Grimethorpe Colliery Band are delighted to announce the launch of their first Annual Composition Competition, which aims to encourage composers at all stages of musical development to create new music for brass band. The band invites applications from composers of all ages, both nationally and internationally.
Prizes
The band offer a healthy prize fund of £1600, including an under 24 award to encourage aspiring young composers. All award winners will feature on our concert programmes, having their works performed in venues across the UK. Additionally, prizewinners will have their compositions featured on Grimethorpe Colliery Band’s forthcoming studio recordings.
- First Place – £1,000
- Second Place – £300
- Under 24 Prize – £300
Criteria
- Compositions must be 4-6 minutes in length
- Compositions must not have been previously published or performed
- Entries must contain a fully transposed set of parts including a score
- An MP3 realisation of the composition must be supplied
Compositions should be written for standard brass band instrumentation – all instruments to be written in treble clef apart from bass trombone, which should be written in bass clef.
- 1 Soprano Cornet (Eb)
- 9 Cornets (Bb)
- 1 Flugelhorn (Bb)
- 3 Tenor Horns (Eb)
- 2 Baritone Horns (Bb)
- 2 Euphoniums (Bb)
- 2 Tenor Trombones (Bb)
- 1 Bass Trombone (C)
- 2 Tubas (Eb)
- 2 Tubas (Bb)
- Tuned and untuned percussion, including timpani and drum kit
Further information
- All entries must be entertaining as well as challenging
- Mutes are available for all instruments
- It is not necessary to submit scores anonymously
- Electronics or audio backing tracks are welcome
- It is important to consider score/part presentation in all entries
How to enter
All entries should be submitted to composercomp@grimethorpeband.com by Friday 30th June 2023
The following process will then take place:
- A maximum of 8 finalists will be chosen by members of Grimethorpe Colliery Band following shortlisting
- Finalists will be announced on Friday 7th July
- All finalists will have pieces played in rehearsal week commencing Monday 10th July, with every band member casting a vote as well as an input from Grimethorpe Band’s Composer in Residence, Dr Liz Lane and International Composer in Residence, Dr Jack Stamp. All finalists will receive feedback from both experts
- Winners will be announced and have their pieces performed at our concert on Saturday 15th July, as part of the Barnsley Brassed On Festival
06/07/23: Semi-finalists announced
The semi-finalists are:
Chris Cobon
Werner De Bleser
Geoff Hannan
Philip Lawrence
Ray Douglas
Kang Ning Lim
Andrew Wainwright
Elias Dejahang
Karl Whelan
Matthew Herbert
Cory Brodack
Samuel Shelley
Jonatas Reis
David Saulesco
Stuart Rynn
Katerina Horka
Nicholas Ma
15/07/23: Winners announced
Grimethorpe Colliery Band are delighted to announce that the winner of our first annual composition competition is Andrew Wainwright for his composition “Fallen Souls”. Andrew will receive the £1,000 first prize.
In second place was Werner De Bleser for his composition “Mirror”. He will receive the 2nd prize and £300.
The under 24 prize goes to Nicholas Ma and his composition “Carnival of Masks”. He will also receive £300.
The band were absolutely delighted with the standard of the compositions and were proud to give Fallen Souls and Mirror their world premieres at our concert last night.
The band are now finalising details of a new recording that will feature some of the compositions that entered the competition.
