One thing I have to say about this and the eighth blackbird example: I can’t imagine this sort of exchange between a competition’s organizers and the target demographic happening just a decade ago. This is quite a new paradigm, at least for me, and a very exciting development.

Many, many thanks for your comment, and for your revised guidelines–I (and I’m sure many others) really appreciate your point of view, and I’m grateful for your openness to our feedback.

I think the unpublished requirement is totally fair, and I look forward to the results!

Regarding the debate over competition guidelines and entry fees, as thoroughly discussed in earlier forums and articles posted on this blog, we know our competition remains an example of the eternal question of which guidelines are acceptable and which are not. Having recognised this, we stand by our current rules.

We do not feel this competition is in any way exploitative, and did not intend for it to be from the outset. We are not seeking world premiere or exclusivity rights. Given the lack of opportunities for young composers to share their work, we simply aim to provide an outlet for them to be recognised on a larger scale, and will allow the winning entry to be chosen by public vote.

As ours is a new competition, we understand not every composer will feel the rewards are worth their time and effort to enter. But for those who do want to take part in what we are trying to achieve—providing a platform to express creativity, build future relationships, and encourage new work, we welcome their efforts.

Now back to my cheeseburger…

If you want to present a world premiere, great, and I get it – but then commission it from the composer of the winning submission. I understand that you’re then committing to a piece that you haven’t seen yet, but hey, that’s part of the job description.

They can ask for whatever requirements they want, but it doesn’t mean that we have to like them.

Sorry Villiers Quartet: get a better model and we’ll stop griping: honest.

I don’t think it’s kosher to request unperformed works unless you’ve commissioned them yourself. Otherwise, the request is that composers dedicate considerable time and money to writing a piece “on spec,” only to be performed if it happens to be selected as the winner, and we all know that there may be many worthy and even exceptional entries in a competition that do not win.

I’ve seen this a lot in competition entry guidelines lately, and it worries me. Performers: we love that you want to perform our work! We love that you want to get to know about new composers! But if you want to use the words “world premiere” in your press release, thus implying that the piece was written *for you*, you really should commission it.

I’m curious how other composers feel about this.