Performance: 5:00PM Sunday, Aug. 28, 2022
Venue: Leach Botanical Garden (LBG below) in Portland, OR (see this map with ADA)
Submission Deadline: 11:59 PM PDT, Saturday (NOT Monday as usual), June 11, 2022
Eligibility: All Cascadia members in good standing for 2022, except those with works on our 5/14/2022 concert.
Instrumentation: By member request, Cascadia is expanding last year’s concert concept to include works that use LBG (the venue) as a compositional resource. Cascadia will hire groups similar to last year, as follows. Station locations are preliminary and may be changed:
1.Rose City Brass Quintet to open the concert, surrounding a central audience at some distance, while other groups remain silent. Antiphonal writing encouraged. Quartets and trios will be considered at a lower priority.
2. Mezzo-soprano or baritone TBD with one marimbist. Same location as last year’s singer (see the LBG map accompanying the score call).
3. Solo clarinet or bass clarinet on the Tree Walk, possibly with one percussionist playing handheld percussion or the structure of the metal walkway itself (inquire for more information).
4. Percussion soloist near lower entrance or in East Terrace.
5. French horn solo. In last year’s trio area.
No piano, no additional musicians, and no combinations across groups.
Works with improvisation are encouraged, especially that which responds to cues from the LBG space and sounds.
Media-only works specifically inspired by the Garden or that use it as a compositional resource (e.g. birdsongs expected for that time and place, or shifting shadows that trigger musical gestures) are also welcome. They’ll be incorporated into a sound installation centered on Johnson Creek (see map, and accompanying photo). Daniel Brugh will be in charge of selection and tech for media-only works. Questions? Contact danielbrugh5@gmail.com.
Acoustic works aren’t required to specifically relate to LBG, but of course such works are welcome.
Composer fee: Selected composers must pay a $75 fee for solo works, $100 for duo works, $125 for all others, to help with production expenses. These 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.
If your work is selected and the fee is a serious financial hardship, please contact Jeff Winslow at jeffw@rdrop.com — we want to cast a wide net.
Concert theme / title: Title TBD. After the opening brass quintet, each “group” will remain at 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.
Cascadia has chosen the Leach Botanical Garden to encourage people to listen with open ears and appreciate with open eyes, not only the music but the natural sounds and sights of wind, trees, water, birds and other people in the garden. Our music, whether slow or fast, soft or loud, should not overwhelm what the garden itself offers us, but work in a kind of harmony with its energy and presence. What that means musically is, naturally, left to the composer’s judgment.
In case of bad weather, we will reschedule on a later day at LBG.
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 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.
4. If there are lyrics, you may submit them as part of the program notes, or as a text file in PDF format. If they’re not in English, include a translation.
5. Lyrics permission — If there are lyrics that are not in the public domain, include a text file in PDF format showing you have permission to use them. Be sure to enter the author(s) in the separate text input box, even if the lyrics are in the public domain. — 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.
Selection process: A committee of Cascadia members and participating musicians, excluding anyone who submits work for this concert, will select acoustic works to be programmed, which will be announced by June 17. Final scores and parts are due June 20.
Questions? Please contact Jeff Winslow at jeffw@rdrop.com.
Thank you and good luck!
Jeff Winslow for Cascadia Composers (chapter of NACUSA)
We uphold and embrace principles of inclusivity and equity in all our programming, for all our members and the community, in terms of gender, race, age, location, national origin, sexual orientation, religion, socio-economic status and artistic practice.