Call for Scores: Bent Frequency Duo Concert dates: January or February 2021, TBD Submission deadline: August 31, 2020 Venue: TBD Instrumentation: See below
Acoustic duos are preferred. Solos may be considered, as may works with electronics if easily staged for repeat performances.
soprano saxophone and/or alto saxophone
vibraphone, 2 toms, 1 pair bongos, kick drum, suspended cymbal, perhaps other small items
Duration: Preference may be given to works under 6 minutes
How to Submit: Send a PDF of your score plus any parts to using “Bent Frequency” as the subject. Recordings are welcome but not required.
Please include the following information with your submission.
Call for Scores: 2020 Birmingham New Music Festival Concert dates: Saturday, August 22, 2020 – others TBD Submission deadline: Extended to May 5, 2020 Venues: Hoover Library, others TBD Instrumentation: Variable Duration: No maximum limit, although preference may be given to proposals under 10 minutes
This is the only call for the 2020 festival. Those submitting for Category A are encouraged to also submit a second choice for Category B in case A is not selected. Only one work per member is likely to be programmed.
There is a possibility that some pieces could incorporate dance. Please indicate if interested in having your performance choreographed — in which case a recording is strongly recommended.
Category A
Submit a work (first priority only) for one of the following categories:
Cello, with or without electronics – Craig Hultgren
Clarinet/Eb Clarinet/Bass Clarinet/Saxophone(s), solo with or without electronics — or in acoustic duo/trio/quartet with Soprano, Flute, and/or Piano – Lori Ardovino, LeBaron Trio, Vinna Trio (Note that a quartet may require supplementary funds from the composer.)
Piano, with or without electronics – Adam Bowles or Chris Steele
Category B
Submit a work for any instrumentation, and be responsible for securing performers and organizing rehearsals. For this option, compensation from BAMA is limited to $220 (up to two performers) per composer. Submissions for larger ensembles will be accepted providing the submitter will compensate additional performers.
How to Submit
Send the following info to with the subject “BNMF2020” by May 1, 2020:
Category B: Composer, title, duration, requirements, and optional recording.
If not submitting your own composition, consider sponsoring an emerging or mid-career composer whose work you admire. Women and minority composers are particularly encouraged. The process is the same as submissions from performer members.
BAMA Players – Spring 2020 Overview: The BAMA Players will present their spring concert. Concert date: Monday, April 20, 2020 Submission deadline: Tuesday, March 10, 2020
Concert location: TBD, most likely, Samford
Instrumentation: Any combination of flute, clarinet, 2 violins, viola, cello, piano
Duration: No maximum duration, though the concert will last approximately one hour
How to Submit: Send a PDF of your score plus any parts to using “BAMA Players Spring 2020” as the subject. Recordings are welcome but not required. Please include the following information with your submission:
Composer Title Duration Date of composition Instrumentation Contact:
Concert location: Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts
Instrumentation: Any combination of string quartet, piano, mezzo-soprano, and soprano
Duration: No specific duration, though the concert will last one hour
Overview: BAMA is partnering with the UAB series “Chamber Music @ AEIVA” and the Alys Stephens Center’s “EMERGE Fest” to present a concert featuring “emerging artists” that connects chamber music with the art on display at the Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts.
Eligible composers: This call is open to students and composers in the early stages of their careers. Submitting composers (1) must be full-time students or (2) must have had no commercial recordings, publications of their works, or ticketed performance by an orchestra or other large ensemble.
Art exhibit: Compositions must relate in some way to one or more of the following exhibits: Mary Frances Whitfiled “Why?”; Quention Morris “Meditations on Black”; Christina West “Unscene”. See below for descriptions of each exhibit and visit https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8ppdxvu0vcrzy8a/AABk1e_NA5A4B8H2sFD8ITHda?dl=0 for visual examples. The West and Morris images aren’t necessarily what will be displayed, but they give a sense of the artists’ work. The Whitfield is what will be on display.
Submissions: Send a PDF of your score plus parts to or mail a hard copy to:
Laura Usiskin 950 13th Street South, HC 231 Birmingham, AL 35294
Recordings are welcome but not required.
Submissions must include the following information:
Composer
Title
Duration
Date of composition
Instrumentation
Brief description of how the piece relates to the art
Co-curated by AEIVA Curator John Fields and
Dr. Brandon Wolfe, Assistant VP of Campus and Community Engagement in the
Office of the Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at UAB, Mary
Frances Whitfield: Why? is a collaborative exhibition between UAB’s
Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts the Birmingham Civil Rights
Institute.
This exhibition was developed in conjunction with the Jefferson County Memorial Project (JCMP), a grassroots coalition of community leaders working with the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) to retrieve Jefferson County’s memorial from the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. The mission of the JCMP is to bear witness to the country’s painful past and change the historical memory of Jefferson County to better include its history of racial terror and the legacies of racial injustice.
