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.

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 university division is open to composers enrolled in Indiana University Jacobs School of Music composition courses in the fall semester of the current year. The junior division is open to any young composer in grades K through 12 during the fall semester of the current year who resides in the counties served by MAYO.[1] Submitted compositions must be original and previously unpublished.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. (Please see posted deadline for printed score and parts. The deadline is usually the third week of November each year.)  One original over-sized, bound score must be submitted by the submission deadline in addition to a PDF copy of the composition.

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. The panel will select finalists from the university division and from the junior division. Compositions chosen in this way will be performed at an open playoff concert at the annual MLK Play-a-thon in January. 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.

Senior Division Prize: $500 in cash, university division, and one guaranteed performance of the winning piece by the MAYO Symphony Orchestra on its spring concert.

Junior Division Prize: One guaranteed performance of the winning junior division piece within one year of the announcement.

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, (Year of Composition Premiere) 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, 726 N. Walnut Street, Bloomington, IN 47404 or email it to info@mayomusic.org.

Notification of finalists: Finalists will be notified in person at the fall symphony concert. All candidates are requested to attend the event.  Finalists will each receive one complimentary ticket to the event.