Choirs Ontario

Category: Call for Submissions

Awards, Call for Submissions

Ken Fleet Choral Conducting Scholarship Now Open For Applications!

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Please share the news with your choral conducting students and colleagues to apply by March 1, 2021!

Funded by the Ken Fleet Choral Conducting Scholarship Fund, this award provides up to $2,000 for choral conducting workshop professional development. It’s intended to benefit Ontario residents with formal music education currently studying choral conducting or planning to continue their studies in this field.

Application Dates: December 1, 2020 – March 1, 2021

Awards, Call for Submissions

National Choral Awards Deadline: March 1, 2020

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(French version to follow/Version française à suivre)

Do you know anyone who has excelled in any of the following categories? Get their outstanding work recognized by nominating them for a National Choral Award!
Deadline: March 1, 2020
Click here to submit a nomination: https://www.choralcanada.org/national-choral-awards.html

Connaissez-vous quelqu’un qui fait du travail excellent dans l’une des catégories ci-dessous? Vous pouvez récompenser leurs efforts en posant leur candidature pour un des Prix nationaux de chant choral!
Date limite: le 1 mars 2020
Pour poser une candidature: https://www.choralcanada.org/prix-nationaux-de-chant-choral.html

Call for Submissions, Press Release

Registration Now Open: Canadian Renaissance Music Summer School

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Register NOW for the 2020 Annual Canadian Renaissance Music Summer School (May 2020)!

February 1st is the deadline for applications to participate in the annual Canadian Renaissance Music Summer School (CRMSS). Directed by world-renowned baritone and choral workshop leader Greg Skidmore https://www.gregskidmore.co.uk, it will once again take place from May 9 to 17, 2020 at Huron University (part of Western University) in London Ontario. In its third year, this school is the only Renaissance choral music workshop of its kind in Canada. It is on par with the best of these types of workshops run by The Tallis Scholars (Seattle), the Early Music Academy (Boston) and those held across England and Europe. In fact, the schools official patron is Peter Phillips, the current director of The Tallis Scholars.

A welcoming message from our director, Greg Skidmore:
“I can’t tell you how excited I am for CRMSS 2020. This is our third year and we’ve had such great fun and learned so much since May 2018. I’m especially excited this year to be focusing on the works of the Franco-Flemish school, really the ‘home’ of Renaissance polyphonic music. Equally exciting is our expanding tutor team, this year including CRMSS Guest Artist Robert Hollingworth (director of the UK’s dynamic and inventive vocal consort, I Fagiolini) and five master’s level performance students from the University of York in the UK, all of whom bring a wide range of experience and energy to the course. If you want to spend a whole week diving so deep into Renaissance polyphony you think you might never want to come up for air, please get in touch (info@crmss.org) and apply! I can’t wait to hear from you.”

Aimed primarily, but not exclusively, at undergraduate students, graduates, and young professional singers, the school is dedicated to the study and performance of Renaissance polyphonic vocal music at the highest levels. Students will learn from internationally-acknowledged specialist tutors from the worlds of performance and academia https://www.crmss.org/tutors.html, and be immersed in this magnificent music for a full week. It will be an intensive period of rehearsal and performance, both liturgically and in concert, all with an emphasis on quality in performance.

The theme of CRMSS 2020 is Beyond the Ordinary with a focus on Franco-Flemish music. Complete Details of the course curriculum here:https://www.crmss.org/course.html . Canadian Renaissance Music Summer School 2020 will culminate in a final live concert performance for the public at the end of the course, again this year in the gorgeous acoustics of St Peter’s Cathedral Basilica in London on Sunday, May 17th at 2:30pm.

We have received many glowing testimonials by students from previous years – like this one:
“CRMSS is an incredible opportunity for North American conducting students to get a profoundly different and valuable perspective on the art of choral music. Grounded in the choral practices of the most esteemed ensembles in the UK, Greg and co. teach you how to sing, study, and think like a top choral singer, an invaluable set of tools for anyone looking to conduct music at the highest level. I would highly recommend this course to any choral conducting student in the country.” (Paolo Debuque, MM University of Michigan, 2017). Learn more about our previous two years of courses here: https://www.crmss.org/2018report.pdf and here: https://www.crmss.org/2019report.pdf.

Call for Submissions

Choirs Ontario is now accepting applications for the 2019 Ruth Watson Henderson Choral Composition Competition

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The Ruth Watson Henderson Choral Composition Competition is a biennial contest for new choral works with categories alternating between pieces for treble voice choirs and pieces for mixed voice adult choirs. The competition exists to provide Canadian composers with an opportunity of contributing to Canada’s rich choral tradition through the writing of original choral works. The winning entry receives a premiere performance with one of the Ontario choirs and a cash award of $2,000.00.

Composition Requirements:

1. The composition must be an original SATB work, 4-6 minutes, a cappella or piano accompaniment
2. A cappella submissions MUST include piano reduction.
3. Texts may be sacred or secular and can be in languages other than English/French. The text must be either original, known to be in public domain or be accompanied by a letter of permission from copyright owner.
4. All submissions must not have been previously commissioned, published or performed and
must have been composed within the last two years. Arrangements of previously composed works are not acceptable. The composer shall retain the copyright of the work.
5. Previous competition finalists reapplying must submit a different piece.

Please submit a PDF copy of your composition without you name anywhere on the body of composition. The PDF copy must be clear, clean and legible. No handwritten scores will be considered. Graphic scores may be a PDF scan of a written score if applicable.

• $40 Application Fee applies and should be sent via e-Transfer to info@choirsontario.org

You will also need a cover letter that includes the following information:
1. Composer’s name
2. Physical Address
3. Phone Number
4. Email Address
5. Composition Title
6. Text Source

Judging criteria includes, but is not limited to:
1. Compositional structure
2. Voice Leading
3. Harmonic language
4. Adherence to concert theme
5. Text selection and setting
6. Piano accompaniment (if applicable)
7. General understanding of choral idiom

All entries must be submitted by November 1, 2019 to be considered. The winner will be notified no later than February 15, 2020. Please send submissions to Choirs Ontario Managing Director at info@choirsontario.org

History of the Composition
The competition was born out of a concert held in November 1992 to honour Ruth’s 60th birthday including Toronto Children’s Chorus, Elmer Iseler Singers, Amadeus Choir, Bach Children’s Chorus, Elora Festival Singers, Oriana Women’s Choir, and TMC Youth Chorus. The proceeds of this joint concert were used to establish the RWH competition. The administration of the competition was handed over to Choirs Ontario with Ruth Watson Henderson involved in judging the competition up until 2017.

One of Canada’s foremost musicians, Ruth Watson Henderson is renowned internationally both as a composer and pianist. Her works are acclaimed, performed, and recorded worldwide. The Ruth Watson Henderson Choral Competition was established in 1996 to recognize Ms. Watson Henderson’s invaluable contribution to the art of choral music. Ms. Henderson is very pleased to encourage the contribution to Canadian choral music that the competition provides, and appreciates the work of Choirs Ontario who administers this program.