COMPOSITION COMPETITION

Deadline: Manuscripts must be submitted in .pdf format and must be emailed to info@mayomusic.org by 12:00 midnight on Saturday, November 1, 2008. Competitors who need assistance creating .pdf files should notify MAYO at info@mayomusic.org no later than one week before the deadline (Saturday, October 25). We can help.

Competition Rules

The Musical Arts Youth Orchestra (MAYO) seeks an upbeat, up-tempo piece appropriate as a concert opener or concert closer—an energetic, exciting piece that will have the audience on its feet. (Dancing or cheering or both.) Feel free to be innovative—don’t hesitate to use dramatic elements, visual elements, pop or rock or jazz elements, props, costumes, unexpected sounds—you get the idea. And don’t hesitate to involve the audience. Composition length should be a maximum of eight (8) minutes, minimum of three (3) minutes. DEADLINE: Saturday, November 1, 2008.

Instrumentation: up to 2+1, 2+1, 2+1, 2, 4, 3, 3, 1, tmp +perc, str (the iMAYO Festival orchestra typically boasts as many as 120 members)

Eligibility: The senior division is open to composers enrolled in Indiana University Jacobs School of Music composition courses in the fall semester of 2008. The junior division is open to any young composer in grades K through 12 during the fall semester of 2008 who resides in the counties served by MAYO.[1] Submitted compositions must be original and previously unpublished.

Entry fee: There is no entry fee, but the expense of printing score and parts is the responsibility of the contestant. (Note that scores and parts will be needed from all finalists for the playoff performance on January 19. Due date for scores and parts is December 6, 2008.)

Selection Process and Prize

Selection process: Our panel is made up of members of the Composition faculty from the Jacobs School of Music, plus MAYO Music Director Jose Valencia and Youth Orchestras of Fresno Music Director Thomas Loewenheim. The panel will select a maximum of four finalists from the senior division and two finalists from the junior division. Compositions chosen in this way will be performed at an open playoff concert on January 19, 2009. The winning composition will be announced at the playoffs. Composers should understand that rehearsal time before the playoffs will be short. They will want to design pieces that can enrapture an audience even under such circumstances.

Prize: $500 in cash and two guaranteed performances of the winning piece, one by the iMAYO International Festival Orchestra on its concert on Sunday April 19 at the IU Auditorium, the second by the Youth Orchestras of Fresno, CA, within a year of the announcement of the winning composition.

Application

Restrictions: MAYO reserves the right to declare that a winner does not exist if the entry requirements and musical standards are not fulfilled.

Publication: Should the winning composition be published, it must carry the designation Winner, 2009 Musical Arts Youth Orchestra Competition on score and individual parts. Upon publication, all royalties will remain the sole property of the composer.

PDFs can be mailed on disk to MAYO, PO Box 5081, Bloomington IN 47407 or email it to info@mayomusic.org.

Notification of finalists: Finalists will be notified by Saturday, November 22, 2008. The announcement will be made at the MAYO concert that evening.