Composing for the Organ

Are you a high-school age pianist, organist, or composer? Come join us at Syracuse University's Setnor School of Music for "Discover the Organ" on Saturday, September 21 from 10am-2pm. Details:

Discover the Organ - For High School Students Learn More About the Organ and Expand Your Portfolio High school composers and pianists are invited to Discover the Organ,…

Call for scores!
Syracuse University will host Society for Composers, Inc. Region II conference, November 4-6, 2022. We are now accepting scores for a range of calls, including solo organ, organ and choir, and organ and chamber instruments. Visit the SCI website for more info: https://www.newmusicengine.org/categories/2022-SCI-REGION-II-CONFERENCE/index.html

2022 SCI REGION II CONFERENCE by newmusicengine.org

Opportunity Alert!

Happy new year, organists and composers! Here is the webpage for Syracuse University's Organ Commission Competition - deadline March 15, 2021. Thank you so much, Hendricks Chapel, for sponsoring this event! Please don't hesitate to reach out with questions.

2021 Organ Commission Competition | Syracuse University Hendricks Chapel at Syracuse University will host a first-ever commission competition for a new work for solo organ in March 2021. This competition is an outgrowth of the Composing for the Organ project created by Anne Laver and Natalie Draper, faculty members in the Setnor School of Music.

Here's an interesting composition competition sponsored by the association for the Cavaillé-Coll organ at the church of St. Sulpice, France: https://www.aross.fr/en/composition-competition/

#SaintSulpice2021 Composition Competition – Association pour le rayonnement des orgues Aristide Cavaillé-Coll de l’église Saint-Sulpice (Paris) To celebrate its 30th anniversary, the “Association pour le rayonnement des orgues Aristide Cavaillé-Coll de l’église Saint-Sulpice, à Paris” organizes an international composition competition, entitled , which will promote musical creation, youth and the instrumental herit...

Thank you so much to those who watched and participated in our webinars and virtual concert today! We had a blast and we will continue to post materials here and on our YouTube channel. Also, keep an eye out for a new call for scores in March. In the meantime, happy organ composing!

Watching the premiere of our concert! With Augustine Sobeng, Natalie Draper, And Brianna Cofield. Setnor School of Music

https://news.syr.edu/blog/2020/09/10/composing-for-the-organ-webinars-virtual-concert-to-foster-appreciation-of-contemporary-organ-music/

‘Composing for the Organ’ Webinars, Virtual Concert to Foster Appreciation of Contemporary Organ Music Performer and current organ graduate student Augustine Sobeng talks with sound recording technology major and “Composing for the Organ” research assistant Brianna Cofield ’22 at the Holtkamp Organ in Setnor Auditorium at one of the recording sessions.

We just finished uploading the virtual concert video to YouTube! Use this link to watch the premiere with us on Saturday, September, 12 at 7:30 pm EDT: https://youtu.be/zGSJxMeTFTw.

Reimaginings: A Virtual Concert of New Music for Organ Reimaginings: A Virtual Concert of New Music for Organ, presented by the Setnor School of Music and the Syracuse University Humanities Center “Futures” Sympo...

Hi, friends! We are so excited for this Saturday and looking forward to seeing everyone for the webinars and concert. In order to access the Zoom link for the webinars, you will need to register (registration is free!) through our SU site: http://cc.syr.edu/organ_2020. This helps us to know how many folks we can expect. The virtual concert does not require registration and can be accessed with this link: https://youtu.be/zGSJxMeTFTw
Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions! And here's the registration page:

Here's a photo from our recording session in Setnor Auditorium last night. MM organ student Augustine Sobeng talks with Sound Recording Technology student (and our project assistant) Brianna Cofield at the Holtkamp organ. Augustine, Alexander Meszler, Jonathan Embry, and Annie Laver recorded works by Paulette Fry, Matthew Slazik, Thomas Metcalf, and Samuel Gaskin for the score reading session that will take place on September 12, 4-5:30pm EDT. Register for the Webinar: Composing for the Organ to watch and listen: http://cc.syr.edu/organ_2020. Setnor School of Music

Demystifying the Organ for Composers Natalie Draper and Anne Laver, professors at Syracuse University, introduce their new and innovative initatitve to introduce the organ to composers.

Composer Nico Muhly and organist James McVinnie give some absolutely wonderful thoughts and advice in this interview (the second installment in our series). One of my favorite moments is when Nico discusses the transposing nature of the organ:

"[The organ] is like a small box filled with holes where light will shoot out and make it feel like it's a 12 octave [instrument]."

Composer Interview Project: Interview With Nico Muhly and James McVinnie In this installment, we talk with composer Nico Muhly and organist James McVinnie about their collaboration and their advice for composers interested in writ...

Here are a few composition commissioning competitions we've heard of recently.

The American Guild of Organists Student Commissioning Project (deadline September 30, 2020):
https://www.agohq.org/ago-student-commissioning-project/One

And a sacred music competition at the University of Notre Dame (deadline April 5, 2021):
https://campusministry.nd.edu/get-involved/music/composition/

www.agohq.org

Here's a story of a young organist-composer (and recent Syracuse University alum) that we're proud of. Enjoy! https://www.syracuse.edu/stories/samuel-kuffuor-afriyie-source-setnor-school/

Exploring Heritage and Tradition Through Music in Ghana - Syracuse.edu Samuel Kuffuor-Afriyie discovered a musical language that spoke to him when he received a grant to compose new organ pieces honoring his family’s native country.

