Emerging Composers with a connection to Canada’s Prairie Region are invited to submit their orchestral works to the 22nd edition of the CMC Prairie Region Emerging Composer Competition for Orchestra with a cash prize of $1,000 and performance by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (WSO) during the 2025 edition of the Winnipeg New Music Festival (WNMF).
Emerging composers of any age who are current residents of, were born in, or have completed a substantial portion of their musical education in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, The Northwest Territories, or Nunavut, may enter.
Submissions must be completed no later than July 1, 2024. See below for full submission requirements.
History:
The CMC Prairie Region invites emerging composers to enter this annual competition produced with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra at its Winnipeg New Music Festival. Conceived by anonymous donors, the Canadian Music Centre Prairie Region Emerging Composer Competition prize was first awarded in 2004; 2025 will mark the 22nd annual edition of the contest. The winning composition will receive a performance by the WSO during the 2025 edition of the WNMF.
Mentorship:
The winner will be invited to participate in the 7th annual WNMF Composers Institute, giving them the opportunity to experience the Winnipeg New Music Festival from behind the scenes, attending WSO rehearsals and concerts, and participating in professional development workshops with Canadian and international guest composers.
Eligible applicants are also welcomed to apply separately to the 2025 WNMF Composers Institute: https://www.wnmf.ca/composers-institute/
Emerging Composer Competition requirements
A. Eligibility & Guidelines:
- Applicants must either be current residents of, have been born in, or have completed a substantial portion of their musical education in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, The Northwest Territories, or Nunavut. Eligibility should be addressed in a cover letter.
- There are no age restrictions; however, applicants should be composers at the early stages of their professional careers.
- Each composer may submit only one composition for consideration.
- Past winners are not eligible.
- Only works that will not have been officially premiered prior to the WSO world premiere date are eligible. Works that have been read in an academic context are eligible.
- An mp3 recording of the work is required, either as an electronic mock-up or from a live reading.
- Only works completed after January 1, 2021, will be considered.
- Maximum duration is 8 minutes.
- Instrumentation should not exceed: winds at *2,*2,2,2; brass at 4,3,3,1; timpani plus 2 percussion; harp; and strings (12, 11, 8, 7, 6). *Available doublings are: Flute 2/Piccolo, and Oboe 2/English Horn. Works with instrumentation that exceed the above will not be considered.
- Works requiring soloists or employing electronics, MIDI, digital technology, and/or sound reinforcement in combination with the above instrumental forces will not be considered.
- The winning composer must provide professional, legible orchestral parts and scores prepared according to guidelines established by the Major Orchestral Librarians Association.
- The quality of the score and of the recording/mock-up submitted are the primary evaluation criteria. It is therefore in the applicant’s best interest that the score be clear, accurate, and the best representation of the composer’s work. The additional background information is for eligibility and documentation purposes, these materials are not considered in the general review of scores.
- Applications that are incomplete, illegible, late, or that do not meet the above criteria will not be considered.
B. Instrumentation:
Entries should use the following instrumentation: winds at *2,*2, 2,2; brass at 4,3,3,1; timpani plus 2 percussion; harp; and strings (12, 11, 8, 7, 6). *Available doublings are: Flute 2/Piccolo, and Oboe 2/English Horn. Works with instrumentation that exceed the above will not be considered.
Please note: There will be one rehearsal plus the dress rehearsal before the performance of the winning work. The suitability of entries for performance with this amount of rehearsal will be a factor in the jury’s deliberations.
C. Duration:
MAXIMUM of 8 minutes.
D. Prize:
The winner will receive $1,000, a concert performance of the winning work by the WSO at WNMF 2025, and participation in the full week of the WNMF Composers Institute. This affords the winner the opportunity to meet and receive coaching and mentorship from the Festival’s Canadian and International visiting guest composers. The winning score will be chosen by a jury consisting of representatives of the WSO and a CMC representative.
E. Deadline:
Submissions must be completed no later than July 1, 2024. The winner will be notified by September 1, 2024.
F. Submission
Only digital submissions will be accepted. Create a new Dropbox folder using the following naming format: LASTNAME-FIRSTNAME-PieceTitle
Inside the folder, include all of the following:
- An info document indicating your name, contact information, composition title, exact instrumentation, duration, and your status in the Prairie Region; use the naming format LASTNAME-FIRSTNAME-Info
- A PDF score with all references to your name and professional/academic affiliations omitted; use the naming format PieceTitle.pdf
- An MP3 recording (live or mock-up) with any reference to your name and affiliations omitted from the metadata (ID3); use the naming format PieceTitle.mp3
Send an email with the subject header CMC ECC 2025 Submission-LASTNAME , containing a link to your Dropbox folder, by the competition deadline to:
(Do not “share” the folder; only direct links will be accepted.)
The folder and its contents must remain active until December 1, 2024.
G. Send submissions to:
For more information contact:
Emerging Composer Competition
CMC Prairie Region at
2500 University Drive NW
Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4
(403) 220-7403
prairie@cmccanada.org
H. Past winners
2024: Robert Humber, Warmth Comes
2023: Gregory Parth, Teutoberg
2022: Thomas Joiner, Dawn
2021: Isaac Zee, On the Day of Judgement
2020: Henry From, Isle of Pic
2019: Scott Ross-Molyneux, Ehryakaviss
2018: Luis Ramirez, Chido
2017: Michael Ducharme, X-1
2016: Glenn Sutherland, To See Again with Spirit Eyes
2015: Nova Pon, Awakenings
2014: Roydon Tse, Three Musings
2013: Daniel Belland, Voyage
2012: Jesse Plessis, Tender is the Night
2011: Luke Nickel, L’étoile noyée
2010: Darren Miller, for amma
2009: Karen Sunabacka, And There Was a Great Calm
2008: Shelley Marwood, Illumination and Andrew Staniland, Protestmusik
2007: Boriša Sabljić, Deliverance
2006: Vincent Chee-Yung Ho, Stigmata
2005: Abigail Richardson, Dissolve
2004: Jocelyn Morlock, Bird in the Tangled Sky
