Composition Competition

The Choral Society of the Australian National University (SCUNA) is proud to announce the launch of the Choral Composition Competition, which invites any keen musician to compose an original short piece for choir and orchestra of up to four minutes in length, using as their basis, at least one of the works by Professor William C Clarke that are contained in the entry form.

This is a wonderful opportunity for anyone who would like to hear their work performed by a large university choir and orchestra, conducted by Jonathan Powles. Furthermore, four finalists will have the fantastic opportunity to work with the choir, orchestra and several key music staff from the ANU School of Music in a weekend workshop that is designed to enhance their compositional skills. One lucky finalist may then be commissioned to compose a 20 minute piece for choir and orchestra to be performed in 2009.

SCUNA is a non-auditioned choir and orchestra formed of students, staff and friends of the Australian National University, in Canberra. The society comprises one of Canberra's largest and most successful choirs, having performed with rave reviews Handel's Messiah, Mozart's Requiem, Beethoven's Symphony No 9, and in 2008, the Carmina Burana with the Canberra Symphony Orchestra.

Jonathan Powles, SCUNA's Musical Director, has been conducting SCUNA since 2002. He graduated from the University of Sydney majoring in composition, then from the University of Oxford where he completed his Doctorate in musical analysis. He is a musicologist and a composer, whose award-winning compositions have been performed by SCUNA and other university groups internationally.

Entry

If you are interested in such a rare opportunity to showcase your compositional work, please read the attached guidelines and fill in the entry form. Please feel free to pass on this information to anyone who may be interested. This competition is open to all ages, with the only restriction being that entrants cannot have had a piece of work composed by them published nor been commissioned to compose a piece of work.

Entries close on 27 June 2008 with the workshop to take place from 26-28 September 2008. If you have any further enquiries, please do not hesitate in contacting the SCUNA President, Jesse Kennedy, on 0433 091 630 or scuna.committee[at]gmail.com