One of the most significant of Alabama’s
‘Outsider Artists’, Mary Frances Whitfield uses painting to create intimate
windows into her cultural past. Inspired by the rich and illuminative ancestral
history offered in the stories told by her grandmother, Whitfield’s paintings
present an affecting portrayal of daily existence for African Americans living
in the Southern United States during the 18th and 19thcentury.
WHY? presents paintings inspired by the artist’s first visit to
the BCRI. These works graphically depict horrific racial terror lynching
perpetrated against African Americans. This is the first time these works have
been exhibited in Whitfield’s hometown of Birmingham, Alabama
Quentin Morris: Meditations on Black
Exhibition
Description: Philadelphia-based artist Quentin Morris uses a variety of
mediums to explore issues surrounding identity, race, spirituality, and
cultural mythologies. What’s most interesting about this work is that for
nearly 60 years, Morris has explored these themes through an astoundingly
focused and prolific series of black monochrome paintings. These paintings are
wonderfully subversive and deceptive in their depth. This will be Quentin
Morris’ first major exhibition in the South.
Christina West: Unscene
Exhibition Description:
Christina West is an Associate Professor of Art at Georgia State University. West creates immersive sculptural installations that utilize figurative sculptures and the alteration of space to create psychologically charged environments. These installations explore notions of what the artist refers to as “individual subjectivity in our experience of reality, and the ways our physical encounters with spaces and with representations of bodies can affect perceptions of our own bodies.“
Concert dates: October, 2019 Submission deadline: June 30, 2019 Venues: TBD Instrumentation: Any Duration: no maximum limit, although preference will be given to proposals under 10 minutes
Overview: There will be at least two nano-curated concerts during the 2019 Birmingham New Music Festival. If BAMA membership is current, propose (ordered by preference) up to 2 works that you will perform, sponsor, or otherwise oversee. Note that, even though a proposal may include more than one performer, the stipend for each proposal will be normal scale for a solo performance.
Send the following info to with the subject “DIY Call – [your last name]”:
Submitting BAMA member
Composer, if different from submitter
Performer(s), or number of performers if not yet engaged
Title
Duration
Requirements (audio, AC power, etc.) — if amplified, indicate whether self-contained or need house system
Proposals may include any of the following:
solo or group improvisation
solo performance by the composer, with or without electronics
Event: “Arias and Art Songs” Event Date: November 12, 2019 Event Location: Reynolds-Kirschbaum Concert Hall, Alys Stephens Center, UAB
Deadline for Score Submissions: Friday, September 13, 2019**
**The deadline for submitting scores for our upcoming “Arias and Artsongs” concert has been extended to Friday, September 13th. We have already received several works for soprano and baritone. If anyone has a work (or two) for mezzo-soprano, tenor, or bass, please feel free to submit it using the criteria posted on the original call below.
If you are a submitting BAMA member and not submitting a work of your own, consider sponsoring an emerging or mid-career composer whose work you admire. Women and minority composers are particularly encouraged. The process is the same as submissions from performer members.
Voice Type/Instrumentation: soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, baritone, and/or bass voice with or without piano. Works that feature electronics and/or other instruments besides piano cannot be considered at this time.
Duration: Preference will be given to works longer than 3 minutes and less than 10 minutes.
Requirements: Alliance members in good standing are invited to submit two scores for the call; only one score per voice-type may be submitted (see details below).
Details:
Please submit 1-2 pieces for the above-listed voices with/without piano, in any combination.
Preference will be given to works longer than 3 minutes and less than 10 minutes; individual songs from longer collections or excerpts from operatic works will also be considered.
Members may submit two scores for consideration, however, only one score per voice-type may be submitted (for example, members can submit one score for soprano and piano, and another score for baritone and piano, but not two scores for soprano and piano). Combinations of the above-listed voice-types will also be considered (duets, etc.); submissions that include more than two voices per score will require the composer to reimburse the Alliance for the cost of additional performers.
The extended deadline for scores is: Friday, September 13, 2019.
How to submit:
All submissions should be sent via email to with the subject heading “BAMA Arias and Art Songs Call – Your Name,” and should include an attachment or a link (Dropbox, Google Drive, WeTransfer, etc) with the following files:
A PDF of the score (PDFs can also be sent as an attachment);
An audio recording, if available (MIDI realizations are acceptable);
A PDF document listing the name of the composer, title of the piece, instrumentation, duration, short biographical statement, and program notes.
Failure to supply all required materials with submissions will result in the composition not being considered for programming.
Overview:
The BAMA
Players, along with a guest oboist, will present their spring concert.
Concert date:
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
Submission deadline: Sunday, March 10, 2019
Concert location: TBD
Instrumentation: Any
combination of flute, oboe, clarinet, 2 violins, viola, cello, piano
Duration: No maximum duration, though the concert will
last approximately one hour
How to Subit: Send a PDF of your score plus any parts to Laura Usiskin (see below). Recordings are welcome but not required. Please include the following information with your submission:
Composer
Title
Duration
Date of composition
Instrumentation
Contact:
For questions about the musicians and programming, contact Laura Usiskin:
