The Presteigne Festival has for many years held an international reputation for the performance and promotion of contemporary music. It is also well-known for its support and nurturing of young composers and performing artists at the start of their careers, having been twice short-listed for the annual Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards for best festival or concert series.
It seemed a natural progression for the Presteigne Festival to organise an annual competition for student and post-graduate composers which would stimulate the composition of contemporary classical music by young writers living in the United Kingdom.
The 2011 competition is open to any British-born composer whose date of birth falls between 1 January 1976 and 1 January 1991. The winning composition will be awarded the Second Alan Horne Prize for Composition (£1,000) and will be premiered by Alissa Firsova at a concert as part of the 2011 Presteigne Festival.
A group of short-listed compositions will be performed and recorded at a special workshop to take place in spring 2011. A distinguished group of performers and composers, including Joe Cutler, Alissa Firsova and George Vass will lead the workshop and mentoring session.
The composition should be an original, unperformed and unpublished piece scored for solo unprepared piano with a duration of between 5 and 7 minutes.
The composition must be submitted in handwritten or computer set manuscript; recorded compositions or graphic scores cannot be accepted. The closing date for receiving entries is Monday 28 February 2011.
Please click to download the 2011 Presteigne Festival Competition for Composers Information Pack for full details of rules, eligibility, entry form and guidance notes.
The Presteigne Festival is hugely grateful to Dominic Horne for his continued support of the competition.
2011 Presteigne Festival Competition for Composers
Wednesday, 15th December 2010