Opportunities

Zicato Music Call for Scores

Submit your original work for string orchestra to Zicato Music! One winner will receive an exclusive two-year sheet music distribution deal and an all-expenses-paid recording of their work with a prominent European scoring orchestra! The winning composer will: 1) Receive full buyout rights to an all-expenses-paid live recording of their music with a professional European scoring orchestra; 2) Have their work’s sheet music professionally printed and distributed by Zicato Music; 3) Retain all copyrights and performance/mechanical royalties to their music; 4) Receive the majority of their work’s sheet music royalties.

2026 Music Production for Women Scholarships

Music Production for Women is offering 4 full for the 2026 Master Your Music Online Program, with two places kindly sponsored by Distrokid, 1 place sponsored by ICMP and another by MPW. The one year program has been designed to give women and gender minority musicians the skills to produce and mix high quality music and also learn a little about the marketing and business side of music as well. 

2026 Missouri Composers Project

The Columbia Civic Orchestra and Columbia Chamber Choir seek orchestral and choral works for the 2026 Missouri Composers Project (MOCOP) competition, with the goal of promoting music for larger forces written by Missouri composers. Works can be submitted in one of four categories: 1) Open Orchestral (up to 10 minutes in duration); 2) Open Choral (up to 8 minutes in duration); 3) High School Orchestral (up to 10 minutes in duration); 4) High School Choral (up to 8 minutes in duration). The open categories include any composer, of any age, who is either a resident of Missouri or whose submitted work was written while the composer was living in Missouri.

The Horizon Ensemble Call for Scores

The Horizon Ensemble is excited to announce our second Call for Scores! We are accepting submissions for an orchestral piece of 8-15 minutes, which will be performed live on May 31, 2026 in Boston, Massachusetts in the northeast United States of America. This piece will be included in our concert, “Bridges,” with music by Ruth Hertzman-Miller, Julian Gau, and Frank Bridge, featuring music about bridges: the Harvard Bridge, bridges between people, and Frank Bridge.The Horizon Ensemble can cover up to $150 for travel to the live concert performance. We’re excited for another voice to be part of it!

2026 Walter Beeler Memorial Composition Prize

The Ithaca College School of Music, Theatre, and Dance is proud to administer the Walter Beeler Memorial Composition Prize, a biannual wind ensemble/concert band composition contest. This highly successful and nationally renowned series is funded by the gracious support of the Ithaca College administration, alumni, and generous friends of the institution.

CGNJ Commissioning Competition for New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra

The Composers Guild of New Jersey announces a commissioning opportunity for New Jersey composers to write a new 5-7 minute piece for string quartet for performance and recording by members of the New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra (NBCO) in the spring of 2026. Any composer who currently lives, works, or studies in New Jersey may apply. One composer will be chosen jointly by CGNJ and the NBCO from among all applicants and given $1,000 on delivery of the score and parts. The commissioned piece must engage with an element of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.

Texas Tech University Electronic Nights Call for Multichannel Works

The School of Music at Texas Tech University invites composers to submit multichannel electroacoustic works (4-channel) for Electronic Nights Nr.6 and Nr.7 in Spring 2026. These concerts celebrate the art of space in sound, focusing on how music unfolds in and interacts with its acoustic environment. If your piece has been selected in previous Electronic Nights, please do not resubmit the same work. Previously premiered works are welcome; ensure you hold the necessary rights. Participation/attendance is optional; our team will handle all playback on site at Texas Tech University. We are waiting for your amazing pieces!

2026 Charles Ives Music Festival Call for Scores

Charles Ives Music Festival is a Connecticut-based classical music festival that celebrates the legacy of Charles Ives and 20th & 21st century music. The call for scores is open to emerging composers of any background to submit pieces to be performed by guest artists and artist-faculty at our Summer 2026 Festival, July 27–August 9, 2026. Compositions should be no more than 10 minutes in duration, and should be written for any combination/subset of 2 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos, piano, and flute. Works with prior performance history are welcome and composers may submit a live recording or a MIDI file.

2026 Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival

The Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA (the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art) is a 3-week musical utopia from July 13-Aug 2, 2026 for innovative composers and performers in the beautiful Berkshire mountains of western Massachusetts dedicated entirely to adventurous contemporary music. Composers will have their new works premiered during LOUD Weekend Festival July 30-Aug 2, 2026
by outstanding performers and will have daily seminars with our composition faculty, Bang on a Can co-founders and Artistic Directors Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe.

Albany Symphony Orchestrating the 21st Century Workshop

Orchestrating the 21st Century is an intensive, six-day workshop is held during the Albany Symphony’s American Music Festival in Troy, NY, focusing on composition for the modern orchestra. Curated and led by GRAMMY-nominated composer Christopher Theofanidis, participants become fully immersed in the Festival’s new music activities and events, interacting closely with resident composers, as well as with Albany Symphony musicians, visiting performers, and Albany Symphony Music Director, David Alan Miller. In 2026, there is a special Festival emphasis on Water Music New York: More Voices and the bicentennial of the completion of the Erie Canal. Participants may be energized by the new works curated to commemorate the historic feat of engineering, as well as the Albany Symphony’s role in “raising more voices” by commissioning contemporary composers to curate Erie Canal Bicentennial Events along the canal, kicking off during the American Music Festival in Troy, NY.

