Tenso, the European Network for professional chamber choirs, organizes a series of workshops under the direction of composer/conductor James Wood and with the participation of professional choirs, to stimulate young composers to write for chamber choir. Using (fragments of) a score as starting point, the goal of the workshops is to make room for a significant contribution from all participants and to explore various elements such as dramatic effects, vocal range and colour, text setting, and other compositional tools.
The Tenso Young Composers Workshop wants to help promising young composers to take the step to writing for choir. Rather than giving confirmation to those who have already shown their skills in writing choral music, we especially want to give encouragement and practical support to those who have not.
The call for the Tenso Young Composers Workshop 2017 special edition is now closed. The next call for applications will be published in June 2017. Sessions will take place during the Tenso Days in Nova Gorica (SI) 21-24 september.
Tenso Young Composers Workshop 2017 special edition (application closed)
In 2017, as part of Tenso’s project 14-18 : from Poetry to Music, we will organize a series of activities in Central Europe, commemorating the war that took place 100 years ago in that region and especially at the Soca Front (between Italy and Austria-Hungary), where soldiers from all over Europe battled against each other.
In a special edition of Tenso’s composers workshop in 2017, we invited young composers from Central Europe to come and work with Zbor Slovenske Filharmonije (SI), and coaches James Wood and Fabio Nieder. The selected young composers will be invited to join us in Ljubljana (Slovenia) on 19-21 April 2017. Two or three composers will then be invited for follow-up workshops in Nova Gorica (SI) in September 2017, working with Latvijas Radio Koris.
Composers under 30 (born in or after 1987), or composers who have recently (after 1 July 2014) received a degree in composition at a music academy or conservatory were invited to apply. Candidates are born in one of the countries in the region (see below), or have nationality from the region, or live there for more than three years and have a demonstrable and sustainable connection to the cultural life in the region. The region is defined as: Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, Hungary, Italy, Bosnia-H, Czech Republic, Slovakia.
Applicants were asked to fill in an online form and send in scores of existing work, recordings and a motivational letter. Hotel and travel to the workshops (from an airport in Europe) will be arranged for the selected composers. Read the detailed instructions or view to the application form.
The application for the Tenso Young Composers Workshop 2017 special edition is now closed. Read more about the selected four composers.