The New Zealand Harp Duo are pleased to announce a competition for a new composition for two concert harps.
Two first prizes are offered, one for each category.

Category 1: 2-4 minutes
Must be currently enrolled in secondary school
Prize money $300

Category 2: 4-8 minutes
Under 30 years of age
Prize money $600

The winning compositions will be performed as part of the NZ Harp Duo’s concert series in 2017.

Closing date: entries must be received by midnight on the 19th August. Winners will be notified by 30th of September.

Rules

• The composition must be written for two pedal harps and must not have previously been performed in public nor entered into other competitions

• The composition may take any musical form

• Entrants for the secondary school category must have composed a piece of at least two minutes duration and no longer than four minutes

• Entrants for the under 30 year old category must have composed a piece of at least four minutes duration and no longer than eight minutes

• It must be an original work, not an arrangement of another work

• A composer may enter more than one work, but only one prize will be awarded to any one individual

• The competition is open to anyone who has New Zealand residency at the time the entry is submitted

• By submitting your composition you agree that the NZ Harp Duo will have performance and recording rights of the winning entries without additional fees

• By submitting an application, you agree to cooperate with the NZ Harp Duo on any possible edits deemed necessary by the duo to make the work successfully playable

• The composition must use standard tuning only, ie. no microtones

• All standard extended harp techniques are acceptable

• Composers may write for prepared harp, but it must not in any way compromise the instrument or its tuning.

• Submissions which are incomplete or do not follow the guidelines and parameters here will be disqualified

• All entries must include a separate short cover letter with: name, DOB, contact phone number, email address, name of school attending (if applicable). Please also include a short biography, short programme notes and a photo

 

The adjudication panel consists of:

Carolyn Mills – Principal Harpist NZSO

Kenneth Young – Composer, Conductor and NZSM Lecturer

Ingrid Bauer – Classical Harpist

The decision of the judging panel is final.

Information about writing for the harp can be found here:

http://www.15secondharp.com/

http://composingforharp.com/

http://sites.siba.fi/sv/web/harpnotation/harp

Technical questions about the harp and its performance techniques may be directed to the NZ Harp

Duo at info@nzharpduo.com with the subject line ‘Harp Composition Competition’

How to apply

Entries should be submitted electronically with the subject title ‘Harp Composition Competition’ to:

info@nzharpduo.com email or dropbox with pdf files preferred, but Sibelius files (that can be

opened in all versions of the programme) also accepted.

Competition enquiries: Can be emailed to the NZ Harp Duo, with subject title ‘Harp Composition

Competition’ at info@nzharpduo.com

Checklist

o Full scores together with indicative or mockup audio files

o Cover letter

o Biography

o Programme notes

o Photo