Call for Scores 2024-25

Application Deadline: Friday, July 19, 2024 – 11:59 PM EST

Application Fee: $0

Contact: westsidechamberplayers@gmail.com

Open to students composers enrolled in an academic institution for the 2023-24 academic year. 2024 graduates are welcome to apply.

Submission should be 6-10 minutes in length, for chamber orchestra instrumentation (2.2.2.2.-2.1.1.0-str). Works featuring solo instruments are also accepted.

NOTE FOR PERCUSSION SCORING: works scored with percussion (including Harp and Keyboard) are accepted for submission. Ease of accommodating instruments will be taken into consideration: timpani, bass drum, vibraphone and other large instruments will be difficult to program.

Two winning works will be performed and recorded during our 2024-25 season.

Send the following materials to westsidechamberplayers@gmail.com with the subject line “Call for Scores 2024-25 Submission”

1. Two full scores of the same work – one score with personal information, and one formatted without personal information (anonymous)

2. Sample part (ex. Bassoon 2, Cello, Viola)

3. Midi file

4. Resume

5. Optional: biography and/or cover letter that tells us about you and your piece

The reviewing process includes a blind first round, and a final committee review.

Carlos Bandera, Of Rain and Air (2021)

Carlos Bandera is a composer whose music is characterized by a glacial unfolding of sonic landscapes. He often expands simple elements into large-scale musical structures, through which he explores the interplay of harmony, noise, and texture.

Bandera's orchestral work Materia Prima, premiered in 2023 at Carnegie Hall by the American Composers Orchestra, was described by the New York Classical Review as having “one of the most immersive and elegant transitions from nothingness to complexity that one has heard.” His music has been performed by groups including the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the American Composers Orchestra, the Albany Symphony, the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, Dogs of Desire, Hotel Elefant, Earspace, Hebrides Ensemble, Nebula Ensemble, Omnibus Ensemble, and Now Hear This. He has been a fellow at Copland House’s CULTIVATE, Orchestra of St Luke’s DeGaetano Composition Institute, Composers Conference, and the Underwood New Music Readings, and he has attended the Delian Academy for New Music and Time of Music (Musiikin aika). Recently, his piece Meristem was performed by the Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra during their “On the Road” tour across South East England and his piece Spirare II was recorded by Yarn/Wire.

Bandera holds a Master of Music degree from Peabody Conservatory and a Bachelor of Music degree from Montclair State University. He is currently based in Chicago where he is pursuing his PhD in Composition and Music Technology at Northwestern University.

Learn more about Carlos here.

Akari Komura, Inhabited by air (2023)

Akari Komura (b.1996) is a Japanese composer-vocalist whose works center around contemplative engagement with listening and soundmaking. She is interested in curating a participatory performance space that invites a community of musicians and listeners for a collective transformative experience. Her works have been presented at the Atlantic Music Festival, Composers Conference, Montreal Contemporary Music Lab, Nief-Norf, and soundSCAPE. She holds an M.M. in Composition from the University of Michigan and a B.A. in Vocal Arts from the University of California, Irvine. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Composition at the University of California San Diego.

Learn more about Akari here.

Cole Reyes, Sprint (2022)

Cole Reyes (b. 1998) is a Brooklyn-based composer, educator, conductor, and performer originally from the Chicagoland Area. His music explores the intersection between personal experience and the world beyond.

He has collaborated with artists such as JACK Quartet, the Rhythm Method Quartet, Bergamot Quartet, Juventas New Music Ensemble, BlackBox Ensemble, Del Sol Quartet, Transient Canvas, Hypercube, and Unheard-of//Ensemble among others. Recent commissions include those from the National Orchestral Institute, Six Degrees Singers, the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, D.C., and the Victory Players.

His primary composition teachers include Julia Wolfe, Michael Gordon, Robert Honstein, Christopher Stark, and LJ White. He has participated in summer festivals including the Bang on a Can Summer Festival, National Orchestral Institute, Connecticut Summerfest, and the Lake George Music Festival. He is co-founder of Telos Consort, a professional chamber ensemble based in New York City. He will begin doctoral studies at the University of Michigan in the fall of 2023.

Learn more about Cole here.