Site Search


Other Resources
News Archive






The Virginia Chorale Composition Competition

 The Virginia Chorale Composition Competition
Summary:Choral competition (female composers)
Deadline: 25 February 2019
Date Posted: 12 September 2018
Details: Description:
The Virginia Chorale seeks to identify a talented female composer and support her in the performance of an original work for cham- ber chorus to be premiered by the Virginia Chorale in celebration of its 35th year. The commissioned work will be rehearsed, pre- pared, and integrated into the ensemble’s final program of the 2018/19 season, Pioneering Voices: Celebrating Women Composers, which will be presented on May 12, 2019.

About the Virginia Chorale:
The Virginia Chorale is a highly skilled, auditioned, professional choral ensemble based in Norfolk, Virginia. Founded 34 years ago, the ensemble has grown from a community-based early music chorus to today’s dynamic group of professional singers, performing rep- ertoire ranging from the Middle Ages to the music of today. Highlights of past performances include Handel’s L’allegro, il penseroso ed il moderato with the internationally-acclaimed Mark Morris Dance Group; Richard Einhorn’s Voices of Light: The Passion of Joan of Arc in collaboration with the Virginia Symphony, featuring the 1928 silent film by Carl Dreyer; Jody Talbot’s Path of Miracles; Herbert Howells’ Requiem; David Lang’s The Little Match Girl; Handel’s Messiah at historic pitch accompanied by a chamber orchestra of period instruments; Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil; the premiere of Kristin Kuster’s opera KEPT: A Ghost Story, produced by the John Duffy Institute for New Opera; Jonathan Dove’s The Passing of the Year; and Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms with the Vir- ginia Symphony, as part of the Virginia Arts Festival’s Bernstein at 100, among others.

Composition details:
• Original, never before performed composition for mixed voices (SATB – may include divisi (up to two per voice)
• If the intended lyrics are not in public domain, and the composer is not the author and copyright holder of the lyrics, it is the responsibility of the composer to obtain permission from the copyright holder BEFORE the application deadline and submit proof of permission with the score
• under 10 minutes in length
• text may be sacred/secular and in any language and should be celebratory in nature
• composition may be unaccompanied, or with piano, and/or flute

Entry/application fee:
• $25 in US funds

Participant needs to send
• Cover sheet to include composer’s name, email address, mailing address, telephone number, brief biographical information
• Score in pdf format, from computer programs Finale or Sibelius (scores in hand notation will not be accepted)
• Permission from copyright holder of text, if not an original text
• Recording or audio file (optional, but recommended) These may be acoustic recordings or MIDI renderings. The quality of the recordings will NOT be judged. MP3 files only. (File name: Composer’s last name, first name, title)
• Application fee (US dollars only) app fees are non-refundable and will not be returned to those disqualified for not meeting the requirements of the competition. Checks should be made payable to Virginia Chorale. Credit card charges may be made by calling the VC office at 757-627-8375

Competition Prize
• The winner will receive a prize of $3,000. Payment will be in US funds. Prize monies will be subject to applicable tax laws and it is the responsibility of the winner to properly report the prize.
• A performance in concert of the newly-composed work will be recorded electronically. One copy of any such recording will be given to the composer.

Deadline and Process for Submissions
• Materials must be submitted on or before February 25, 2019
• Materials may be sent via email to info@vachorale.org , or mailed to this address: Virginia Chorale, P. O. Box 3455, Norfolk VA 23514
• Late entries will not be accepted.

Disqualified Submissions
• Late applications
• Incomplete entries
• Illegible copies

No materials submitted for this competition will be returned. Judging
The compositions will be examined by a 5-person jury chosen by the Virginia Chorale Board of Directors and will include the artis- tic director, a current member of the ensemble, and two or three professional musicians not otherwise affiliated with the Virginia Chorale and a member of the VC Board of Directors. The jury will select a winner and identify any applicants deserving of an ‘honorable mention.’
Virginia Chorale, with the advice of the jury, reserves the right not to award the prize. The jury’s decision is final and may not be appealed.

Public disclosure
Virginia Chorale will publicly announce the names of the competition winner (and ‘honorable mentions,’ if applicable), no later than April 1, 2019. The names of non-winners will NOT be made public and will be held in strict confidence. works do not win the prize will be informed no later than March 30, 2019
Web Site:www.vachorale.org/compcontest.html