NOW OPEN: 43RD ANNUAL CHORAL COMPOSITION CONTEST

Encouraging the creation of new choral music for over four decades, the 43rd Annual Ithaca College Choral Composition Contest is now accepting entries. Compositions should be suitable for high school Mixed Choral Ensembles (SATB – Some divisi acceptable). Three to five minutes performance length is appropriate. Applications must be received by December 1, 2022.  

 The Robert Campbell ’40, M.S. ’50, Endowed Choral Composition Prize will be awarded to the first-place winner in the annual Choral Composition Festival. Winners of first and second place will be awarded the following cash prizes:  

 FIRST PLACE - $1,200 | SECOND PLACE - $700 

 Finalists of the 43rd Annual Choral Composition Contest will be announced December 9, 2022.  

 The Ithaca College Choral Composition Festival will be held Saturday, February 11, 2023 at Ithaca College.  Finalist composers have the opportunity to work with choirs performing their compositions.

 Sponsored by the Ithaca College School of Music and Mark Foster Publishing (a division of Hal Leonard), this competition is open to all composers except for Ithaca College faculty, staff, and students and anyone who has been awarded First Place in this Choral Composition Contest within the last five years. 

 Applications must be received by December 1, 2022. 

SUBMISSION AND RETURN GUIDELINES

Entry Fee of $25 (U.S. Dollars) per score. Make checks payable to Ithaca College.

Send to:

IC Choirs

Ithaca College

953 Danby Rd.

Ithaca, NY 14850

  • Electronic submissions: Manuscripts may be submitted via email to ic-choirs@ithaca.edu (checks must still be mailed using the above address)
    • Name must not appear on the score. 
  • Snail Mail: If you are mailing a hard copy, include your name, address, phone number, and email in a sealed envelope. 
    • Name must not appear on the score. 
    • Size of manuscript must not exceed 8 ½” by 14” 
    • No scores will be returned unless a self-addressed mailer and postage are provided. 

 

A panel of judges selects a certain number of submissions to be included in the festival, which includes the performance of these works by select high school choruses, and the selection of a first and second composition prize winner. In addition to these performances, the festival features the premiere of a choral work commissioned for performance by the Ithaca College Choir.  Listed below are previously commissioned composers.

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR 2021-22 WINNERS!

The Ithaca College Choral Department is proud to announce our two winners of the 2021-22 Choral Composition Contest:

"The Grass" by Phil Hayden

"I Had No Time for Hate" by Ellen Gilson Voth

Congratulations! The Ithaca College Choral Ensembles look forward to premiering your pieces!

PREVIOUSLY COMMISSIONED WORKS

1979: Vincent Persichetti, Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis

1980: Samuel Adler, Two Shelley Songs

1981: Karel Husa, Every Day

1982: William Schuman, Esses

1983: Dan Locklair, Break Away

1984: Eugene Butler, Eternity and Time

1985: Iain Hamilton, The Convergence

1986: Ellen Taafe Zwilic, Thanksgiving Song

1987: Richard Wernick, The Eleventh Commandment

1988: Peter Schickele, Songs I Taught My Mother

1989: Thomas Pasatieri, Three Mysteries for Chorus

1990: Norman Dello Joio, The Quest

1991: Augusta R. Thomas, Sanctus

1992: Norman Dello Joio, Songs of Memory*

1993: Ronald Caltabian, Metaphor

1994: Thea Musgrave, On The Underground

1995, Daniel Pinkham: Passion Music

1996: Daniel Asia, purer than purest pure

1997: Chen Yi, Spring Dreams

1998: Robert Maggio, Aristotle

1999: Lowell Lieberman, Three Elizabethan Songs

2000: George Tsontakis, Ithaka

2001: Chen Yi, Xuan

2002: Anthony Iannaccone, The Soul’s Expression

2003: Daniel Dorff, The Colors of Creation

2004: Dan Welcher, Leaves of Grass

2005: Ron Nelson, Let us find a meadow

2006: Dana Wilson, Love’s Phases

2007: Gary Schocker, Confederate Soldier’s Prayer

2008: Behzad Ranjbaran, We are one

2009: Steven Stucky, Gravity’s Dream

2010: René Clausen, At Dusk

2011: Carol Barnett, Bega

2012: Paul Carey, …to balance myself upon a broken world

2013: Dominick DiOrio, The Journey To Ithaca

2014: Tawnie Olson, Spring and Fall

2015: Dale Trumbore, All We Need

2016: Francisco Núñez, The Voice You Hear

2017: Timothy C. Takach, Annabel

2018: Shawn Crouch, As They Draw to a Close

2019: Michael Bussewitz-Quarm, The World, This Wall, and Me

* Centennial Commission