Mostly Modern Concerto Competition INFORMATION

The Mostly Modern Concerto Competition is optional, it is not required.

WIlson Poffenberger, Saxophonist

WIlson Poffenberger, Saxophonist performs Legendre Op. 66 by Florent Schmitt with the Mostly Modern Orchestra at the Mostly Modern Festival in June, 2022.

Joseph Rebman, Harpist

MMF 2018 Concerto Competition Winner Joseph Rebman. Joseph premiered his own concerto for harp and orchestra entitled "Hyperion" on June 16th, 2019 under maestro Ruth Reinhardt.

Bradley Bascon, Violinist

MMF 2018 Concerto Competition Winner Bradley Bascon. Bradley performed the Korngold Violin Concerto on June 28th, 2019 under maestro Ward Stare.

Yifei Xu, Pianist

Yifei Xu, Pianist, will perform Concerto for Piano & Orchestra, Op. 45 by Einojuhani Rautavaara with the Mostly Modern Orchestra at the Mostly Modern Festival in June, 2022.

Guidelines

All interested instrumentalists & singers who attend MMF may audition for the Mostly Modern Concerto Competition. The audition repertoire is your choice but must have been composed after 1900. The audition requires a single movement of the concerto only (single-movement concertos are acceptable). The audition will last 3-5 minutes. The total performance length of the concerto may not exceed 40 minutes. Memorization is not required for the competition, but will be required for the winner(s) at their performance. One to two winners will be chosen to perform the ENTIRE concerto with the Mostly Modern Orchestra the following summer. Winners receive a full tuition fellowship for the following summer (including free single room occupancy and 3 meals a day). It is required that winners attend and participate in the entire festival. The concerto competition will take place in the first week, and the applicant is responsible for setting up a 20-minute rehearsal with our pianist for the competition, to be arranged in May/June.

You MUST ensure that the orchestral materials are available by the following summer from the composer or publisher (rental, purchase, or ad gratis) and also that you have either a piano reduction to give to the accompanist, or a playback file, without the solo part, that can be played back on a laptop.

You MUST upload either a PDF of your concerto piano accompaniment part or a playback audio file (MP3 only).

Upload a PDF of your concerto piano accompaniment part here

Applications for the 2024 season will close on Friday, May 24. If a piano reduction and complete form has not been received by then, your submission will be considered incomplete and disqualified. Please email Carly with any questions.

2024 Concerto Competition submission form

Please note that the orchestral instrumentation for the work must be scored for no more than winds in threes (3 flutes, 3 oboes, 3 clarinets, etc.). Smaller works, i.e., for chamber or string orchestra, are perfectly fine, but works must be for orchestra.

Note: the following concertos have been performed at MMF during the past seasons, so they may not be used for auditions and are currently ineligible for performance consideration. The year these works can be used again for auditions is listed after each work in brackets.

ERICH KORNGOLD – Violin Concerto [2023]
JOSEPH REBMAN – Hyperion: Concerto for Harp and Orchestra [2024]
EINOJUHANI RAUTAVAARA – Concerto for Piano & Orchestra, Op. 45 [2027]
CHRISTOPHER ROUSE – Flute Concerto [2027]
FLORENT SCHMITT – Legendre, Op. 66 (for Saxophone and Orchestra) [2027]
MARC-ANDRE DALBAVIE – Flute Concerto [2028]
ROBERT PATERSON – Triple Concerto [2028]
ELLEN TAAFFE ZWILICH – Oboe Concerto [2028]
ELLIOT CARTER - Clarinet Concerto [2029]
CHEN YI - Percussion Concerto [2029]

Once accepted to the institute, instrumentalists and singers may sign up for the competition.

The last day to enter the concerto competition is May 24, 2024.