The “Young Composers Initiative” was established to give Canadian composers who are age 16 and under as of June 4th 2018 and who are Canadian residents, the opportunity to have their music played by a string orchestra in a public concert. The goals of the Young Composers Initiative are:
- To encourage the writing of contemporary works for strings by young composers
- To foster these composers’ development and careers
- To spread knowledge of their work and talent broadly across Canadian society
- To make their compositions known and more available to other orchestras
Works should be for an amateur ensemble comprised of as few as any three orchestral string instruments as normally found in a string orchestra or of up to 5 parts (plus divisi parts if required) as in traditional string orchestra writing (i.e. Violin 1, Violin 2, Viola, Cello, String Bass). A percussion part may also be part of the entry if the composer wishes.
The work entered must be less than 5 minutes in length. It must never have been a winner of any competition and must never have been performed in a public concert before.
Each entrant must make every compositional decision and actually write the notes of any work submitted but their teachers may serve as mentors and assist in the technological and logistical aspects of preparing and sending submissions. Teachers may not edit or arrange the works submitted. Entrants may submit only one entry to the SAO YCI 2018.
An Assessment Panel will determine the ranking of submissions based on the following criteria:
- Intrinsic artistic value
- The playability of the work by an amateur ensemble
- The skill and creativity exhibited by the composer
- The suitability of the work for performance for typical SAO audiences (Past SAO programmes are available for reference)
The Assessment Panel will consist of the following:
- The SAO Conductor
- The SAO President
- One non-board member from the orchestra
- Two additional panel members may be appointed by the SAO board
One submission will be declared the winner and awarded a performance at the 2017-18 season end Final Concert of the SAO on June 3rd 2018. Two runners-up will be declared. The first place winner will receive a prize of $150, the 2nd place winner will receive a prize of $75 and the 3rd place winner will receive a prize of $25, courtesy of Geo. Heinl & Co. If circumstances warrant and allow for it, the first runner-up submission may also be performed at an SAO concert. Of the entries not being cited as the winner or one of the runners-up, any number of finalists may be cited as “Honourable Mentions” and offered performances.
Entries must be submitted as a score and parts in pdf format in proper page order. In addition, an audio file of the composition in .mp3, .wav, .wma, .aiff, .aifc or other standard audio format will be required as part of the submission. Audio files generated by midi files or software are acceptable but must be renderings of the actual submission.
All parts of the entry documents must be fully completed and submitted to the Strings Attached Orchestra by 12 midnight on March 18, 2018 along with the score and parts in pdf files and an audio file of the work.
Incomplete submissions: Any incomplete submission received before March 18th may result in the entrant being notified that the submission is not complete and should be completed and resubmitted to the YCI 2018 if there is sufficient time for the SAO to do so. The SAO makes no guarantee in any form that entrants will be notified of incomplete entries in time for re-submission. Any submission received by March 18th 2018, which is not complete, may unfortunately be disqualified without notice.
The Strings Attached Orchestra (SAO) is a Toronto based registered charitable organization overseen by a board of directors made up of playing members of the orchestra. Members are all amateurs under the baton of a hired professional conductor. The primary missions of the SAO are:
- Performing live music at a high quality standard for communities that would not normally experience it, such as retirement homes, hospitals, day care centres, libraries, etc.
- Advancement of performer’s skills and knowledge levels in all areas and genres of music
- Advancement of music both new and old for string ensembles
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Strings Attached Orchestra 