Île de créations - Composition Competition 2020

The Orchestre national d’Île-de-France is committed to play an active role in the creation of contemporary music. One way it does this is through an ambitious policy of commissioning and premiering contemporary works.
To enable young composers to hear the results of their inspiration and talent when placed in the hands of a symphony orchestra, to have their work performed in public and broadcast on the radio, and to offer people living in the Paris region the opportunity to discover composers of the future now being trained in Europe, the Orchestre national d’Île-de-France holds an annual Composition Competition, “Ile de Créations”, in partnership with Radio France, Musique Nouvelle en Liberté, the publisher Éditions Durand-Salabert-Eschig/UMPC and SACEM.
The Competition was first held in 2013, on the initiative of Enrique Mazzola.
Guillaume Connesson, the resident composer with the Orchestre national d’Île-de-France for the 2019-2020 season, will be the patron of this seventh edition, following in the footsteps of Dai Fujikura, Ivan Fedele, Bruno Letort, Marc Clémeur, René Koering and Oscar Strasnoy.

General Rules

Eligibility
The Competition is open to composers of any nationality who are under 33 years old on January 1st 2020 and who are enrolled or have been enrolled in composition and/or orchestration courses between 2015 and 2020 in an organisation (conservatory, foundation, academy, festival, etc.) in the European Union.
Entrants must supply proof of their enrolment in composition and/or orchestration courses between 2014 and 2019 in European Union.
An entrant may not participate in more than two competitions.
The winner of a previous competition may not participate in this one.

The composition
Entrants shall compose an opening concerto for cello and orchestra.
This work shall be composed specifically for this competition; it shall be original and shall not have been performed previously in full or in part.
This condition is obligatory, and failure to respect it shall result in the entrant’s disqualification.
The instrumentation of the orchestra shall not exceed the following:
12 1st violins, 10 2nd violins, 8 altos, 6 celli, 4 double basses, 2 flutes (the 2nd play piccolo), 2 oboes (the 2nd play English horn) 2 clarinets (the 2nd play bass clarinet), 2 bassoons (the 2nd play contrabassoon), 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones (including a bass trombone),1 tuba, 1 timpanist.
This condition is obligatory, and failure to respect it shall result in the entrant’s disqualification.
The work must have five movements, each two minutes long, may be joined together, for a total of ten minutes.
This condition is obligatory, and failure to respect it shall result in the entrant’s disqualification.
Entrants are asked to indicate the metronomic tempo of each movement on the score.
Entrants are advised that the Orchestre national d'Île-de-France will have only one two-hour rehearsal to prepare each work selected for the final round.
The rehearsal schedule will be communicated to the entrants one month in advance.
The conductor will determine the rehearsal schedule after evaluating the time required for each work.

Application procedure
Entrants must submit their completed application on the Ulysses platform – www.ulysses-network.eu – before Sunday, 20th October 2019 at 13:00.
Entrants will be notified by email that their application has been received.
Applying to participate in the competition shall imply acceptance of the conditions set forth in these Rules.

Selection Procedure

First round
The full composition shall be supplied in PDF format.
The scores will remain anonymous until the results of the first round have been announced.
The Selection Committee will select three scores from among those received.
Entrants will be informed of the results of the first round by email on Monday, 4th November 2019 at 13:00.

Jury
The Selection Committee will be made up of the President of the Jury, the patron, the solo performer, and an invited-composer.

Final round
The composers whose work is selected in the first round:
Could benefit of a master-class with Guillaume Connesson competition patron, and a work-session with Victor Julien-Laferrière solo-performer.
At a date to be determinated in November 2019 at Maison de l’Orchestre.
Shall supply the full composition, before Monday 16th Decembre 2019 at 13:00.
This condition is obligatory, and failure to respect it shall result in the entrant’s disqualification.
They shall contact the Orchestra librarian, Mr David Stieltjes (david.stieltjes@orchestre-ile.com / + 33(0)1.41.79.03.49), in order to prepare the score and parts for the orchestra in digital format, according to the standards he will indicate to them.
They shall send to him by email:
- the full, digitised conductor’s score in PDF format;
- the separate, digitised parts of the full score.

Jury
The Jury that will select the winning composition among those shortlisted by the Selection Committee will be made up of:
The President of the Jury, the competition patron, the solo-performer, invited-composers, the conductor of the final round, a delegate of France Musique, a delegate of Musique Nouvelle en Liberté, a delegate of Editions Durand-Salabert-Eschig/UMPC, a musician from the orchestra, and one vote for all the musicians in the orchestra.
A delegate of the SACEM will take part as an observer in the Jury’s deliberations.

Final round
The Jury will meet at the Centre des Bords de Marne (2, rue de la Prairie - 94170 Le Perreux-sur-Marne), on April 30th 2020 at 20:30, to select the winning work.
Each of the works in the final round will be performed in public by the Orchestre national d’Île-de-France in the presence of the Jury and the finalist composers.

Results
The finalist composers will be informed of the results of the final round following the public final round concert.
Prizes
- The winner chosen by the Jury will be awarded the Prix Île de Créations 2020.
- The prize-winning work performed by the Orchestre national d’Île-de-France will be broadcasted on France Musique on Anne Montaron programme “Création mondiale” during 2020. The winner will receive a prize of €1,000 from Radio France following this premiere performance.
- Musique Nouvelle en Liberté will give the winner a prize of €2,500 following this premiere performance.
- Éditions Durand-Salabert-Eschig/UMPC will publish the score.
- The prize-winning work will be performed during a series of concerts before 2022.
- Finalists will received a promotional recording of their piece.
- The audience attending the final round will vote to select the “Public’s Favourite”. The winner of the “Public’s Favourite” award will receive a prize from Éditions Durand-Salbert-Eschig /UMPC