The award winning A4 Brass Quartet has announced the launch of their 4th annual composition competition.

It coincides with the ensemble's 10th anniversary in 2023 and comes after a year long hiatus due to Covid-19.

The group is once again looking forward to welcoming entries from around the world.

The past three competitions have attracted nearly 100 new compositions, enabling A4 to showcase new compositional voices and concepts.

Open to all

Spokesperson Jonathan Bates told 4BR: "We warmly welcome submissions from composers at any stage of their musical development and from all backgrounds, in particular those from under-represented demographics."

The brief for the compositions is very free, but the following must apply to each entry:

Compositions must be of 4-8 minutes in duration

Works must never have been performed before

Instrumentation of: Bb Cornet (doubling Flugel), Tenor Horn in Eb, Baritone Horn in Bb (treble clef) and Euphonium in Bb (treble clef)

Mutes are available if required for all instruments

It is not necessary to submit scores anonymously

Please consider score/part presentation, practicality and suitability for concert performance for the entry

Compositions which utilise electronics or audio backing tracks are welcome.

Entries MUST contain a set of both TRANSPOSED score and parts.

We warmly welcome submissions from composers at any stage of their musical development and from all backgrounds, in particular those from under-represented demographicsA4 Brass Quartet

Prize fund

There is a £850 prize fund, and with the aim to encourage a new generation of student composers, a special Under 24 Award is being made (if both 1st and 2nd prize fall into this category, the next highest U24 entry will receive this award).

First Prize: £500 and regular performances on the quartet's 10th anniversary concert series' in 2022/23.
Second Prize: £250
Under 24 Prize: £100

How to enter

Scores can be submitted as either a Sibelius file OR as PDF files accompanied by an mp3/m4a file and need to be emailed to a4brassquartet@hotmail.co.uk with 'A4 COMPOSITION COMPETITION' in the subject line.

The closing date for entries is Friday 2nd September.

Entries will be judged by the four members of the quartet, with the finalists also being judged by external professionals from both the brass performance and composition world.