Lake George Music Festival 2026 Composer’s Institute

The Composer’s Institute at Lake George Music Festival (May 31– June 11, 2026) brings together some of the most promising young composers from across the country for a week of study and creative exchange. Under the mentorship of composer and Institute Director Alyssa Weinberg, students will attend a variety of seminars, masterclasses with Katherine Balch and Viet Cuong, and private lessons, while being able to participate in the vibrant musical and social life of the Lake George Music Festival. Each selected composer will be asked to write a new work for string quartet, to be workshopped, performed and recorded by our ensemble-in-residence The Rhythm Method.

Copland House CULTIVATE 2026 Workshop and Mentoring Program

Copland House announces CULTIVATE 2026 – its annual, intensive creative workshop and mentoring program for composers of all backgrounds and identities in the initial stages of their professional careers. Six fellowships are awarded to American citizens or permanent residents to participate in this weeklong emerging composers’ institute, which takes place June 1-9, 2026 at Aaron Copland’s National Historic Landmark home near New York City, and other nearby venues. Fellows are each commissioned to compose one 5- to 7-minute, small-ensemble composition (any combination of clarinet, violin, cello, and/or piano), which serves as the core of their work at CULTIVATE. All expenses (round-trip transportation within the continental U.S., session participation, accommodations, and food) are covered, and a commissioning honorarium of $500 is offered. Copland House retain ownership and copyright to the recording and will release the recording for online streaming later in 2026. Composers have input during the recording and editing process and are given a copy of the recording for private and professional uses. CULTIVATE Fellows also become eligible for various performance, recording, commissioning, and other career development opportunities.

Roots in the Sky 2026 Choral Composition Program

Roots in the Sky invites composers to apply for our 2026 Choral Composition Program, to be held August 19-22 in Bozeman, Montana and presented in partnership with Tinworks Art. Applicants must be aged 18+ and must currently reside in the US. Participants will compose a new a cappella choral work, 6-8 minutes in length, broadly inspired by the concert themes of resource extraction and the relationship between human activity and the environment. There is no tuition or cost to participate. Composers selected for the program will receive: 1) Premiere performances of their work in August 2026 in Bozeman, MT; 2) Roundtrip travel and accommodations for the premiere performances; 3) Feedback and support sessions during the drafting phase with composer Michael Gilbertson and Roots in the Sky Artistic Director Andrew Major; and 4) A professional recording for non-commercial, promotional use.

Delta Omicron 2025 Thor Johnson Commission Competition

The Delta Omicron Foundation, Inc., established in 1958, is a philanthropic organization that commissions the Thor Johnson Commission triennially. This current call is for compositions that will be premiered in 2028 at the Delta Omicron Fraternity Triennial Conference. A $3,000 award will be presented to the selected composition composer at that conference. Interested applicants need to submit the following by December 30, 2025: 1) A composition proposal for voice with piano accompaniment no longer than 15 minutes with multiple movements. The composer may choose the voice type for the composition; 2) A personal biography or vita; 3) Recordings of select previous compositions (CD or MIDI) or a list of such recorded compositions that are available online from a personal website. The selected commission proposal will be determined by early spring of 2026, and the full composition must be completed by January 15, 2028.

13th Annual MusicTeacherGifts.com Youth Composition Competition

Announcing the 13th Annual MusicTeacherGifts.com Youth Composition Competition for students ages 10 through 18 (or 19 if still in high school). Three age groups are divided for judging purposes: a) 10–14; b) 15–16; and c) 17–18 (19 if still in high school). Two judges give constructive feedback for every student who enters. 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes for two older groups and 1st and 2nd prizes given for younger group. $40 entry fee is used to give back as student prizes. Ties are given where warranted. J. W. Pepper has donated gift certificates for prizes.

Alba Music Festival Composition Program

The Alba Music Festival Composition Program, located in picturesque Alba, Italy, seeks applications from composers of any nationality and at any stage of their career for the 2026 music composition program spanning May 23rd through June 1st. The program features daily workshops, masterclasses, and one-on-one private lessons with the composition faculty, composers-in-residence, and guest artists. Participants will have their music performed and recorded by the Boston-based new music ensemble the Hinge Quartet and be mentored by our 2026 composers-in-residence Laura Elise Schwendinger and Lansing McLoskey, and our composition faculty which includes Reinaldo Moya and J Anthony Allen. Tuition is 3,490 euro; financial aid available. 

Como Conservatory Eidos Piano Project

Seeks solo piano works with or without electronics written since 2000, from any composers. Length restrictions vary depending on which level of piano student the work is intended for (see within). This is an ongoing competition. Scores will be selected every six months and may be used by teachers and students of the Como Conservatory (Italy) for teaching and concert production activities.