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Call for Scores: BNMI's 15th Anniversary Celebration Commissioning Prize

Opens: November 1, 2024
Deadline: December 15, 2024

The Boston New Music Initiative is pleased to announce an opportunity to write a new small work for its 15th Anniversary celebration. The purpose of this competition is to further the mission of The Boston New Music Initiative 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 organization 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.

Composers interested in the competition should submit a score and recording (as applicable) of the best two minutes of their music. The winner(s) of this competition will receive a $50 prize, and the opportunity to compose a new 1-3 minute work for performance by The Boston New Music Initiative during a pop-up concert series in the Boston Area in spring 2025.

If selected, the composer may express a preference of instrumentation, but BNMI reserves the right to make final selections. New works will be for fixed media, solo, duet or trio including, flute, clarinet, saxophone, violin and cello. Additional instruments may be available at BNMI’s discretion.

Any composer is eligible except those currently or formerly on the staff of The Boston New Music Initiative and past commission winners. The competition will be adjudicated in a blind evaluation process.

Any composer is eligible except those currently or formerly on the staff of The Boston New Music Initiative and past commission winners. The competition will be adjudicated in a blind evaluation process.

We strongly encourage all composers to download and review the BNMI Submission Guide ahead of submitting to this competition.

Details

  1. 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.)
  2. 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. Please make sure no metadata including names or identifying marks remain in submitted files. Please do not use a pseudonym or code number, simply remove your name. The best way to completely remove your name from a score is to use the "Redact" option in a pdf reader/editor. 
  3. Membership. Composers wishing to submit scores must become members of BNMI; Whisper In Your Ear Membership is free and Shout It Out Membership is $45 a year. Information on membership benefits can be found here.
  4. 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
  5. Questions? Please address any questions to info@bostonnewmusic.org. Note: Please do NOT send submission materials to this email address as the materials cannot be submitted using this method. When submitting inquiries, please be as generic as possible, and do not include the title of your piece in the query in order to preserve anonymity.

Submission Process

Composers are asked to use our submission portal to upload the following materials (each as separate documents). If this is your first time submitting, please review our submission guide prior to starting the submission process. Please be sure to label your scores, recordings and information sheets with the correct file type during the submission process.

  1. One (1) anonymous score, in PDF format only of the two minute score or excerpt.

  2. A recording of the work or excerpt (not required but encouraged)
  3. An entry fee for each submission.  The entry fee for this competition is $30 per submission. “Shout It Out" Members receive one free submission, and each additional submission is 50% off. If the entry fee is a barrier to participation, please contact us at info@bostonnewmusic.org.
  4. An information sheet (make sure this is labeled with the correct file type!) containing the following:
    1. Composer’s contact information (name, phone number, physical mailing address, email address, and website URL, if any)
    2. Composer biography (maximum 300 words), to be used if the composer is selected.  BNMI reserves the right to truncate the composer biography if it exceeds the word limit.

To Apply:

Please click the submit button at the bottom of the page.

We strongly encourage all composers to download and review the BNMI Submission Guide ahead of submitting to this competition.


Helpful Hints:

  1. Please note that new memberships may take up to 24 hours to be approved (although usually much less). Composers signing up as new members who wish to submit to this competition should be sure to allot enough time for the approval process to complete in order to meet the December 31 deadline.
  2. The submission portal is not available without login credentials. Composers who are not existing BNMI members should not attempt to go to the submission portal without submitting a membership application first: http://www.bostonnewmusic.org/membership in order to create login credentials.
  3. Once your files have been added for all submissions be sure to complete your payment in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen. Shout It Out members must have dues paid in full in order to receive full membership benefits, including discounts on Calls for Scores and commissioning competitions. For those composers submitting more than one entry, payment should be made only after ALL entries have been completed.
  4. Make sure you have correctly labeled all files with the correct file type. This is how entries are sorted, and incorrect labeling can lead to your entry being voided because anonymity is compromised.
  5. More questions? Please see our submission guide.

Click here to submit.

©#### The Boston New Music Initiative, Inc.
P.O. Box 400420 Cambridge, MA 02140