IFCM Announces 2012 Choral Composition Contest: $6,500 Prize

The International Federation for Choral Music (IFCM) has announced its Second International Competition for Choral Composition. The chief aim of which is to promote the creation and distribution of new, innovative, and accessible choral repertoire.

Eligibility

Participation is open to composers of any age and nationality. There is no entry fee to participate in the Competition.

Compositions

The Competition is dedicated to choral, a cappella compositions (SATB or divided into as many as eight parts, SSAATTBB) with a maximum duration of eight (8) minutes. The text of the composition can be sacred or secular, in any language (but please note that an English translation is required for texts in other languages) and written for any occasion. Pre-existing texts should be in the public domain. Where this is not the case, permission to set a text and publish it subsequently, must be obtained in writing from the author or copyright holder and must be enclosed with the entry form.

Submission

A maximum of two works per composer may be submitted. All entries must be sent by the electronic form here by October 1, 2012 at the latest.

Scores should be sent electronically either in PDF or JPEG format made from Sibelius, Finale, or in a similar program. The jury actively encourages handwritten works in pen or pencil. Manuscripts must be scanned as PDF or JPEG format. A midi file may also be included with any submission. Tapes or CDs may not be submitted. The composer’s name shall not appear anywhere on any score.

Selection Process

The IFCM Competition Office will receive all works, which will then be sent to jury members. No composer’s identity will be divulged to the jury before or during judging. The jury’s decision will be announced in the International Choral Bulletin (ICB). Each participant shall include a document (.doc or .rtf file) with full address, contact details and title of each composition submitted. This document shall also contain a written, signed statement by the composer declaring that any score submitted is unpublished, has never previously been performed, and has never been awarded a prize in any previous contest.

The competition will be judged by a jury consisting of international choral conductors and composers. The jury’s decision is final.

Strong consideration will be given to a work’s potential for performance and repeated performance by a majority of choirs possessing the appropriate voicing requirements. The winning work must demonstrate excellence of composition, ‘singability’ (given reasonable rehearsal time), idiomatic effectiveness, and most importantly, fresh and innovative approaches to choral writing.

Prize

The award winning work will receive a cash prize of 5,000 Euros (which is roughly 6,500 dollars) and will be premiered by The Philippine Madrigal Singers within six (6) months after the announcement of the result and performed by other leading international choirs on at least three other continents within the ensuing 12 months. The composer and the work will also be featured in a major article in the International Choral Bulletin (ICB) in 2013 and will receive assistance from IFCM in seeking a major music publisher for the winning work.

A Special Prize for a work demonstrating ‘harmonic originality’ may be awarded by the jury to one other work. The composer will have the chance to work with the British vocal ensemble Voces8 in a workshop-rehearsal. Date to be set at discretion of IFCM in consultation with these parties. Other awards and prizes may be given by the jury as available and appropriate.

For More Information

IFCM Website

Download this information as a PDF

Dr. Andrea Angelini, ICB Managing Editor, IFCM, aangelini@ifcm.net