Inversion announces 2020-21 Sandra Fivecoat Memorial Emerging Composer Contest

2020-21 Sandra Fivecoat Memorial Emerging Composer Contest

In memory of Sandra Fivecoat, Inversion announces that its third annual composition contest takes on the new title of the Sandra Fivecoat Memorial Emerging Composer Contest to be highlighted as part of our 2020-21 season After Silence. If safe to perform, the concerts will take place February 20 and 21, 2021, in Austin, Texas.

Two categories for this year’s contest:

1. Young Composers 35 years or younger as of January 1, 2021, are asked to write a setting of the Agnus Dei in Latin to be part of a collaboratively composed modern requiem.
               Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
               Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
               Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem.
2. All Composers of any age are asked to write a piece “in memoriam.” 

Please adhere to the February requiem concert theme Be near me when my light is low in order to be considered for performance. Inversion Ensemble is a modern, innovative ensemble so welcomes the use of extended technique, non-traditional forms, graphic scores, etc.

Qualifications:

Composers for both categories must currently reside in the United States including Alaska, Hawaii or U.S. Territories.

Composition Requirements:

1. 3-7 minutes in duration
2. Any combination of SATB voicing up to SSAATTBB
3. Either a cappella or with piano accompaniment
4. A cappella submissions must include piano reduction.
5. Text for the in memoriam piece must be public domain or be accompanied by a letter of permission from the copyright owner.
6. Please only submit one (1) entry total.
7. No fee is required for submission.

Please submit the following:

1.  PDF copy of your composition without your name anywhere on the body of composition. The PDF copy must be clear, clean and legible. No handwritten scores will be considered. Graphic scores may be a PDF scan of a written score if applicable.  

2. an mp3 recording or midi rendering (if possible)
3. a headshot 
4. a cover letter that includes the following information: 

Composer’s name
Physical address and mailing address (if different)
Phone number 

Email address

Date of birth

Current occupation (including if you are currently an enrolled student)

Short bio

Judging criteria includes, but is not limited to:

1. Compositional structure
2. Voice Leading
3. Harmonic language
4. Adherence to concert theme
5. Text selection and setting
6. Piano accompaniment (if applicable)
7. General understanding of choral idiom

All entries must be submitted by 11:59 PM January 1, 2021. The winner will be notified no later than February 1, 2021. The composer will have the opportunity to have a phone meeting with Artistic Director Trevor Shaw and members of the ensemble, including other composers. Each winner will each receive a $500 cash prize, certificate of achievement, inclusion of piece on February 2021 concerts (pandemic-permitting), and a recording of composition concert performances.

Please send submissions to Inversion Ensemble Managing Director Robbie LaBanca at .

About Inversion Ensemble: 

Inversion dedicates itself to presenting innovative new choral works by mostly local composers. Since its inception in 2017, Inversion has contributed 77 world premieres to the choral catalogue with its imaginative program themes. Its October 2018 project, I, Too, Sing America, garnered four Austin Critics Table nominations. Inversion is a proud member of the C4 National Network.  

About 2020-21 Season Five After Silence:

Inversion creates and shares evocative, thought-provoking music borne of pandemic and social upheaval in its fifth season, After Silence. Introducing a new collaboratively composed requiem for modern times with celebrated pianist Michelle Schumann, an oratorio focused on the 1990s AIDS epidemic, the launch of a new recital series, and a new experimental ensemble, IEX, that will collaborate with percussion ensemble line upon line. Adding to Inversion’s tally of 77 world premieres, this season features brand new music from the winner of Inversion’s second annual Emerging Composer contest, Christopher Fludd, talented composers from Carlos Cordero’s Happy Composer project, as well as Inversion’s own in-house composers.