Handel Choir of Baltimore is proud to announce its 2022 Made in Baltimore Emerging Composers Competition. The winning composer will receive a commission fee of $1,500 for the composition of a new work for chorus and piano, to be premiered by Handel Choir of Baltimore and Steinway Artist Lura Johnson during the spring of 2024.
RULES
- Applicants must be current students or emerging composers
- Applicants must have significant ties to the greater Baltimore region, including but not limited to: current or former residence; studies with a Baltimore-based teacher; ongoing professional relationships; and/or general legacy connections.
- There is no application fee.
- Only one entry per composer is permitted.
- All materials must be received no later than 11:59pm EST, Dec. 31, 2022 to be guaranteed consideration, and submitted at this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeVP30lDKTO6QyHgaykEcqYO0KxfR9Uasf_TonyqTDAmft-SQ/viewform?pli=1.
- Composers commissioned by Handel Choir in the last five years, or who have a pending commission involving Handel Choir, are ineligible.
COMMISSION
The winning composer will be awarded a $1,500 commission to compose a new work, 5-10 minutes in length, for mixed choir and piano. The piece should utilize the text of Baltimore poet Frances Harper, and should foreground the piano part in some notable way. The commissioned work will appear on the second half of the program, which will include the following works:
Edvard Grieg – Lyric Pieces (Op. 71), No. 4: Waldes Stille
Jean Sibelius – Five Piano Pieces (Op. 75), No. 5: The Spruce
Engelbert Humperdinck, arr. Lowell Liebermann – Evening Prayer from Hänsel and Gretel
Franz Liszt – Two Concert Études (S.145), No. 1: Waldesrauschen
TBD commissioned work
Jake Runestad – Come to the Woods
The winning composer is asked to consider the thematic nature of this program when selecting texts, and will be provided with suggested samples from Frances Harper’s work for consideration. Handel Choir reserves the right to delay or deny performance of the work for any reason; under such circumstances, the composer would still be awarded their fee.
Handel Choir will retain all scores submitted for the possibility of future programming, and reserves the right to perform applicant pieces, regardless of their winning status, with the consent of the composer.
SUBMISSION MATERIALS
- Applicants must submit a completed copy of the application form.
- Applicants must submit scores of two representative compositions from their output.
- Scores must be anonymous, and employ a pseudonym.
- Scores must be in PDF format.
- At least one score must feature chorus.
- Scores which feature piano writing are also encouraged, but not required.
- All materials must be received no later than 11:59pm EST, December 31, 2022 to be guaranteed consideration.
RESULTS
- Applications will be judged by an anonymous three-person panel.
- Applicants will be privately notified of the results by email no later than March 4, 2023.
- The winning applicant will be publicly announced during Handel Choir’s Visions, Dreams & Flying Machines concert on March 11, 2023.
- Results will also be published at handelchoir.org.
- For further information, please contact us at info@handelchoir.org