2024 Call for Commission Proposals

REVISED Deadline: February 28, 2025

 

Note: Deadlines & dates have been extended for the 2024 Call for Proposals.

In an effort to improve access and to better provide fair compensation to composers, in 2022 i Coristi Chamber Choir re-imagined its biennial “Competition in Choral Composition” as a Call for Commission Proposals. Interested composers are invited to submit proposals to the choir according to the guidelines below prior to February 28, 2025. Proposals will be reviewed during the month of January, and the selected composer will be contacted by March 31, 2025; results will be announced in April 2025.

The i Coristi Chamber Choir Competition in Choral Composition was established in 2015 to amplify the works of Canadian composers, to build relationships, and to establish a venue for new choral works. Past winners include Trent Worthington (2015), Russell Wilkinson (2017), Nicholas Kelly (2019) and Stuart Beatch (2023).

i Coristi is an auditioned chamber choir of approximately 24 voices, known for its eclectic, high-quality performances. The choir’s repertoire ranges from the Renaissance to the avant-garde, the latter including elements of improvisation, electronics, and spatialized music. Our choristers are experienced singers who bring a wide variety of backgrounds to the ensemble—teachers, students, health-care workers, lawyers, nanotechnologists, professional musicians, and more. The choir typically performs three concerts each year, along with outreach concerts in the community.

Project Scope

i Coristi is seeking to commission a composer to create:

  • a new work for SATB choir,

  • either a cappella, with piano, or with one solo instrument, and/or with electronics or other installation,

  • with up to 3-part divisi within a section, if desired.

The choir has experience with and is comfortable including non-traditional elements such as extended vocal techniques, spatialized music, performing with electronics, incorporating projected imagery, etc.

The choir has a $3,000 budget available for the commission and will offer a commissioning fee per the Canadian League of Composers’s 2024 fee schedule (https://www.composition.org/resources/commissioning-rates/); we are therefore targeting a length of approximately 4–5 minutes. A recording of the premiere performance will also be made available to the successful applicant.

i Coristi will perform the piece at the first concert of its 2025/2026 season (typically in November).

  • As one of the goals of this project is to support Canadian choral music, we are inviting applications from composers who hold Canadian citizenship or who hold permanent resident status in Canada.

    We also recognize that the demographic and aesthetic diversity of Canadian artists remains at odds with our community’s distribution of resources and opportunities. We therefore encourage and welcome applicants from under-represented backgrounds including those of age, gender, sexual orientation, and ethnicity.

  • Composers are requested to submit proposals via email to contact@icoristi.com before 11:59 p.m. Mountain Time on February 28, 2025. We regret that we are only able to accept application materials via email.

    Please include the following with your proposal:

    • Your name and contact information.

    • A description of your concept for a piece meeting the parameters listed under Project Scope. Describe to us your vision: do you have a text in mind that you would like to set? Would you write an a cappella piece or incorporate piano or a solo instrument? Is there a particular style or musical language that you propose to explore? Do you plan to incorporate electronics, lighting, movement, or other elements?

      • If you are proposing to set copyrighted text, please include whether or not you have received or researched the necessary permissions.

    • A selection of existing scores or recordings of pieces you have written that are representative of your creative voice. (If including large files, please consider providing links or using a file-sharing service such as Google Drive.) Please anonymize these materials by removing your name and any other identifying information (such as performer, commissioner, prizes, etc.), as submissions will first be considered anonymously in assembling the shortlist.

    • Contact information for two potential referees (such as senior teachers or mentors, collaborative colleagues, or other commissioners). Only referees for shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

    There is no application fee.

    Shortlisted candidates will be asked to also provide a copy of their CV. Please do not include this with your initial proposal.
    Please do not send headshots or biographies; these materials will be requested as needed once the selection process is complete.

  • All submissions will be anonymized before being reviewed by a panel consisting of i Coristi’s Artistic Director, a member of the choir, and another choral conductor from outside our organization. The panel will create a shortlist from the anonymized materials, and then review the additional materials (CV and, as needed, referees), with knowledge of applicant identity, prior to making a final selection.

    Entrants who are shortlisted will be contacted via email in early January 2025 and asked to submit their additional materials (CV and referees) in early March 2025. The successful applicant will be contacted by March 31, 2025. We will request copies of the completed score by August 31, 2025.

    • February 28, 2025: Proposal Submission deadline to contact@icoristi.com(11:59pm MT)

    • Early March 2025: Shortlisted applicants contacted

    • March 2025: Shortlisted applicants submit additional materials as requested

    • March 31, 2025: Successful applicant chosen and contacted

    • April 2025: Results announced

    • August 31, 2025: Completed score due

    • First concert of i Coristi’s 2025/26 season: Commissioned work premiered