sound is pleased to announce that we will be offering 11 places on three development opportunities for emerging Scottish-based composers. These opportunities involve writing new works for the following groups, supported by experienced mentor-composers and leading to performances at the soundfestival:
- Red Note duo (oboe and bassoon) with Anna Appleby
- Any Enemy new music ensemble with Pete Stollery
- Con Anima Chamber Choir with James Weeks
sound is a new music incubator based in North East Scotland, which aims to increase access to new music, encourage excellence and experimentation, and nurture talent. It achieves this through a variety of activities including the annual soundfestival, a year-round composer support programme, a youth programme, and other learning and engagement activities.
Opportunity descriptions
These will take place over a period of 4 months with a mixture of online and live sessions (see dates below).
i) Writing for Any Enemy
3 emerging Scottish composers will have the opportunity to develop short works for Any Enemy with mentoring support from Pete Stollery.
- Workshop session with musicians: 7th September, Aberdeen
- Additional rehearsal session: 21st or 24th October, Aberdeen
- Performance on 25th October, Aberdeen
Any Enemy (established in 2018) is a contemporary music ensemble formed of local musicians in North East Scotland. The ensemble meets regularly with conductor Pete Stollery to rehearse a wide range of new music for flexible instrumentation, and has commissioned a number of new works. For the past 5 years it has offered development opportunities to composers across Scotland and beyond.
ii) Writing for Con Anima
3 emerging Scottish composers will have the opportunity to develop short works for Con Anima chamber choir with mentoring support from James Weeks.
- Mentoring support: Early/Mid August
- Workshop session with musicians: 13th September, Aberdeen
- Performance on 26th October, Aberdeen
Con Anima is a chamber choir based in Aberdeen. Since its formation in 1995, Con Anima has performed and developed an extensive, highly-varied and critically-acclaimed programme of new music.
iii) Writing for Red Note duo (bassoon and oboe)
5 emerging Scottish composers will have the opportunity to develop short works for oboe and bassoon with mentoring support from Anna Appleby.
- Mentoring support: Early/Mid August, Zoom
- Workshop session with musicians: 13th September, Edinburgh/Glasgow
- Additional rehearsal session: Early/Mid October
- Performance on 1st November, Aberdeen
Since its formation in 2008, Red Note Ensemble has taken up a leadership position as Scotland’s contemporary music ensemble, performing and developing both an extensive, highly-varied and critically-acclaimed programme of new music.
There will be a joint introductory session on the week beginning 7th July (exact date and time will be confirmed by 20th May 2025).
The successful candidates should be available to attend all sessions relevant to their opportunity including the joint introductory session.
This requirement is kept flexible for those living with disability, or those for whom such participation might be tricky due to any other reason related to their underrepresented characteristic. You will be able to discuss this with us upon successful application and we will help find a solution.
Please note, we offer this flexibility in order to open our opportunities for those with access requirements and for whom participation is difficult due to their underrepresented characteristic. If you are not able to attend those days, and your reason is not related to the above, please consider applying to a different opportunity.
Candidates
The successful candidates will be Scottish-based ‘emerging’ composers. They will need to be able to articulate their development needs and how the opportunity would benefit them as this point in their career:
- by emerging we mean composers who are able to demonstrate a number of years of compositional experience, but who don’t consider themselves mid-career, or established. They can be of any age and background, including those who have had to take a substantial career break due to maternity leave or other reasons, or those who practised composition as amateurs in previous years and have now started to take steps into the professional world. They might also be those who had a career in another field of music and are only now identifying as composers, or those who have just graduated etc. It is up to you to define yourself as emerging according to your own personal circumstance.
- by Scottish-based composers we mean composers of any nationality, who have been resident in Scotland for at least 18 months and expect to stay for the next 2 years at least. Scottish-raised composers who are studying elsewhere in the UK for a limited amount of time may also apply, but will be expected to pay for any travel to get to Scotland.
We are committed to working with and supporting composers from under-represented groups. Female, trans, gender-diverse, Gypsy/Traveller and global majority composers, composers from a low-income background, and/or composers with a disability are encouraged to apply. By global majority we mean people from all ethnic groups except white British and other white groups, including white minorities.
For these opportunities, we are looking for composers, that:
- have strong notation skills and experience in working with and writing for classically trained musicians, and are interested in developing this skill further
OR
- are coming from a not classically trained background, but are able to demonstrate ability/skill set to produce a score (including graphic, text, semi-graphic) for classically trained musicians to play from.
- have some experience in writing for voice (in any setting) – Writing for Con Anima
Expenses
A stipend of £250 will be available for each successful candidate who completes the opportunity.
Second-class travel within Scotland will be reimbursed, as will accommodation if this is necessary for the opportunity. See the next paragraph (accessibility) for additional access costs.
Accessibility
Access costs will be covered for those who require it. You will be asked about your accessibility needs upon successful application, this will be discussed with you individually, and the programme and schedule (where possible and required) will be tailored towards your needs.
