International Call for Scores

Thank you for your interest. The call for scores has now closed.

Since time immemorial the past has been a source of inspiration for artists working in every creative field. O/Modernt (translated as ‘Un/Modern’) is the concept devised by the violinist Hugo Ticciati that celebrates this ‘looking back’, using imaginative programming to explore vital connections between old and new. O/Modernt embraces the world of contemporary music, collaborating with composers of all ages, from all over the world.

In total O/Modernt has commissioned over forty works in the last seven years, ranging from short solo works for harpsichord to fully-fledged cantatas and symphonic concertos. In 2020 O/Modernt holds its second annual composition award in collaboration with Gehrmans Musikförlag, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and Goethe-Institut Schweden; the winning work will be performed by world-class artists at Festival O/Modernt and CBSO Centre.

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To commemorate the double anniversary of the Romanian-born poet Paul Celan (1920-1970), applicants are asked to write a work in response to his life and poetry. Celan, a lifelong expatriate who was fluent in six languages, once wrote: "The language in which I make my poems [German] has nothing to do with any spoken here or elsewhere." Yet, he was imbued with literary culture: his birthplace, Czernowitz, was reputed to have had more bookshops than bakeries.

Responding to Celan, applicants are asked particularly to reflect on universal themes of hope and suffering.

Guidelines

INSTRUMENTATION
Cello, Piano and optional mezzo soprano

LENGTH 5-8 minutes

DEADLINE 1 April 2020

AGE
Open to all emerging composers 

How to enter

TO ENTER email a PDF of the score to [email protected] along with:
APPLICANT DETAILS: name, date of birth, nationality, country of residence, email address, telephone number, short biography
WORK DETAILS: title, length and short description of the idea behind the work

Prize

€1,500 in prize money (Prize money can be split according to the jury’s discretion)

Premiere at Festival O/Modernt in June 2020

Performance with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group

Flights and accommodation to attend the world premiere in Sweden (to an amount not exceeding €400)

Publication with Gehrmans Musikförlag

Jury

Tobias Broström
Jill Jarman
Stephan Meier
Matthew Peterson
Albert Schnelzer
Andrea Tarrodi
Mark Tatlow

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PATRON Pēteris Vasks

In the tenth edition of the festival in June 2020 O/Modernt will celebrate Schubert, a master in the expression of tragedy commingled with luminous hope.