International Composition Competition

Prizes

The winner will receive:

• Glorvina and Richard Lynn New Music Prize ($3000)
• A performance of the winning work by the Garth Newel Piano Quartet during the 2024 Summer Music Festival
• A travel stipend to work with the Garth Newel Piano Quartet and attend the premiere in Hot Springs, Virginia
• Frequent performances and a high quality video recording of the winning work by the Garth Newel Piano Quartet.
• The opportunity to participate in a short-term residency in conjunction with the premiere. This residency will take place during Garth Newel’s prestigious Emerging Artist Fellowship chamber music program.
  • The winner will have the opportunity to work closely with the Garth Newel Piano Quartet and our Emerging Artist Fellows, with the possibility of readings and performances of the composer’s other chamber works.
  • Collaborate and network with talented musicians from the top music schools.

Guidelines

• Submitted works must be for violin, viola, cello and piano. Piano trios and quintets are not accepted.
• There is no time limit for works.
• Submissions from any composer, regardless of age or citizenship, are welcome.
• The work must be originally conceived as a piano quartet. Arrangements of previously completed works that have been performed or published are not acceptable

Compositions Are Ineligible If:

• They require live electronics or cannot be performed with just stereo playback
• The work has already received a professional premiere. (A student performance within the school community is allowed).
• They are a transcription or arrangement of another work that has been performed or published.
• They have already been professionally recorded for commercial CD release.
• The work, in any instrumentation, has been published.

Each composer must submit:

• A legible score and parts of professional quality labeled with a pseudonym. No marks identifying the composer may appear anywhere on the score. The title of the work is permissible.
• An envelope labeled with the composer’s pseudonym. Information within the envelope should include the composer’s name, address, telephone number, email address and one-paragraph biography.
• A digital recording of the work labeled with the composer’s pseudonym (CDs or flash drives are acceptable). MIDI realizations are acceptable.
• A self-addressed stamped envelope of appropriate size if the composer wishes to have their materials returned.

All materials should be mailed to:

Composition Competition
Garth Newel Music Center
403 Garth Newel Lane
Hot Springs, VA 24445

For electronic submissions:

• Email the score, instrumental parts, and audio file under a pseudonym to pianoquartet@garthnewel.org, along with the composer’s info in a pdf/word document labeled “do not open until after the results are determined”.
• Recordings that are too big can be sent via Dropbox or google drive. Please label the titles of digital tracks with the composition name as well as the composer’s pseudonym.

For electronic submissions, email your score, instrumental parts, and audio file under a pseudonym to pianoquartet@garthnewel.org, along with your biographical info in a pdf/word document labeled “do not open until after the results are determined”.

Deadline

All materials must be received by 11:59pm on November 1, 2023. Applicants will be notified of the result by e-mail no later than January 31, 2024.

For further information or questions, please email jeannette@garthnewel.org.

Submission of a composition constitutes a warranty by the composer that the work is original to the composer and does not infringe the copyright of any other person. The composer of the winning composition will retain the musical work copyright and grant the Garth Newel Piano Quartet an exclusive one-year license to perform the work. Subsequent performances by other artists must acknowledge that the work was composed for and premiered by the Garth Newel Piano Quartet.