Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, in partnership with WQXR, has been running Project 440, a contest for four commissioning slots for their 2011-’12 seasons. Starting with sixty composers, they’ve put these emerging and mid-career artists through extensive vetting, including interviews, blogging (and blogosphere comments!), judging of their works by a committee of expert composers and orchestra members, and, earlier this week, a marathon of their pieces on Q2.

Yesterday, it was announced that the field had been winnowed down to twelve. They are:

Timothy Andres
Tyondai Braxton
Yu-Hui Chang
Eric Guinivan
Alexandre Lunsqui
Dylan Mattingly
Alex Mincek
Clint Needham
Andrew Norman
Paola Prestini
Sean Shepherd
Cynthia Wong

Congratulations to the finalists. The four winners will be announced in October.