Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA) has announced the Young Composers Initiative, a new program that will accept and select student compositions to be featured in performance at the OMEA Professional Development Conference.
OMEA members can sponsor student compositions for evaluation by submitting the works using the OMEA Website. A panel of music composition faculty from across Ohio will evaluate the submitted compositions. The student composers selected by the panel will have opportunities to refine their composition with guidance from members of the YCI judging panel. The student compositions could then be selected for performance at the OMEA Conference.
The founding board members are all professional composers appointed to high level collegiate music programs in the state: Dr. Marc Ainger (Ohio State University), Dr. Douglas Knehans (Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music), Dr. Robert McClure, chair (Ohio University), Dr. Jennifer Merkowitz (Otterbein University), Dr. Marilyn Shrude (Bowling Green State University), Dr. Jonathan Sokol (Baldwin-Wallace), and Dr. Aurie Tsu (Oberlin Conservatory). The board members will serve as judges for the 2019-20 Composition Competition and will mentor the designated composer(s) in preparation for performance of the selected composition at the 2020 OMEA Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio.
To submit a student composition, go to the OMEA website, log in and scroll down until you see the link for the Young Composers Initiative and follow the prompts.
