CHARLES IVES MUSIC FESTIVAL – CALL FOR SCORES
The application deadline for the 2025 Call for Scores program is February 3, 2025.
The Charles Ives Music Festival (CIMF) announces a Call for Scores. Based in northern Fairfield county – the home of Charles Ives – CIMF regularly features dynamic and unique emerging artists performing the music of Charles Ives, the music of 20th and 21st century American composers, and music that transcends the traditional boundaries of classical music to incorporate other styles of music.
We are seeking recent works composed by composers of any age and at the early or emerging stages of their careers for all or any subset of the following: 2 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos, piano, and harp.
One work will be chosen to be performed during the Charles Ives Music Festival in concert on Thursday, July 31, 2025. Pieces are performed by guest artists and artist-faculty from leading American orchestras and chamber ensembles including the MET Opera Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Carpe Diem String Quartet. Read about the artists here. The selected composer is invited to the concert to hear his or her work performed, will receive an archival recording, and if possible, may be invited to give a forum to festival composers.
Submissions will be selected by a panel consisting of CIMF Artistic Director and composer Paul Frucht, CIMF Composition Program Director and composer Jon Cziner, and CIMF Artist-Faculty.
Additionally, we will award at least one honorable mention/runner up and works not chosen for this particular performance will be kept in mind for future performances.
Eligibility:
– Any composer residing within the United States, or an American citizen residing abroad, is eligible regardless of age, sex, color, creed, sexual orientation, marital status, disability or veteran status.
– Pieces should be no longer than 10 minutes in duration and must be composed for any combination of 2 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos, piano, and harp.
– Works with either a prior performance or no prior performance are eligible.
– Composers may submit as many pieces as they wish for consideration (payment details below).
Application Process:
1. All submissions must be sent to CIMFCallforscores@gmail.com
2. The subject of your email should read “Your name – Charles Ives Music Festival Call for Scores Submission 2025”
3. Please include the following information in your email:
Full name
Cell phone number
PDF of your score
PDF of a bio and/or resume (two pages maximum)
A link/file of an audio or video recording of your work. While live recordings are preferred, MIDI recordings are accepted.
4. To complete your submission, please pay the application fee of $20 for every submitted piece through PayPal. Click the PAYPAL link below to pay the fee.
Please note that we require an application fee to provide for administrative overhead and judging of this competition.
Timeline:
– All emailed submissions must be received by Monday, February 3, 2025 at 11:59 PM EST.
– All application fees must be received by Monday, February 3, 2025 at 11:59 PM EST.
– The selected composer will be notified by Monday, March 3, 2025. All entrants will be notified of the results of the competition shortly thereafter.
The Winning Composer Will:
– Be required to provide PDF parts and score to CIMF by May 1, 2025
– Not be required to attend the performance, but is welcome to do so. Funding for local travel (i.e. from NYC) is available. The winning composer may also be invited to present their music to CIMF student composers (for an additional fee).
– Have their work performed by CIMF Artist-Faculty on a CIMF Artist Concert during our Summer 2025 Festival.
– Receive an archival recording of the performance.
Contact:
Please contact Jon Cziner at CIMFCallforscores@gmail.com with any questions regarding your application.
PAYPAL LINK – Click HERE
Congratulations to our 2020 Call for Scores Winners, Harriet Steinke and Alex Stephenson! Their works were judged by composer-in-residence Kati Agocs, composition program faculty and composer Jon Cziner, and artistic director Paul Frucht. Read more about them and their works below.
Harriet Steinke is an American composer from Detroit, Michigan. Her music has premiered across the U.S., with recent projects including commissions from Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings, Pro Musica Detroit, the Wichita Falls Youth Symphony Orchestra (Wichita Falls, TX), the Women’s Wind Ensemble (Greensboro, NC), the piano sextet Grand Band (NYC), and the Tanglewood Music Center (Lenox, MA). She has received awards from the American Prize and the American Composers Forum and fellowships from the Norfolk New Music Workshop, Soundstreams Composer Workshop (now RBC Bridges), and Tanglewood.
Harriet currently serves as composer-in-residence for the Ann Arbor-based chamber ensemble Virago, for whom she is writing a concert-length work called “Listening for Bells” to be premiered during the 2020-2021 season. In addition to her work as a composer, she regularly collaborates with several arts organizations as a project manager and grant writer. She recently founded the Detroit Composers’ Project, an organization that partners with performers, ensembles, and institutions to facilitate performances of new work.
Harriet studied music composition and english language at Butler University in Indianapolis where her mentors included composers Michael Schelle, Frank Felice, and Ronald Caltabiano. She begins graduate studies at the Yale School of Music in Fall 2020. Learn more at www.harrietsteinke.com and click here to hear her winning work, One Foot in the Dark.
Composer Alex Stephenson was born in Philadelphia and is currently based in Southern California. His music, praised as “masterfully orchestrated” and of “sonic beauty” (San Diego Union-Tribune), stems from a deep-rooted lyrical impulse, an acute interest in the exploration of acoustic structure, and a desire to engage in dialogue with other forms of artistic expression and aspects of human experience. He has created work in a variety of acoustic, electroacoustic, and interdisciplinary contexts and seeks out forms that give rise to a sense of uncanny logic and urgent communication.
Alex’s music has been presented at and/or commissioned by the Tanglewood, Royaumont, Santa Fe, Breckenridge, Composers Conference, and New York City Electroacoustic festivals, and other festivals and venues across the United States and internationally. Recent performances have featured the New Fromm Players, Flux Quartet, Miranda Cuckson, Steven Schick, Ensemble Voix Nouvelles (cond. Pierre-André Valade), Bard College Conservatory Graduate Vocal Arts Program (dir. Dawn Upshaw), and the Society for New Music, among others. Honors include a Tanglewood Music Center composition fellowship, US-UK Fulbright scholarship, the Brian M. Israel Prize, and artist residencies at Avaloch Farm Music Institute and Marble House Project.
Alex is pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of California, San Diego, and has studied with Julian Anderson, Robert Morris, Oliver Schneller, and Rand Steiger. Read more about Alex at http://alexstephenson.com and click here to hear to his winning work, Bloom.