The Corporación GD & E Orfeón San Juan Bautista is pleased to announce the second edition of its composition contest for undergraduate students. This event seeks to promote the writing of secular choral music without instrumental accompaniment in Puerto Rico so as to increase the repertoire of choral music on the island. Winners will receive cash prizes and their works will be performed by the Orfeón San Juan Bautista.

Policy and Rules

I. Eligibility

1. The contest is open only to full-time undergraduate students residing in Puerto Rico who have been enrolled for two or more years in the same institution. Each candidate must send an official certification from their institution’s registrar stating that they are a full-time student at the time of application to the contest and that they have been studying consecutively at their institution since August 2016 or any date prior to that.
2. The contest is open only to full-time undergraduate students residing in Puerto Rico who have been enrolled for two or more years in the same institution. Each candidate must send an official certification from their institution’s registrar stating that they are a full-time student at the time of application to the contest and that they have been studying consecutively at their institution since August 2016 or any date prior to that.

II. Composition characteristics

1. Each composer can submit only one original work. It must not have been interpreted before. Musical arrangements, transcripts, adaptations or works in which more than one composer or arranger has participated will not be accepted. The competing work must have one sole author.
2. The composition must be secular (nonreligious) and for a mixed chorus of four voices (soprano, alto, tenor, and bass) without instrumental accompaniment.
3. The work must be based on a secular text of the applicant’s choosing. The applicant is allowed to use either an original text or a text in the public domain. If the text is not in the public domain, the applicant must show evidence that they hold the copyright on the work or have authorization for its use.
4. The work must not be longer than four (4) minutes.
5. The composer must ensure singability and appropriateness in their use of the registers and/or tessituras of the four (4) basic voices of a mixed choir (soprano, alto, tenor, and bass). This is part of the fundamental criteria employed for evaluating the works.

III. Application terms and deadline

1. The composer must submit three (3) copies of their partiture printed on white paper, along with three (3) CDs (or three (3) USB flash drives), each one containing one (1) recording in high-definition MIDI or high-definition MP3 format. The partitures and the recordings in digital format will be assigned a pseudonym. The jury will only accept materials with a pseudonym. The rest of the documents should have the first and last name of the composer, as well as their mailing address, email address, and telephone number. The custody of these identified materials will be taken by the administrative agents of the contest.
2. The partitures should be written using music notation software—Sibelius, Finale, Notion, etc.—and in a size fit for reading.
3. If the composer wishes to get back all their documents, they must include in their application a pre-addressed envelope of the same size with the postage. Otherwise, the Corporación GD & E Orfeón San Juan Bautista will not be held responsible for the return of said documents.
4. The envelope or package with all of the required documents must be sent exclusively through the USPS before or on Friday, January 10, 2020 (the contest deadline). All correspondence not containing the application materials as stated in this policy or postmarked after the contest deadline will make the applicant ineligible for participation in this contest. The documents must be sent to the following address:

ORFEÓN SAN JUAN BAUTISTA
MÚSICA A CAPELLA
PO BOX 363884
SAN JUAN PR
00936-3884

The administrative agents of the contest will email applicants with the acknowledgement of receipt.

IV. Jury

The jury will be composed of three distinguished Puerto Rican musicians with vast domestic and foreign experience.

V. Prizes and conditions for the performance of the selected works

1. The works will be evaluated by the jury in January and February 2020.
2. The winners of the contest will be announced on the website of the Orfeón San Juan Bautista (www.orfeonsjb.com) on Friday, February 20, 2020. The decision by the jury will be final and not subject to appeal.
3. The jury will select two winners and award them with one prize each:
   • The Premio Amaury Veray Torregrosa of $700.00
   • The Premio Jack Délano of $300.00
4. The winners will receive their prizes in May 2019 during a concert held by the Orfeón San Juan Bautista where their compositions will be performed for the first time.
5. The winners must forfeit the exclusive rights to perform the selected works to the Corporación GD & E Orfeón San Juan Bautista in a written statement. This forfeiting will be effective until the premiere of the compositions. If the texts used by the winners for their composition are not in the public domain and the winners are not the sole authors of these texts, the authors of said texts must forfeit the right to perform the selected work in a written statement. The statement must also give the Orfeón San Juan Bautista authorization to perform for the first time and record the work in CDs for commercial purposes.

Applications open on Friday, November 1, 2019 and close on Friday, January 10, 2020.

For more information, please contact Guarionex Morales Matos at 787-593-3405 or send an email to gmm@orfeonsjb.org

www.orfeonsjb.org