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The Sound of Dragon Society is hosting the residency of Taiwan’s Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra (gCO) in April & May 2018. The residency includes a reading session at 1-5pm on Sunday May 13, 2018 at the Canadian Music Centre BC Creative Hub (837 Davie St, Vancouver). The Society is accepting submissions from composers of any age and nationality for the reading. The submitted works will be considered by the gCO for its programming at Taiwan’s National Concert Hall in 2018/2019.

Eligibility
Composers of any age and nationality can submit. There is no submission fee. Availability to attend the reading session is not mandatory, but may receive priority. Out of town composers may participate over internet.

Submission deadline: Pacific Time 11:59pm on April 16, 2018 (*deadline has been extended to this date)
by email to soundofdragon@gmail.com

Guidelines:

  • Each composer may submit a maximum of two pieces.
  • length per piece approx. 10 minutes
  • Available instruments – dizi (1 player), sheng (1 player), pipa (1 player), zhongruan/daruan (1 player), zheng (1 player), gaohu/erhu/zhonghu (2 players), and cello (1 player). The piece can be for any combination of the instruments. (min. 3 players)
  • The gCO artistic director/conductor Chih Sheng Chen will lead this reading session.
  • Existing works can be submitted, but the priority will be given to pieces not yet performed in Taiwan.

Please include the following in your submission:

    • Submission form – please DOWNLOAD and complete the submission form in English.
    • Score – only electronic scores created on computers as PDF will be accepted. Except for graphic scores, hand written scores will NOT be accepted. Please organize the instruments in this order: dizi, sheng, pipa, ruan, zheng, gaohu, erhu, cello.
    • Recording (optional, but recommended) – audio or video recordings of the piece: mp3/mp4 files, or Youtube/soundcloud/website links. It can be live performance, studio recording, or midi realization.
    • Short program note (one paragraph) & short bio of the composer in English (max. 250 words) and Chinese, or at least one of these two languages, submitted in one doc file.

Selection will be announced by April 20, 2018 (*new date) at soundofdragon.com and by email.
The pieces to be workshopped will be announced by April 15, 2018, after the Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra and the Turning Point Ensemble’s joint concerts at the 3rd Sound of Dragon Music Festival. The two ensembles will join forces to perform two different programs on April 5 & 6, 2018 at the Annex Theatre in Vancouver. We encourage composers interested in writing music for the gCO to attend these concerts and meet the conductor Chih Sheng Chen. The gCO offers a full season of approximately thirty concerts a year at the prestigious National Concert Hall in Taiwan, presenting both the full orchestra of over one hundred musicians and smaller chamber ensembles throughout the year. All works submitted for the reading will be considered by the gCO for its programming of the upcoming seasons.

Mail scores and email parts for the selected works: April 25, 2018
The composers of the selected pieces are required to mail to the society one printed copy of the scores, which will be kept by the society and not returned to the composers.

The parts are sent to the musicians by email. Composers are responsible to prepare all the parts, generated electronically on computers and submitted as PDF files. Except for graphic scores, hand written parts will NOT be accepted. The Sound of Dragon Society reserves the right to withdraw a piece if the requirements for the parts are not met.

Reading Session: 1-5pm, May 13, 2018, Vancouver
This reading session is co-presented with the Canadian Music Centre and open to the public. Although it is not a mandatory requirement, composers of selected works are encouraged to attend. Out of town composers may participate over the internet and receive an archival recording from the reading.

Resources for Composers:
For composers who may be unfamiliar of some of the instruments, please visit Sound of Dragon website for more info: http://www.soundofdragon.com/chinese-instruments/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Sj7l8HEO2U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Kmt9EmXUGE
Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra (Taiwan)  
The Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra (“gCO) was founded in 2000 by artistic director and conductor Chih-Sheng Chen. A strong musical force in Taiwan, it represents a new generation of Chinese orchestral music. The gCO breathes new life into an art form that holds ancient roots, and devotes itself to promoting Chinese music on the world stage. The gCO offers a full season of approximately thirty concerts a year at the prestigious National Concert Hall in Taiwan, presenting both the full orchestra of over one hundred musicians and smaller chamber ensembles throughout the year. The orchestra has presented large-scale interdisciplinary projects, combining theatre and multimedia with orchestral music. Its international appearances include multiple European (including the 2007 Flying Circus Festival in Germany), South Asian and China tours (including 2008 Hong Kong International Chinese Music Festival), and three Canadian tours (including 2010 & 2015 Edmonton Chinese Music Festival, 2014 Sound of Dragon Music Festival, and 2015 Vancouver Jazz Festival). In addition, the gCO presents over 60 educational performances every year, introducing thousands of young audience to Chinese music in every city in Taiwan, including small communities off the main island. The gCO has released three CDs and one DVD.

The gCO has hosted the residencies of Dutch composer Joel Bons (2012), Korean composer Cecilia Heejeong Kim (2012, 2014), Canadian composers Mark Armanini (2011, Canada Council commission), John Oliver (2014, Canada Council commission) and Lan Tung (2011), and given the world premiere of their music at the National Concert Hall of Taiwan. In 2014, the gCO collaborated with Amsterdam’s Nieuw Ensemble and Canada’s Orchid Ensemble’s to give their Taiwan debut. In June 2018, the gCO will host Vancouver’s Turning Point Ensemble’s Taiwan debut in two collaborative concerts.