ORA Singers joins with the Three Choirs Festival to support state-school composers
6th January 2023
Applications are now open for the 2023 Young Composers programme, the pioneering mentoring scheme run by the award-winning ensemble, ORA Singers. The trail-blazing choral group, which has commissioned over 50 new works in the last six years, is continuing its ground-breaking education programme into its fourth and biggest year.
Building on the success of previous iterations, which have seen just under 100 state-school students benefit from free compositional support, the 2023 scheme will welcome another 50 students to take part as either Young Composers or Apprentices, and will introduce a new partnership with the Three Choirs Festival for 2023.
10 Young Composers will receive up to 10 hours of one-to-one compositional mentoring with a professional composer. Mentors will develop the skills of each Young Composer, as they help them write a brand new choral work. Young Composers are given the opportunity to have their pieces workshopped, performed, and recorded by ORA Singers, and their Artistic Director, Suzi Digby OBE, and adjudicated by a panel of industry experts (led by Stephen Fry in 2019, Gareth Malone in 2021, and John Rutter in 2022).
Alongside the 10 Young Composers, 40 Apprentices will gain advanced compositional skills through a series of free online, in depth workshops led by professional composers. Designed to fast-track compositional development, the Apprentice scheme will introduce key elements of choral composition and its techniques, and will give an insight into the world of professional composition with opportunities to meet with leading industry figures.
Applications to the ORA Singers Young Composers scheme are now open for aspiring composers born on or after 1st September 2004, in attendance at a UK non-fee paying secondary school. Full terms and conditions can be found on the ORA Singers website. Applicants have until noon on Monday 6th February 2023 to submit their applications.
