ancient Voices of Children for Seattle Symphony's Made in America festival, and she has appeared with the Contemporary Opera Lab in Winnipeg, Canada. She has also appeared as a soloist with The Esoterics, the Pacific Chamber Ensemble, the Northwest Chorale, and others. A graduate of Yale University and the University of Washington School of Medicine, Ms. Wechkin has studied with Thomasa Eckert, Marianne Weltmann, and Nancy Zylstra in Seattle, and with Josephine Mongiardo in New York.

ELIGIBILITY The call is open to the general public.

SUBMISSION Composers may submit multiple scores for soprano and violin (one performer). Scores may be of any duration. Previously performed works are welcome, but the performance history of the work must be included. The performer will adjudicate the call, and may choose not to perform any of the submissions. Submission packets must be received by May 4, 2009 and contain the following: 1) Performing score(s). Duration and page numbers must be clearly indicated. Scores must be marked with a pseudonym. 2) Contact information envelope containing name, address, phone number, email address and pseudonym. To have materials returned, include a self-addressed stamped envelope.

If the submission is expedited, please do not require a signature for delivery. Otherwise, the submission may be held up.

For more information contact WCF.

Send submissions to: Soprano and Violin Submissions

Washington Composers Forum

6114 12th Avenue NE Seattle WA 98115-6704 USA

The Esoterics announces 2009-2010 POLYPHONOS Competition

The Esoterics announces 2009-2010 POLYPHONOS Competition (Reminder)

The Esoterics announces an international call for a cappella choral scores - its annual competition for choral composition, POLYPHONOS, from the Greek πολυφωνος, having many voices or manifold in expression.

The purpose of The Esoterics' POLYPHONOS is to encourage today's choral composers to broaden the scope of the a cappella choral repertory by setting sacred and poetical texts found beyond the Western classical canon in order to create a repertoire of choral concert music that reflects the universal beauty and power of unaccompanied voices joined in song.

There will be up to three POLYPHONOS awards, and each winning composer will receive a commission from The Esoterics to plan and compose a new choral work that will be premiered by the ensemble in 2010. In addition to this commission, each of the winning composers will receive $1000 US plus airfare and accommodations to attend the Seattle premiere of their commissioned work.

Entry form, portfolio requirements and complete rules can be found at www.theesoterics.org/polyphonos

All applications must be complete and received by 15 May 2009
(Less than a month away!)
The winners of The Esoterics' POLYPHONOS will be announced on 1 July 2009

For questions, please contact polyphonos@TheEsoterics.org

PS - In our October 2009 concert MYSTERIUM, the Esoterics will premier the POLYPHONOS commissions of the 2008-2009 winners - Shawn Brogan Allison, Eduardo Andrés Malachevsky, and Nilo Alcala.