Join the 2025 Busan Choral Festival & Competition!

Composition Competition Regulations

(Currency: KRW)

General Regulations

Throughout its festival and competition history, Busan Choral has fostered cultural exchange and promoted high quality of choral music by attracting notable artists, conductors, and composers to one of Asia’s top choral festivals. The Busan Choral Composition Competition seeks to engage with aspiring young composers and to encourage the creation and performance of new works written for the choral music genre. The 1st winning work will be premiered at the 2025 Busan Choral Festival & Competition during the week of October 30- November 2nd, 2025.

Eligibility

1) Composer must be born between MAY 31, 2005 and MAY 31, 1985.

(exceptions may be considered under the BCFC committee’s review.)

2) Compositions must not have been previously published or awarded in previous composition competitions and never publicly performed.

Length and Format

1) 3-10 minutes in duration

2) Piece must be for unaccompanied, equal or mixed voices choir.

3) Smaller, portable percussion instruments are allowed. (Xylophone, vibraphone and timpani not allowed).

4) Text can be chosen from Latin, English or Korean. If another language is chosen, a detailed English synopsis and pronunciation must be included in the score.

Application (May 31, 2025 Deadline / Korea Standard Time)

1) Complete Online Application Form (http://www.busanchoral.org/bcfc/competition/c_apply.asp)

2) Résumé/CV (*.doc / *.docx)

3) Copy of passport or ID Card with date of birth in JPEG format

4) Score in PDF format

5) English synopsis and pronunciation

6) Midi recording (by computer software) in MP3 format

7) 3 original copies of the score mailed to the Busan Choral office by May 31, 2025 (postmark deadline). Submitted original copies of scores will be used only for judging so there MUST be No Personal Information Included on the score for a fair evaluation. Scores submitted to the Busan Choral office will not be returned (Address: Busan Choral Festival & Competition / Busan Cultural Center, UN pyeonghwa-ro 76-1, Nam-gu, Busan, South Korea 48534).

8) Only one piece per person acceptable

Application Fee

1) Free

Results

1) Winners will be announced on July 20, 2025 on BCFC Website.

2) Composition will be judged by a panel of international jury. The jury’s decisions are final and cannot be appealed.

Awards

1) First Prize: ￦3,000,000

*Only the top prize winning work will be premiered at the 2025 BCFC in the week of October 30-November 2, 2025.

2) Second Prize: ￦2,000,000

3) Third Prize: ￦1,000,000

Publication and Rights

1) Busan Choral Festival & Competition and the Korea Choral Institute will hold publication rights of the score. Busan Choral Festival & Competition will hold performance and recording rights for up to two years following the results of the competition. This will be negotiated between Busan Choral and the composer.

2) Copyright will be retained by the composer .

3) The winning work cannot be submitted for future composition competitions.

Deadline

1) Online Application: By May 31, 2025

2) Result Announcement: On July 20, 2025