Following the success of the inaugural competition, the award-winning A4 Brass quartet has announced the launch of their second composition competition.
The group have enjoyed an exciting 2018, winning the Royal Over-Seas League Chamber Music Competition, as well as working with City Music Foundation & becoming Honorary Artists in Association at the Royal Northern College of Music and giving a number of high profile concert and media appearances.
Award winners
Last year's competition attracted a number of entries from around the world, with the first prize won by talented Cardiff based composer Daniel Hall for, 'The Black Dahlia'. This, alongside runner-up Jared McCunnie's 'Just Cause' and under 24' category winner Toby Carswell's 'Fantasy' have been both recorded and performed by the quartet throughout various projects in 2018.
2019 inspiration
For this year's competition, A4 Brass are looking for a concert work inspired by one of the following landmark events which will be taking place in 2019:
500 years since death of Leonardo da Vinci
200 years since birth of Queen Victoria
150 years since birth of Mahatma Gandhi
50th anniversary of the moon landing
Rules:
The brief for the compositions is very free, but the following must apply to each entry:
Compositions must be of 4-8 minutes in duration
Works must never have been performed before
Instrumentation of: Bb Cornet (doubling Flugel), Tenor Horn in Eb, Baritone Horn in Bb (treble clef) and Euphonium in Bb (treble clef)
Mutes are available if required for all instruments
Anonymous scores are NOT accepted
Please consider presentation, practicality and suitability for concert performance for the entry!
For this year's competition, A4 Brass are looking for a concert work inspired by landmark events which will be taking place in 20194BR
Prizes:
Once again, A4 are delighted to be able to offer prizes aimed to encourage a new generation of student composers with a special Under 24 award (if both 1st and 2nd prize fall into this category, the next highest U24 entry will receive this award).
1st Prize: £400, a professional recording and regular performances on the quartet's concert series in 2019/2020.
2nd Prize: £150, a professional recording and regular performances on the quartet's concert series in 2019/2020.
Under 24 Prize: £100 and a professional recording of the work.
How to enter:
Scores can be submitted as either a Sibelius 7 (or earlier) file OR as PDF files accompanied by an mp3/m4a file, and need to be emailed to a4brassquartet@hotmail.co.uk with 'A4 COMPOSITION' in the subject line.
The closing date for entries is Friday 8th March 2019, with award winners being announced and notified in early April.
