JAM’s 2023 Call for Music is open

Submissions for JAM’s (John Armitage Memorial Trust) annual Call for Music are now open. Scores for SATB choir, brass quintet and organ are invited from composers born, living or studying in the UK before the scheme deadline on 27 October.

Successful submissions will be performed alongside new works commissioned by JAM at the organisation's annual Music of Our Time concert (20 March 2024), conducted by Michael Bawtree and featuring performances by the Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge, Onyx Brass and organist Simon Hogan.

Bawtree will review submissions alongside a panel including Sarah MacDonald, director of music at Cambridge’s Selwyn College; composers Paul Mealor and Timothy Jackson; conductor Nicholas Cleobury; chief producer and artistic director of the BBC Singers Jonathan Manners; conductor, composer and performer Eric Crees and Daniel Cook, master of Durham Cathedral’s choristers and organist. Robert Jones will also join the judging panel in his capacity as director of music at St Bride’s Church, Fleet Street, where the concert will take place.

The Call for Music is open to composers aged 18 and over. A maximum of three pieces can be submitted via the JAM website, with a maximum time limit of 10 minutes for each work (there is no minimum limit). The Music of Our Time concert will be professionally recorded to allow composers promote their work.

Since 2000, JAM has given performances of over 180 new pieces of music and, in the last three years the organisation has collaborated with artists including VOCES8, the Sacconi Quartet, Onyx Brass and Francesca Massey on a series of videos offering support and advice to help nurture emerging composers’ talent. You can access JAM’s Masterclass Series on YouTube.