Read this if you want to score a State Premiere for your choir (without blowing your budget)

If you are a choral director, you already know the struggle. You want to offer your singers the thrill of a premiere, that unique sense of ownership that comes from being the first to breathe life into a new score. It matters for recruitment, for prestige, and for the artistic soul of your ensemble.

But then, reality hits. Budgets are tighter than ever. Travel and competitions are taking priority over commission fees. So how do you get a premiere when you can’t afford to commission?

The new reality for premieres

Recently, a highly respected colleague, the Director of Choral Activities at a major California university, told me something that is becoming a universal truth:

If that sounds familiar, you don’t need a budget miracle. You need a different model.

What is an Exclusive State Premiere?

Instead of paying for a global premiere, composers are increasingly offering geographical exclusivity. A State Premiere means you secure the right to be the only choir in your U.S. state (or province) to perform a specific new work during a given season.

For a fraction of a commission fee (often just the price of a standard licensing package), your choir gets the prestige of a premiere, and the composer gets their music performed across the country. It is a win-win.

Why I wrote Odes of Love for this model

That is exactly what drove me when writing my newest work, Odes of Love (SATB, piano, and guitar).

I didn’t want to write another slow, atmospheric choral cluster. I wanted pure, driving, rhythmic fire. Written in an unapologetic 7/8 time signature, it forces the singers to be aggressively present. It’s an ode to life, to breathing, and to the friends who hold us up. It is, without a doubt, the most honest piece I have ever written.

Because this piece is about shared joy and living in the moment, locking it behind a massive exclusive commission for a single ensemble felt wrong. So I decided to fracture the exclusivity geographically for the 2026/27 season.

How a State Premiere actually works

If you’ve never participated in a model like this, it’s designed to be refreshingly simple and completely transparent. Here is the plan:

This model rewards decisive directors

You don’t need a massive endowment to give your singers a premiere experience. You just need to be proactive. The State Premiere model is a race. The moment a colleague clicks “claim,” your state is gone.

If you are planning your 2026/27 season and you want to give your singers the thrill of an exclusive premiere, with serious rhythmic fire in the repertoire, don’t wait.