Open call: The Boston New Music Initiative commissioning competition

The purpose of this competition is to further the mission of BNMI to maintain an international network of composers, performers, conductors, directors and champions of music in order to generate new music concerts, compositions, collaborations and commissions. Incorporated in 2010, the organisation aims to advance the careers of its members in the field of new music by serving as a resource for networking, professional development, commissioning, collaboration, and programming.

The competition will be open to any representative work, and the newly commissioned work will be for one or more members of the BNMI core ensemble.

Any composer is eligible except composers currently or formerly on the staff of BNMI and past commission winners are ineligible to apply. The competition will be adjudicated in a two-round, blind evaluation process. The winner of this competition will be awarded a grand prize of at least $1 000, in addition to being engaged to compose a new eight to 12 -minute work for performance by BNMI in a future concert season.

All composers are strongly encouraged to download and review the BNMI submission guide ahead of submitting to this competition.

Details

• Number of entries: There is no limit on the number of works a composer may submit, however, each work should be submitted as a separate entry. Multi-movement works should be submitted as single entries, even if movements are in separate files. (The submission process allows for multiple files per entry).
• Anonymity: All submissions must be anonymous. Scores or other materials with names or other identifying marks will not be considered. Please remove all identifying marks from all materials (except the composer information page, see submission process below) before submitting. One of the best ways to do this is through redaction. Please make sure no metadata including names or identifying marks remain in submitted files. No pseudonyms or code numbers are necessary.
• Membership: Composers wishing to submit scores must become members of BNMI. Whisper In Your Ear Membership is free and Shout It Out Membership is $25 a year. Information on membership benefits can be found here.

Note: Applicants should not send submission materials to this email address as the materials cannot be submitted using this method. When submitting inquiries, composers should be as generic as possible, and should not include the title of their piece in the query in order to preserve anonymity. Failing to do this will disqualify the entry.

File formats

The only acceptable file formats are:

• For the score: PDF.
• For (optional) audio recordings: MP3 or M4A.
• For video: MOV or M4V.
• All other materials: DOC, DOCX, TXT, RTF, ODT or PDF.

Submission process

Composers are asked to use the BNMI submission portal to upload the following materials (each as separate documents). If this is the composer’s first time submitting, they should review the BNMI submission guide prior to starting the submission process. Composers should label their scores, recordings and information sheets with the correct file type during the submission process.

• One (1) anonymous score, in PDF format only, of a representative work.
• A recording of the work (not required but encouraged).
• An entry fee for each submission. The entry fee for this competition is $20 for Whisper In Your Ear Members, and $10 for Shout It Out Members.
• An information sheet (make sure this is labelled with the correct file type) containing the following:
  • Composer’s contact information (name, phone number, physical mailing address, email address, and website URL, if any).
  • Composer biography (maximum 300 words) to be used in publicity if the composer is selected.

Click here to submit before 31 December.

All questions should be addressed via email at [email protected].

View the original call here.