Applications open for San Francisco Symphony and Conservatory of Music's emerging black composers project

The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM), in partnership with the San Francisco Symphony (SF Symphony) and the SFCM President’s Advisory Council on Equity and Inclusion has opened applications for the second annual Emerging Black Composers Project (EBCP).

As well as receiving a $15,000 award, a new work will be commissioned from the chosen composer and premiered by the SF Symphony, led by music director Esa-Pekka Salonen. Salonen will also mentor the chosen EBCP composer along with SFCM music director Edwin Outwater and Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser, SF Symphony’s resident conductor of engagement and education and chair of the EBCP selection committee.

Bartholomew-Poyser said: ‘It’s an honour to join this project, which is needed and appropriate in this time in history. We welcome a wide array of emerging voices, techniques, and aesthetics and encourage innovators to apply.’

The 2022 competition will be held in honour of former chair of the EBCP selection committee, EBCP mentor and Oakland Symphony music director Michael Morgan, who died in August this year.

The Emerging Black Composers Project is a ten-year commitment by the SFCM and SF Symphony to promote Black American composers and their music. The project was launched in 2020 with the first-place commission given to Trevor Weston and three additional prizes given to Sumi Tonooka, Shawn Okpebholo, and Jonathan Bingham. The four composers’ works will receive world premieres during the 2022-23 season at either the SF Symphony, SFCM, the National Brass Ensemble or the Oakland Symphony.

Outwater said that last year’s competition: ‘revealed the incredible wealth of talent among Black composers, and how essential they are and will be in the world of orchestral music.’

All applications are judged through an anonymous process by a committee including Bartholomew-Poyser, Outwater, Salonen and John Adams, Elinor Armer, Carmen Bradford, Anthony Davis, Germaine Franco, Joseph Young and last year’s winner Trevor Weston

Black American composers (U.S. citizens or permanent residents) age 35 or under who have completed a degree program in composition or music performance, or have equivalent experience, are encouraged to apply.

Applicants must submit a resume along with three scores and recordings of past or current compositions reflective of their work by February 14, 2022 (11:59pm PT).

You can find further information, including how to apply, at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music website.