This year we have added Composition as a new discipline to the Stratford & East London Music Festival.
This is an entirely online discipline. Composers are asked to submit pieces of work in PDF format. Electronic or very legible handwritten copies are acceptable. A performance video is not required.
The music must be your own original, unpublished composition and you must be an amateur composer.
Your piece must not exceed 10 minutes to perform.
The closing date for receipt of Composition entries is Friday 3 February 2023.
NB The closing date for all other entries is 30 December 2022.
Adjudication will be via Zoom; and entrants will be notified of the date. After the adjudication, entrants will be emailed a mark sheet with the adjudicator's comments and a certificate.
Our Composition Convenor, Stella Redburn, explains why this new discipline is so important to her:
"Although I have been writing my own music for a long time, beginning with simple guitar tunes when I was at school, it wasn’t until lockdown that I decided to take my interest a little further and sign up for some composition lessons on Zoom. I discovered I loved creating more complex music and when I had a chance to hear my music performed, it was even better! So I began to write mainly for my church choir and for the string quartet I play in.
"This year I have taken the big step of introducing a new discipline of composition to the festival. I really hope this will prove popular because creating music has given me so much pleasure. I hope that a wide range of people will send in music – ranging from first timers writing their first song to A-level students and beyond. Why not take a look at the Composition Syllabus to find out what the new classes are and how you can enter?
"Here's a video of my church choir singing Ring Out You Bells, a song I composed during lockdown."