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.

The Society of Composers, Inc. is pleased to announce Jason Mountario as winner of the 2019  SCI Jazz Composition Contest for his composition, Fake People.  Graduating in 2019 from the Berklee College of Music, the 22-year-old Mountario also won two student awards this year from Downbeat Magazine.  He is a native of Jakarta, Indonesia, and current resident of Boston, MA. You can read more about him and hear his compositions at his website www.jasonmountario.com.  Judges for this year’s contest were Dan Cavanagh, Jim Sain, and James Miley. Congratulations, Jason!

The School of Music at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville in conjunction with the Society of Composers Inc. announces its fifth annual Contemporary Music Festival to be held March 4-6, 2020 at the Natalie L. Haslam Music Center.  We are implementing a call for scores as well as a call for papers/presentations.

All submissions for the calls should be made through New Music Engine. Individuals may submit for the score calls and the paper presentations, but a separate submission must be completed for each. The deadline for submission is midnight December 15, 2019, and applicants will be notified by January 1, 2020.

An in-depth overview of the festival, including guest composers and performers, along with submission guidelines, can be found via our page on the New Music Engine.

The Society of Composers, Inc., in conjunction with the Department of Music at the University of Texas at Arlington, is pleased to announce a call for scores for the 2020 SCI National Conference. The conference will be held March 26-28, 2020, on the campus of the University of Texas at Arlington, in the heart of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

The deadline for submission is September 30, 2019. Composers may submit up to two works. Works should be no longer than 20 minutes, but works shorter than 10 minutes are most likely to be programmed. Composers whose works will be performed at the conference will be notified via email no later than Nov. 1, 2019.

For full details or to submit, see the call for scores on New Music Engine:

https://www.newmusicengine.org/categories/2020-Society-of-Composers-National-Conference/