2026 Call for Scores

We are excited to announce our 2026 Call for Scores!

Next February, as part of our appearance at The Night With… festival in Glasgow, Scotland, we will present a programme featuring Dutilleux's masterwork Les Citations for oboe, percussion, harpsichord and double bass. Building on a growing tradition of expanding the repertoire for this unique instrumentation, we are opening this year’s Call for Scores to commission two new works (5-10' each) for this concert.

Each chosen composer will receive:

• Rehearsals and a public premiere of their new work at The Engine Works, Glasgow in February 2027.

• A professional, live, audio recording of their piece. All our commissions are also considered for our ongoing recordings, and a number of our commissions now feature on our commercial CDs.

• A £2,000 commission fee.

Eligibility

Any composer not currently represented in our 2026-27 Season is eligible to apply.

What to Submit

Using the form below, please submit:

• Your name and country of residence

• E-mail address

• Your pronouns (optional)

• PDF files of two scores - these pieces may be for any instrumentation and written at any point in your life/career. We simply want to hear your best work

• Links to recordings of these pieces (optional)
  We understand that this isn’t always possible. Recordings are not mandatory. Of course, they are helpful, but our musicians are fluent score readers and we have commissioned composers in the past who have not submitted a recording.

Entry Fee

We are charging an entry fee of £10 to help cover our time listening to entries. We recognise this is a particularly difficult time, and that even a nominal fee may be prohibitive for some people. If this applies to you, please simply let us know, and we will waive the fee for your application. This process is, of course, kept anonymous from those reviewing applications.

Deadline

All entries - including entrance fee - must be received by 23:59 BST on Sunday 16th August 2026.

Process

Entries are first judged against eligibility. Then, every eligible application is reviewed by at least two members of our Artistic Board. Together, the board creates a shortlist and eventually chooses two composers for the commissions together with festival director Matthew Whiteside. The winning composers will be announced no later than 22nd September 2026 and the final pieces will be due on 22nd January 2027.

We will award at least one of the commissions to a Scottish or Scotland-based composer.

All submissions will be assessed primarily on their artistic quality and the strength of the musical work. Alongside this, we particularly welcome applications from composers who are Black, Asian or from other ethnically underrepresented backgrounds, LGBTQ+ individuals, and people with disabilities, as we seek to increase the representation of these groups in our work.

Questions

If you have any questions or concerns, please e-mail us and we will get back to you as soon as possible.