Celebrating its 20th anniversary, the Chinese Fine
Arts Society (CFAS) is sponsoring the Great Wall International Music
Composition Competition. Composers throughout the world are cordially
invited to participate by creating original music inspired by the Great
Wall, the ancient architectural structure which has witnessed
and embraced thousands of years of the history and culture of China.
Song
of the Great Wall
To aid competing composers in developing their
musical themes, two popular traditional musical tunes
related to the Great
Wall are sketched here for reference. It is not mandatory to
incorporate these tunes in any composition. However, innovative works
evolved from these themes will be welcome.
To see a sample of
the two popular traditional music tunes please click here.
FORM AND CONTENT OF COMPOSITION
Compositions in any form and style will be considered. Compositions
may be written for solo piano, strings, winds, voice, or traditional
Chinese instruments, including pipa, erhu, dizi and ancient zither.
Chamber ensembles for up to eight players including percussion will be
accepted. Sonata, suite, ballade, rhapsody are encouraged**. Entries
should not be longer than 15 minutes, or shorter than 12 minutes.
** The compositions in those forms are more
likely to be offered for students to learn as a competition requirement
for the Music Festival in Honor of Confucius, the flagship annual music
competition sponsored by CFAS.
Competition Procedure
A panel of world-renowned composers
will select five finalists from the entries submitted in this
competition. CFAS will sponsor a premiere concert to perform the five
winning compositions. The judges and the audience at the concert will
select the first and second prize winners. Other finalists will be
accorded runner-up status. The first prize winner will receive $5,000;
second prize, $2,000; runners-up will receive $1,000. One special prize of $1,000 will be offered for
the high school composers.
Finalists may
attend the premiere concert, or conduct their respective compositions.
However, CFAS will not be able to fund travel or other expenses.
The composers will retain the copyrights to
their works. CFAS reserves the right to perform, record, publish and
market the winning compositions.
Submission Guidelines
All competition entries should be received by Dec 1st, 2005. Each entry
should include three copies of the original composition, and an entry
fee of US $35 in check or money order payable to the Chinese Fine Arts
Society. A recording of the composition will be helpful. Scores of all
entries should be anonymous, identifiable only by the composer's
pseudonym on the top right corner of each page. All submitted materials
will not be returned. The finalists will be announced on the CFAS
website in early February, 2006.
Copyright
The composers will retain the
copyrights to their works. CFAS reserves the right to perform, record,
publish and market the winning compositions.
Competition Submission
Please fill out the application
form. By clicking on the application form link a
PDF file will be downloaded to your computer.