EarShot – Columbus Symphony Composer Competition

EarShot – Columbus Symphony Composer Competition
October 27-29, 2015, Columbus, OH
Application deadline: THIS DEADLINE HAS PASSED

Photo credit: Randall L. Schieber

The Columbus Symphony, Rossen Milanov, Music Director, and EarShot, the National Orchestral Composition Discovery Network, announce Columbus Symphony Orchestra/EarShot Composer Competition to be held on October 27, 28 & 29, 2015 in Columbus, Ohio. The Composer Competition will provide three emerging composers the opportunity to work closely with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Music Director Rossen Milanov. Composers will be selected for the Composer Competition on a competitive basis and the experience will include feedback from principal Columbus Symphony musicians, Maestro Milanov, and mentor composers Robert Beaser, Margaret Brouwer, and Clint Needham. Donald Harris serves as honorary guest composer.

Two intensive reading sessions/rehearsals will take place on October 27th and 28th accompanied by feedback sessions with Columbus Symphony musicians, mentor composers and Maestro Milanov. On the 29th, the orchestra will hold a final dress-rehearsal, then perform all three works on a one-hour program that evening at the Southern Theatre.

Composers selected are responsible for delivering professional-quality score and parts. Composers will receive a recording of their work for archival and study purposes. Travel and accommodations will be provided.

Applicants must submit an electronic submission form, the orchestral score, a resume, works list, and letter of recommendation. Incomplete, illegible, or late applications will not be considered.

About Columbus Symphony & Rossen Milanov

Founded in 1951, the Columbus Symphony is Central Ohio’s oldest professional orchestra. Through an array of innovative artistic, educational, and community outreach programming, the Columbus Symphony is reaching a growing and diverse audience with great music. The Columbus Symphony shares great music with over a quarter million people in central Ohio each season through concerts, radio broadcasts, and special programming.

Rossen Milanov, Music Director of Columbus Symphony, is also Music Director of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of the nationally recognized training orchestra Symphony in C (New Jersey), and Principal Conductor of Orquesta Sinfo´nica del Principado de Asturias (Spain). Milanov has collaborated with some of the world’s preeminent artists, including Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, Midori, Christian Tetzlaff, and Andre´ Watts, as well as with such internationally esteemed vocalists as Nicolai Ghiaurov, Vesselina Kasarova, Angela Meade, Measha Brueggergosman, Anne Schwanewilms, and Krassimira Stoyanova. During his 11-year tenure with The Philadelphia Orchestra, he conducted more than 200 performances as associate conductor and artistic director of the orchestra’s summer home at The Mann Center for the Performing Arts. A well-known figure in North America, Milanov has appeared with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Indianapolis, Calgary, Alabama, Florida, New Jersey, North Carolina, Seattle, and Oregon, among others. His festival appearances include Aspen, Chautauqua, the Bravo! Vail Valley Festival, Grand Teton, and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. Internationally, he has collaborated with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Komische Oper Berlin, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Residentie Orkest, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of Lucerne, Mexico, Colombia, Sao Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Auckland, and New Zealand. On his regular tours to the Far East, he has appeared with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, China Philharmonic, and Singapore Symphony. Milanov’s passion for new music has resulted in numerous world premieres of works by composers including Richard Danielpour, Paul Moravec, Nicolas Maw, and Gabriel Prokofiev.

About Earshot

EarShot is a program of the American Composers Orchestra in collaboration with the American Composers Forum, League of American Orchestras, and New Music USA. EarShot helps orchestras around the country to identify and support promising composers in the early stages of their careers. EarShot advises organizations on the programs that would best suit their new-composer needs — from new-music readings to composer residencies and competitions — and assists with planning, identifying composers through its extensive nationwide calls, and program design and execution.

EarShot is made possible with the support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music and with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts. Additional funding provided by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation for suport of the women composers initiative.