Opens: September 1, 2025
Deadline: October 31, 2025

The Boston New Music Initiative is pleased to announce an opportunity to write a new small work for this season’s theme “New England Legacies: The Boston Six Reimagined.” The purpose of this competition is to further the mission of The Boston New Music Initiative. Incorporated in 2010 to maintain an international network of composers, performers, conductors, directors, and champions of music, 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 a complete short work under 5 minutes; single movements of a larger work are acceptable. The winner(s) of this competition will receive a $50 prize, and the opportunity to compose a new work, 1-3 minutes in duration, for performance at a concert by The Boston New Music Initiative in the Boston Area in spring 2026. This new work will be a response to an existing work by one of the Boston Six composers: Edward MacDowell, Horatio Parker, Amy Beach, George Chadwick, Arthur Foote, and John K. Paine.

If selected, the composer may express a preference of instrumentation and which work they are responding to, but BNMI reserves the right to make final selections. New works will be for fixed media, solo, duet or trio including, flute, clarinet, violin, cello or piano. 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.

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 do not have to become members of BNMI, however Shout It Out Membership ($45/year) includes one free submission to ALL BNMI Calls for Scores (we host up to four per year) for one year. Information on membership benefits can be found here.
4. Accessibility. We realize that our submission portal may not be accessible for all persons with a disability. If you are unable to use our submission portal because of your disability, please e-mail us at info@bostonnewmusic.org and give us just your name, and that you intend to apply. We will then assist you on submitting your materials anonymously.
5. 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
6. 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 this form to upload the following materials: