We are pleased to announce a call for submission for the 2021 Online National Conference. The conference will take place from May 6-9th, 2021. We recognize the need for a national, peer-reviewed conference for our members and, despite the challenges that COVID-19 presents, we are excited to come together virtually to share music, knowledge, and ideas. The online format of this conference has several key benefits, namely the fact that composers and performers won’t need to travel great distances to participate and the lack of registration fees!

The deadline for submissions is February 19th, 2021. Preference will be given to pieces no longer than 10 minutes. Works may be submitted for any instrumentation, with or without electronics, or for featured ensemble Transient Canvas. Composers whose works will be performed at the online conference will be notified via email no later than March 15th.

For full details and to apply, please visit our Call for Submissions on New Music Engine:
https://www.newmusicengine.org/categories/2021-Society-of-Composers-Online-National-Conference/index.html

We at SCI are pleased to announced that Christopher Zuar is the winner of this year’s Jazz Competition Award. More information about Christopher’s music can be found at http://www.christopherzuar.com.

Congratulations to Christopher!

We also thank the judges for the award: Migiwa Miyajima, Marcus Lewis, and Jordan VanHemert. Many thanks as well go to Greg Simon for leading this contest for SCI.

Last summer, after much discussion among the leadership of SCI, a commitment was made to donate money collected from membership dues during the running of this competition to the non-profit group Castles of Our Skins. We are pleased to have been able to make this donation to support the impressive work they have been doing during the pandemic lock-downs to support the music of BIPOC composers.

To SCI Region V Applicants,

It is with great sadness and an abundance of caution that we have decided to cancel the SCI Region V Conference at Ohio University that was rescheduled to take place in April 2021. Fostering the new music community and encouraging student-composer interactions were some of our main objectives for this conference. We believe it is best to wait until it is safe to resume in-person festivals to best achieve these objectives. Thank you so much for your submissions. A new call for works will be issued when it is safe to schedule a new Region V Festival at Ohio University. We encourage you to resubmit at that time. Stay safe!
Best,
Robert McClure and Mark Phillips
Ohio University

SCI’s Student Council is pleased to announce the release of the Summer 2020 Student Mixtape! The mixtape features works covering a wide range of aesthetics composed by student members who identify as People of Color. Featured composers include Anuj Bhutani (University of North Texas), Pak Hei (Alvin) Leung (Bowling Green State University), Qingye Wu (Cincinnati Conservatory of Music), Jane Meenaghan (Columbia-Juilliard), Ramin Roshandel (University of Iowa), Maxwell Addae (Oberlin Conservatory of Music), Nathaniel Heyder (Cleveland Institute of Music), Corey Dundee (Univeristy of Michigan), and Daniel Gayden (Western Michigan University).

Please click on this link to head right to the mixtape, or select Publications > SCI Mixtapes from the top menu to gain access to all of the mixtapes that have been released so far.

Society of Composers, Inc. is pleased to announce the third annual Jazz Composition Competition. One first prize ($500) will be awarded for an outstanding work for jazz band.

There is no fee to submit to the 2020 competition, but all entrants must be SCI members at the time of submission. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, SCI has reduced the cost of a one-year membership for all new and renewing members: full membership is now $30; student membership is now $15, student chapter membership is now $10. Additionally, all new member applicants identifying as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) are eligible for complimentary membership.

Further details regarding the competition, along with the submission form itself, can be found on the New Music Engine.

Please join us in congratulating the winners of the 2020 SCI/ASCAP Student Composition Commission competition: 

Stephen Karukas is the winner in the undergraduate/high school level, for his piece It flows, for alto saxophone and marimba. He just graduated with a BM in composition and percussion performance from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Here is a link to a performance of his composition.

The high school/undergraduate award carries with it a $1,000 commission fee, premiere at an SCI conference, and recording in SCI CD Series (if qualifying).

Theo Chandler is our graduate-level winner, for his piece Oboe Concerto, for oboe, 3 percussionists, piano, and strings. Theo is pursuing his DMA at Rice University. Here is a link to a performance of his composition.

The graduate award carries with it a $1,500 commission fee, premiere at an SCI conference, recording in SCI CD Series (if qualifying), and score published in SCI Journal of Music Scores.

Dan Cavanagh and Elyse Kahler, co-hosts of the SCI 2020 National Conference at UTA, have issued one last update regarding the status of the conference.

“Dear all,

It is with sadness that Dr. Kahler and I are announcing that we need to fully cancel the 2020 SCI National Conference, which was originally scheduled for March here at the University of Texas at Arlington, and then re-scheduled for October 2020. As I am sure many of you are experiencing, the plans for this upcoming fall are crystalizing for arts groups and universities. It is the same here. With the expected social distancing measures, inability to rehearse large ensembles, and web of travel restrictions likely to be in place, it is prudent for us to cancel the conference so that SCI may begin moving forward to the future.If you were a participant in the conference, you will be receiving a separate email from our music office colleagues to discuss the procedure for refunds provided that you have already paid.I hope each of you is finding a way to navigate this pandemic. It reminds me that art is even more important to humanity and we can’t take it for granted.

Sincerely,

Dan Cavanagh                                                                                   Elyse Kahler”

The 2019 Florida Student Composer Mixtape is now online for all to enjoy. This mixtape features pieces by Florida-based student composers Isaac Barzso, Matthew Briggs, Anruo Cheng, Santiago Diazgranados, Ian Evans Guthrie, Danier Karcher, Ryne Siesky, and Wesley Thompson. It can be accessed by clicking on SCI Mixtapes under the Publications menu, or by clicking this link.