If you need any accessibility assistance in applying for this opportunity, please contact Kadri on info@sound-scotland.co.uk.
How to apply
You can apply to one or all these opportunities through this form: https://near.tl/sm/mASuMlvr7
If your application is successful, you can only be selected for one opportunity. If you apply for more than one opportunity, we ask you to indicate your order of preference.
Text, video or audio applications are accepted.
In the application form you will be asked :
- Your name, email, age, pronouns, postcode, and to confirm you are Scottish/resident in Scotland, and to identify your underrepresented characteristic if you wish so
- For each opportunity you apply for: why are you interested in it and how will it help your development as composer? (text, or upload video or audio, 1-2min max)
- Biography or CV (text only)
- Small portfolio of your work: three PDF scores (notated, graphic, or description) and, ideally - recordings/midi of the same pieces.
- You will also be asked to fill in an equalities monitoring form.
Online information session
There will be an online information session for all our opportunities on Friday 23rd May 12.30-1.30pm for those who need further advice or information. Here’s the link to register for the session: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/WBo8GkuGSOGygLAa8b7fPQ
If you have any other questions, you can email Kadri on info@sound-scotland.co.uk.
Deadline for applications: end of the day on 30th May
We offer a 2-day “grace period” until the end of day on 1st June for applicants who can’t reach the deadline due to health challenges, having to care for family members, or other reasonable and/or unexpected circumstances. Please state your reason in the application form.
Selection process
As mentioned above, sound is committed to working with and supporting composers from under-represented sections of the population. To enable this, there is a two-stage application process: an initial selection is made, and then this is narrowed down in a second stage selection process. If you are a female, gender-minority, Gypsy/Traveller or global majority composer, disabled and/or from a low-income background, you can choose to self-select automatically to the second round.
The selection panel will be made up of a representative(s) of Red Note Ensemble, Con Anima, Any Enemy and sound.
We will inform you whether you are successful or not by the 20th June. We may also offer you a reserve place in case one of the successful candidates can’t take up the opportunity or needs to pull out at an early stage.
NOTES TO COMPOSERS APPLYING
What to expect
- Your creative process should start at the initial date of this project, and continue throughout, punctuated by online or live sessions with the composer mentor and/or musicians.
- You will be working mostly individually, using any medium of your choice during the creative process to help you generate ideas.
- Any mentoring sessions will be aimed at helping you shape your ideas into a suitable composition.
- For the mid-project workshop, you will be expected to present a draft notated score and parts in advance for the musicians (you can use graphic or semi-graphic notation, and/or text instructions, if that is how you normally work). The deadlines for this will be given to you at the introductory meeting.
- After this you will be required to prepare a final fully notated score and parts for a date to be agreed with the musicians.
- In between sessions, it is up to you how exactly you would like to manage your process.
If you have any further questions or personal requirements in regards to this, you will be able to discuss them with the manager and/or mentor of the project upon the successful application.
What NOT to expect
- Tutoring - your mentor is your sounding board and advisor, but you are expected to work as a professional, and will be making your own decisions based on your experience.
- Time management and preparation guidance - while we will provide you with a schedule, we will expect you to manage your own creative flow, and make autonomous decisions on any creative preparations for meeting with musicians, etc. You will always be able to discuss any logistical questions (equipment, access, timeline, etc.) with our manager.
- Please note that this is a development opportunity leading to a live performance of your work in the soundfestival. It may be possible to make an audio and/or video recording of the performance which, provided the players are happy with the performance, will be available to you for personal, non-public use only, including submission to competitions and as part of educational assignments. If you wish to use it for other purposes, you should get in touch with us to discuss this.
Selection
Selection for new music opportunities is inherently subjective and the criteria used can differ from project to project. We are frequently over-subscribed and often the quality of applications is extremely high from a wide range of composers, which usually means making difficult decisions.
Reasons for selecting one composer over another are not always to do with skill level or experience. Usually we choose the composers that will benefit the most from a particular opportunity. We may also take into consideration whether we feel composers are the right fit to work a particular ensemble. For development opportunities that happen in a group setting, it may be that we need to take into consideration the coherence of that group e.g. we may prefer to have composers of a similar experience-level. We thus sometimes end up turning down composers with more experience or skills, or giving opportunities to composers who we feel would benefit most from a particular opportunity at that stage in their career. Faced with difficult choices we may sometimes turn down composers who have already benefited from a number of opportunities in the past.
We provide individual feedback to all applicants.
We would encourage composers to apply for any opportunities that interest them and for which they fit the specification, and not be discouraged if they are not selected for a particular opportunity, as it does not mean that they are not “good” enough. Please do continue to apply for any opportunity that interests you!
These opportunities are part of soundcreators programme focusing on nurturing creative talent. They are currently funded by the Creative Scotland, PRS Foundation Talent Development Network supported by PPL, Aberdeen City Council and UK Goverment, The Pear Tree Fund for Music, Hugh Fraser Foundation, The Leche Trust, Hope Scott Trust and the Hinrichsen Foundation.
