University News Last updated 05 May 2015
Young composers between the ages of 16 and 25 are invited to enter the 2015 Philip Bates Prize for Composers and Songwriters.
Composers can submit works in any style as long as they are for one or two singers/vocalists and between two and five players. Shortlisted entries will be given a public performance and the chosen winners receive a cash prize donated by the Philip Bates Trust.
Philip Bates, a young man from Castle Bromwich with a promising musical future ahead of him, was tragically killed shortly after his nineteenth birthday in March 2000. To honour his memory, the Philip Bates Trust (founded to encourage young musicians like Philip) Birmingham jointly run the annual competition.
This exceptionally broad competition has recognised talent in a variety of genres in the past. It encourages entries in everything from classical, jazz and folk to singer-songwriter ballads, Asian music and rock, as long as the work is suitable for live performance and appealing to a wide range of concertgoers. Works should last between six and 12 minutes and should be for one or two voices with between two and five instrumentalists
The application deadline is Friday 10 July 2015.
The competition offers three cash prizes, all donated by the Philip Bates Trust. Birmingham Conservatoire and the Philip Bates Trust award one £300 prize each. There is also a £200 prize awarded by the audience.
Finalists will be announced by the end of July and all shortlisted works will be performed at a special event promoted by Birmingham Conservatoire on Tuesday 3 November 2015, when the winning pieces will be chosen. An opportunity will be given for one of the prize winning works to be performed again at A Touch of Basil in September 2016, a concert organised by the Philip Bates Trust.
All submissions should be addressed to:
Dr Michael Wolters, Deputy Head of Composition
c/o Lynsey Satchell, Composition Department Secretary
Birmingham Conservatoire
Birmingham City University
Paradise Place
Birmingham
B3 3HG
Email: info@philipbatestrust.org.uk