Call for Scores
Lorelei Ensemble announces its 2025 Call for Scores inviting women, nonbinary, and trans composers to submit works of 3-4 minutes in length. Works should be original music (not arrangements) with original or public domain text, scored for a cappella SSSSMMAA voices, and thematically appropriate for inclusion in Lorelei's new Christmas / Winter Solstice program, Frost and Fire. The work will be premiered in Philadelphia, PA on December 12, 2025, with subsequent performances to be announced. The winning composer will be awarded a $1000 prize, along with travel (within the continental US) and accommodations to attend the premiere in Philadelphia.
Eligibility: Lorelei Ensemble welcomes individuals who identify with any gender that has been historically marginalized in the classical music space to submit a score.
Format: Please submit the score and any other written materials as a PDF. If you choose to submit audio files such as MIDI realizations, they should be submitted as .wav or .mp3.
Instrumentation: For details about registers for each voice part, click here
Anonymity: Scores will be given a submission number by Lorelei administrative staff and saved in an anonymous folder before review by the panelists.
Previous performances: We are looking for new works and/or pieces that have never been professionally premiered. However, we will consider pieces that student ensembles have performed. If your piece has already been performed and you would like it to be considered, please describe further in the application.
SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS
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1. Sign up for a free Gmail account if you do not already have one at:
Your Gmail account will also give you a free Google Drive account, which allows you to store up to 15GB for free. Once logged in to your gmail, you will also be logged into your Google Drive, which can be accessed at:
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In your Google Drive, make a separate folder with each piece you wish to submit titled with your full name and your piece's title. For example:
György Ligeti_Violin Concerto
Each folder should contain your score, and any other supporting documents/files (midi realizations, etc.,)
Before you upload your files, please make sure they are all in an uncompressed (non-zipped) format, allowing them to be played/viewed within the folder.
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Once all materials are in your folder and correctly labeled, please go back to our application page. You will be asked to share a link to your google drive folder in the application. To create a google-drive link:
A) click (or right-click on some computers) the name of the folder
B) then click ‘share’
C) under access, select ‘anyone with the link’ and ‘viewer’
D) then click ‘copy link’
E) To make sure your materials will be accessible by anyone on our committee, we recommend you also try opening the link in a different browser not signed into your gmail. If this doesn’t work, please double check that you followed the instructions above, changing the settings if needed.
F) now that the link is copied, paste this link into our application form.