Friends who have composed for the organ, we'd love your feedback on what that process is like! I've been realizing more and more how many composers I know who have *not* written for the organ. It's a mysterious instrument--it's rarely featured in orchestration classes, the sound is very much dependent on the specific organ and space, and the learning curve is a bit...high... Help us demystify this lovely instrument! We'll be sharing a range of feedback on September 12th from composers such as Carson Cooman, Nico Muhly, Wang Lu, Eric Nathan, and Ad Wammes. We'd love to have your input, too! - Natalie

Composing for the Organ: Questionnaire for Composers Please provide us with some feedback on your thoughts about writing for the organ!

Composing for the Organ updated their address.

Composing for the Organ updated their website address.

We just launched our Composer Interview Project and we hope you'll check it out over on YouTube! We have a limited time to interview folks, but we'd love to have as much input from composers as possible. We're curious about your experiences writing for the organ (whether you're a seasoned composer organist or a composer who has written for the organ only once or twice!). Please share your experiences with us by filling out this (short!) Google form. We'll compile the comments and share this crowdsourced advice with you all during our webinar on September 12th! In the meantime, happy composing!!

Composing for the Organ: Questionnaire for Composers Please provide us with some feedback on your thoughts about writing for the organ!

We are ready to share the first installment of our Composer Interview Project, an interview with composer Carson Cooman! Subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch this video and receive alerts when future installments are posted. Over the next few weeks, we will be sharing interviews with organists Nico Muhly, Eric Nathan, Wang Lu, Ad Wammes, Rachel Laurin and organists James McVinnie and Mark Steinbach. Check it out!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQo5zgJHFZJ9hkTKZgTEzPA

Syracuse University's Composer Interview Project

We are excited to announce the selection of four composers for our score reading session on September 12th!

We will be featuring the music of Paulette Fry ("'Twas in the Moon of Wintertime"), Samuel Gaskin ("De profundis"), Thomas Metcalf ("Pixelation Variations"), and Matthew Slazik ("Event Horizon").

Thank you so much to all our applicants--we sincerely enjoyed getting to know your music! We also encourage all of our applicants, as well as all other interested composers of organ music, to keep an eye on this page for an announcement for a future call later this fall.

In the meantime, please check out our registration page below to sign up for all of our educational webinars. There is no fee, although donations are always greatly appreciated.

We are very much looking forward to spending the day with you all on September 12th, learning about the organ from many different perspectives. As always, please reach out with any questions!

Composing for the Organ Webinar and Virtual Concert

ATTENTION COMPOSERS: CALL FOR SCORES!!

Make use of all that time stuck at home and try writing a piece for the organ!

We invite your submissions for the reading session as part of our virtual Composing for the Organ event. Please see the attached call for scores for instructions. Scores must be submitted to Natalie Draper via email ([email protected]) and you can click on the link below to fill out the application form:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1WarIfeWQiqmRxiKUSTgoEyUjL48hE_Kl7qjplICKVYo/edit

The Setnor School of Music at Syracuse University is pleased to announce it will host a webinar and virtual concert on September 12, 2020 with the aim of fostering awareness of and appreciation for contemporary organ music. The events are geared to composers at any career stage and experience level who wish to learn more about writing for the organ, and organists who are interested in the compositional process.

The online event will include the following components:

-Webinar #1: So you want to compose for the organ? Here are some things to know

Introduction to the instrument and tips for composers led by Anne Laver, George Baker, Jonathan Embry, and Joseph Downing

-Webinar #2: My Continuing Musical Voyage: From Repertoire to Improvisation to Composition

Presentation by George Baker

-Webinar #3: Finding funding and crafting a compelling proposal
Panel with Natalie Draper, Alex Meszler; moderated by Anne Laver

-Reading session of submitted scores

-Virtual concert featuring new works for organ, including world premieres by Natalie Draper and Jonathan Embry, performed by Syracuse University faculty, alumni, and current students.

All events will be free and open to the public, but will require pre-registration through the university’s secure website.

Composers are encouraged to submit scores for the reading by July 15, 2020. A panel of adjudicators will choose up to four works to be featured in the reading session. Works will be matched with performers and will be pre-recorded for use in the session.

A competition sponsored by Hendricks Chapel will be held following this event: a second call for new works for organ will invite composers to submit previously unperformed works by March 15, 2021. The winner(s) of this competition will receive an honorarium and a recorded live performance of their organ works in a recital on the Music & Message series at Hendricks Chapel at Syracuse University in 2021-22.

The Setnor School of Music wishes to thank the following sponsors for their generous support of this event:

-Special Projects Fund of the San Francisco Chapter of the American Guild of Organists
-Mozingo Endowment of the Indianapolis Chapter of the American Guild of Organists
--Central New York Humanities Corridor from an award by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
-Syracuse University Humanities Center “Futures” Symposium
-Syracuse Chapter of the American Guild of Organists