HEREFORD Three Choirs Festival has launched a new choral composition competition in association with Hereford Cathedral Voluntary Choir and Novello Publishers. The competition forms part of the 2015 Three Choirs Festival programme, which marks the 300th anniversary of the event.

Composers aged 30 and under are invited to submit a short setting of a sacred text, suitable for performance as an introit to a service of Choral Evensong. The judging process will include a workshop day in which shortlisted works will be rehearsed and performed by Hereford Cathedral Voluntary Choir (HCVC), conducted by Peter Dyke, assistant director of music at Hereford Cathedral. The winning introit will be performed by the choir at Choral Evensong during the 2015 Hereford Three Choirs Festival, and will be published by Novello.

The competition judges will be Kate Johnson, creative manager of Music Sales Ltd, representing Novello; Peter Dyke; and Professor Paul Mealor of Aberdeen University.

Compositions should be for SATB choir, a cappella or with organ accompaniment, and capable of being rehearsed quickly from scratch by a good amateur choir. The chosen texts must be sacred in nature and in the public domain. Biblical texts or sacred verse are equally acceptable.

Shortlisted composers’ entries will be rehearsed for 15 minutes each and immediately performed at the workshop with HCVC, which will take place in Hereford on Saturday, April 25 and will be attended by all the judges. Shortlisted composers will be invited to attend the workshop and reasonable travel expenses will be paid to enable them to do so. However they will not be able to discuss their pieces with the choir or its director during the rehearsal.

The closing date is Friday, March 20. Scores should be sent to the competition administrator, Stewart Taylor, by email (PDF or sib file) to stewart.taylor@3choirs.org or by post to 39 Breinton Road, Hereford HR4 0JU

Commenting on the launch of the composition competition, Geraint Bowen, director of music of Hereford Cathedral and artistic director of the Hereford Three Choirs Festival, said: ‘This new national competition builds on Hereford Cathedral Voluntary Choir’s commitment to performing works by living composers and on the successful format of the workshops it has been running since 2010 for aspiring choral composers in our local area. I am delighted that the 300th anniversary of the Three Choirs Festival gives us the opportunity to invite submissions from composers beyond Herefordshire and give the winning piece the accolade of a performance in the Three Choirs Festival.’