Applications Open for Chamber Music America's Classical Commissioning Program

The program provides grants to professional U.S.-based presenters and ensembles for the commissioning and performance of new works by American composer

Applications for Chamber Music America's Classical Commissioning Program should be received by April 13, 2023. Designed to provide grants to U.S. presenters and ensembles for commissions, the program supports works scored for 2–10 musicians performing one per part, composed in any of the musical styles associated with contemporary classical music.

Chamber Music America encourages applicants to consider proposing a commission from composers who are women or African/Black, Latinx, Asian/South Asian, Arab/Middle Eastern, or Native American. In service of this aim the organization has launched the Composers Equity Project, a database of composers who are from historically underserved groups. You can view the database, here.

Ensembles who apply for these grants should be professional groups that regularly perform contemporary art music. They should have fixed personnel or a flexible, reliable roster, and duos should consist of an equal partnership (as opposed to a soloist-accompanist paradigm).

To be eligible, presenters need to be a 501(c)(3) organization or otherwise eligible for charitable contributions for federal income, estate, and gift-tax purposes

In order to be eligible, composers should be US citizens or permanent residents, and must be an individual (as opposed to a group or collective). The composer may be a member of the ensemble who will perform the work.

The composers to be commissioned need to be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident and can be a member of the applicant’s ensemble.

To learn more about the program, here.

Past participants of the program include the Catalyst Quartet, who commissioned Kenji Bunch’s the still, small voice, and performed the premiere in 2020.