Performance: 5:00 PM Sunday, Sept. 26, 2021
Venue: Leach Botanical Gardens in Portland, OR
Submission Deadline: 11:59 PM PDT, Saturday, July 31, 2021
Eligibility: All Cascadia members in good standing for 2021. First preference will be given to members who did not have a work on the Cascadia chapter concert in the NACUSA festival.
Instrumentation: Cascadia is hiring three separate “groups”. No piano, no additional instruments or performers, and no combination across groups. Preference is for a full group but subsets are possible (e.g. cello and clarinet duo, or solo harp).
1. Trio with violinist Alexis Mahler, cellist Dylan Rieck, and clarinetist Justin Bulava
2. Hannah Penn, mezzo-soprano (“comfortable range” D3-A5) and Kate Petak, harp
3. Amelia Lukas, flute / alto flute
Selected composers must pay a $75 fee to help with production expenses. Fees are estimated to cover 20% of the total expense. The rest will come from ticket sales (our usual schedule) and operating funds on hand.
Concert theme / title: “Crossing Paths — New Music of Healing and Renewal” Each “group” will remain at one of 3 designated stations distributed in the garden for about 1 hour, repeating a set at intervals, while the audience walks by each station, or hangs out for awhile as they wish. The meditative and reflective aspect of walking between the intimate, woodland performance locales enhances the experience of music and togetherness, creating a sense of discovery. It’s optimistically conceived as a “recovery concert” to celebrate the return of live music after COVID, but may also be structured as a socially-distanced event in the event that COVID restrictions are still in effect in late September. In case of bad weather, we plan to present the concert conventionally at a nearby indoor venue with adequate space for social distancing.
Submission procedure: Anonymous submission. Remove or blank out anything on the score or other submitted media which identifies the composer. Check authorship, copyright notices, logos, program notes, performance notes, and so forth.
Composers may submit up to two works, but at most one can be selected. Works must be shorter than 8 minutes, and preference will be given to works shorter than 5 minutes.
Submit the following through the submission form on the NewMusicEngine.org website, along with required info such as instrumentation, duration, and contact info:
1. Score in PDF format, including any performance notes. Make sure nothing on the score identifies the composer. (PDF files are limited to 5MB by NewMusicEngine.)
2. Recording if available (MIDI is OK if none is), MP3 format preferred. A link may be submitted instead, if it’s more convenient or if your file does not upload for some reason. Make sure nothing in a media player window, the link or its landing page identifies the composer.
3. Bio and program notes, 200 words each or less, in the text boxes provided. These won’t be accessible to the selection committee. If there’s some aspect of your submission you feel needs an additional explanatory note, briefly and anonymously comment in the submission form’s “Additional comments” text box.
Selection process: A committee of Cascadia members and participating musicians, excluding anyone who submits work for this concert, will make all selections, which will be announced August 6. Final scores and parts are due August 9.
Questions? Please contact Jeff Winslow at jeffw@rdrop.com.
Thank you and good luck!
Jeff Winslow for Cascadia Composers (chapter of NACUSA)