Dale Warland Singers Commission Award

The Dale Warland Singers Commission Award is presented by Chorus America in partnership with the American Composers Forum. It recognizes a chorus entering into an artistically meaningful and mutually beneficial partnership with a composer of their choice to contribute a new work to the choral repertoire.

Description

Choruses will apply for the award in partnership with a composer of their choice for a specified commission project. 

The review panel will consider artistic quality, inclusion of diverse perspectives, investment in partnership with the composer, the impact of this funding to leverage the project, and the ability of the organization to fulfill the project. The panel will give a higher priority to commissions in earlier stages of development.

The award is made possible by the Dale Warland Singers Fund for New Choral Music, a permanently restricted endowment fund established in 2004 to honor Dale and the Singers. The Dale Warland Singers Commission Award was created in 2008.

This award reflects Chorus America’s and the American Composers Forum’s commitment to modeling equitable compensation practices for the field. The winning chorus will receive a cash award of $10,000. $7,500 of the award is designated towards the commissioning fee (paid to the composer) and $2,500 is designated towards travel to support in-person engagement with the project composer, production costs to present the project, and promotion costs for the concert and work. It is the responsibility of the chorus to reimburse the composer within ten days of receiving the award. The new work must be premiered by the chorus within two years after receiving the award.

Eligibility

Applicants must be a chorus member of Chorus America.

Eligibility rotates through a three-year cycle:

• 2023: Adult volunteer choruses
• 2024: Children's/youth choruses
• 2025: Professional and professional-core choruses: fully professional choruses that pay 100% of their singers and choruses with a core of professional singers (25% of singers, or 12 singers, whichever is fewer)

Deadline & How to Apply

The deadline to submit via the Chorus America Application Portal (CAAP) is Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 11:59PM ET.

A complete application includes:

A. A statement (no more than five pages) that discusses the following:

• Ability to carry out the proposed commission (administrative capacity and artistic potential)
• Artistic accomplishment of the composer as demonstrated by work samples (a maximum of two scores)
• Artistic merit of the proposed project for the chorus within the context of the overall programming plan
• Description of how the composer will be involved in the presentation of the piece.
• Significance of the commission to the composer's career development
• Plans by the chorus for additional performances beyond the premiere

B. Please submit a representative score by the proposed composer. A second representative score is permitted, but not required.

C. Please submit a project budget for the concert at which the commission will be premiered, including all commissioning costs and any other funding already secured. Clearly and directly represent the costs for travel, production, and promotion that the award will help support.

D. Please submit a representative recordings of the chorus clearly labeled with the chorus name.

E. Please submit a track listing for the submitted recording that includes title, composer, and timing of each piece.

Applications will only be accepted through CAAP. 

Past Awardees

Questions? Contact Karyn Castro at 202.331.7577 x246 or [email protected]