University of Nebraska at Kearney 2024 New Music Festival

April 26th and 27th, 2024

The University of Nebraska at Kearney is excited to announce its 2024 New Music Festival, being held April 26th and 27th, 2024, on the UNK campus in Kearney, Nebraska. 

Deadline for receipt is Friday, November 3rd, 2024.

Guidelines and Eligibility:

1. Composers of any nationality and age are encouraged to apply.

2. Each composer may submit one piece for consideration.

3. Submissions must be between 1 – 12 minutes in duration.

4. Works composed after 2013 are eligible.

5. Works of any style, aesthetic, and notation are acceptable.

6. There is no submission fee. If you would like to support the UNK New Music Series and Festival with a tax-deductible donation, you can do so here: https://nufoundation.org/fund/01139600/

7. Though we hope to meet all selected composers, there is no obligation or requirement to attend the festival.  

The guest artist for the 2024 UNK New Music Festival will be pianist Keith Kirchoff. Described as a “virtuosic tour de force” whose playing is “energetic, precise, (and) sensitive,” pianist and composer Keith Kirchoff has performed throughout North America, Europe, and the Pacific Southwest. A strong advocate for living composers, Kirchoff is committed to fostering new audiences for contemporary music and giving a voice to emerging composers, and to that end has commissioned several dozen compositions and premiered hundreds of new works. He is the co-founder and President of SPLICE Music: one of the United States’ largest programs dedicated to the performance, creation, and development of music for performers and electronics.

There are seven categories for submission:

Category 1: Works for solo piano (with or without electronics) to be performed by Keith Kirchoff.

Category 2: UNK-Provided Performers. Solo and chamber scores for subsets (1-5 performers) of the following instruments and voices (one performer unless stated otherwise) with or without electronics (unless marked below):

Flute

Clarinet (performer has asked for no solo pieces with electronics)

Alto Saxophone

Trumpet

Euphonium/Tuba (performer has asked for no pieces with a sung multiphonic below the written note)   

Piano (hand span of a 10th)

Percussion (up to 2 performers, see the FAQ for instrument availabilities)

Mezzo-Soprano Voice (F3 – A5)

Baritone Voice (G2 – G4)

Category 3: Open-Instrumentation scores for the UNK New Music Ensemble.

The UNK New Music Ensemble is a student ensemble, often consisting of 4 – 8 undergraduate performers. Our instrumentation changes every semester, and so we welcome submissions of scores for unspecified/indeterminate instrumentation (including graphic and text-based scores) for performance. Scores submitted in this category must be for unspecified/indeterminate instrumentation.

Category 4: Cathedral Brass Quintet (2 trumpets, horn, trombone, tuba). Works must be for the entire ensemble (no subsets).

Category 5: UNK Flute Choir (piccolo, C flute, alto, bass) Works must be for at least four performers and no more than 15. This group is composed of faculty, students (both majors and non-majors) and community members. The director has asked for pieces that do not go past an intermediate difficulty.

Category 6: Composer-provided performers. Please include performer information/bio with your submission.

Category 7: Fixed-media Electroacoustic pieces up to 5.1.

Submission Link: https://forms.gle/mihsHJgKdNTd7ePE8

Note: Please make sure that your submission links are accessible. Links that deny access to the judges will be disqualified.

FAQ:

Q: May I submit more than one piece?

A: No. Composers may only submit one piece.

Q: Is there anything I should make sure of regarding my submission link?

A: Please ensure that the link you provide is accessible to anyone with the link. There are several judges for this festival, and so the link must be accessible to anyone with it. Submissions whose links are not accessible will not be accepted.

Q: May I submit a piece that involves both faculty and student performers?

A: Yes! Our faculty and student performers often collaborate.

Q: What kinds of percussion instruments do you have?

A: For non-pitched percussion, we have all standard orchestral/band percussion instruments. For pitched percussion, we have the following: Glockenspiel, Crotales (2 octaves), Xylophone, 2 Vibraphones, 2 Marimbas (both 5-octave), Chimes, and Timpani (5). If you have questions regarding specific percussion instruments, please contact Dr. Duane Bierman at biermanda@unk.edu

Q: If I submit a piece for the UNK New Music Ensemble (Category 3), am I allowed to specify instruments?

A: No. The instrumentation of the UNK New Music Ensemble changes every semester, and so we are unable to guarantee any specific instrument or voice.

Q: Do you have any funding to support travel, especially for Category 6 submissions?

A: Unfortunately, we are not able to fund any travel to the festival.

Q: If selected, am I required to attend the festival?

A: While we would love to see all accepted composers, there is no attendance requirement.

Q: Is there a submission fee?

A: No! It is completely free to submit to the UNK New Music Festival. If you would like to support us, please consider donating by clicking on the following link: https://nufoundation.org/fund/01139600/

Questions can be sent to UNKnewmusic@gmail.com

Deadline for receipt is Friday, November 3rd, 2024.