The MIGF composition competition jury will include the renowned composers Stephen Goss (England), Benjamin Verdery (USA), and Federico Bonacossa (Italy/USA). The competition welcomes composers to submit new guitar compositions for solo guitar by January 30, 2023.
General Guidelines
- Open to composers of all ages and nationalities.
- Compositions submitted must be written for solo guitar.
- Compositions must be written for the six-stringed classical guitar.
- Alternate tunings are acceptable.
- Fixed media and/or live electronics may be included (fixed media refers to any type of pre-recorded sounds that can be computer generated or samples of anything but are fixed or pre-recorded).
- Compositions submitted must be in a duration of no more than 10 minutes (8 minutes or less preferred).
- Composers may submit multiple works.
- Compositions submitted must be unpublished (not published by a commercial publishing house) and should not have been previously awarded at MIGF.
- Previously submitted compositions (except for winning compositions) for the past MIGF competitions may be re-submitted with a different pseudonym.
Submissions
Application Deadline: January 30, 2023.
Application Fee: $25 for each work. Multiple works may be submitted (each additional work must be accompanied by an additional application fee).
Application materials and fees must be submitted and paid online no later than January 30, 2023 by 11:59 pm EST.
All submissions to the competition should include the following:
1. First, complete online payment at the FIU Ticket Office. After completing payment, you will be provided an eTicket with “record locator” (such as ABCDEF). Please make a pdf copy of your eTicket as payment receipt. Application fees are non-refundable.
Online Payment
2. Download and fill out the application form (PDF). Please enter the “record locator” obtained through the above process in the appropriate field of the form. This will provide proof of payment along with the pdf copy of your eTicket. The application form is a fillable pdf that may be filled out on the computer or printed and filled out manually. Either way, it must be printed and signed before submitting via email in the next step.
3. Please submit the following materials along with the completed application form (PDF) via email with attachments to mozgen@fiu.edu. The subject line of the email should read “MIGF Composition Competition 2023” followed by your full name.
- Score of the submitted work in PDF format. All pages of the pdf should be anonymous (without the real name of the composer) and the first page of score should be labeled with a pseudonym (nickname), title of the work, and date of composition only.
- If the composition includes electronics, provide the tape or maxpat file or a website link for the fixed media (if any).
- If available, a recording of the submitted work in mp3 audio file format is recommended (make sure the mp3 file is anonymous and does not include any identifying information about the composer and performer) (MIDI is acceptable in mp3 format) .
- Completed application form (PDF).
- PDF copy of your eTicket.
Prizes
- One winner and one honorable mention will be selected.
- The winner will receive $600 cash prize.*
- The winner and honorable mention will receive a free festival pass for all events.
- Judges have the right to award all or some of the prizes or none.
- Winning compositions will be announced at the opening concert of the festival on February 18, 2023, and posted online at migf.fiu.edu/news as well as facebook.com/migf.fiu.edu
*Per U.S. IRS regulations, prizes may be subject to 30% federal tax withholding for foreign prize-winners. U.S. prize-winners will be issued an IRS-1099 Form.
COMPETITION JUDGES
Stephen Goss
Professor of of Composition and Director of the International Guitar Research Centre at the University of Surrey, UK, and Professor of Guitar at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
Federico Bonacossa
Composer and Assistant Teaching Professor of Music History and Music Theory, Florida International University School of Music
2023 MIGF Composition Competition Results
Winner: Jorge Caballero (USA)
Composition: O King Dreaming
Honorable Mention: Pablo Borras (Argentina)
Composition: Guitarra de mimbre (salix fragilis)
2021 MIGF Composition Competition Results
Winner: Bence Hartl (Hungary)
Composition: Variations on a theme of Liszt
Honorable Mention: Mauro Godoy Villalobos (Sweden)
Composition: Crepúsculo
2020 MIGF Composition Competition Results
Winner: Angel Gomez Ramos (Mexico)
Composition: Partita for solo guitar
Honorable Mention: Hugo Vasco Reis (Portugal)
Composition: Metamorphosis and Resonances for solo guitar
2019 MIGF Composition Competition Results
Winner: Alexandre Eisenberg (Brazil)
Composition: Pentalogia for solo guitar
Honorable Mention: Not awarded
2018 MIGF Composition Competition Results
Winner: Hakkı Cengiz Eren (Turkey)
Composition: Three Portals for solo guitar
Honorable Mention: Konstantin Bliokh (Ukraine)
Composition: Sonata for solo guitar
2017 MIGF Composition Competition Results
Winner: Hachè Costa (Spain)
Composition: Õ | Omaggio to Federico García Lorca for solo guitar
Honorable Mention: Eric Verbugt (The Netherlands)
Composition: Three quarks for Muster Mark! for solo guitar
2016 MIGF Composition Competition Results
Emerging Composers Category Winner: Samuel M. Wells
Composition: “stringstrung for solo guitar and digital media”
Emerging Composers Category Honorable Mention: Nathan L. Bredeson
Composition: “Hommage à Paulo Bellinati for two guitars”
Young Composers Category Winner: Mallory S. Strom
Composition: “Music for Three Guitars”
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