YMT’s Triptych Programme is a three-year project offering three commissions a year to women composers under the age of 30, offering them the opportunity to write new work for some of the UK’s most talented young performers.
Triptych 1 will be held in Belfast (2014), with Triptych 2 & 3 in Edinburgh (2015) and London (2016).
Introduction
For Summer 2014 Youth Music Theatre UK is offering three commissions of £3,000 each to three female composers under the age of 30 (by the 31 August, 2014) to write a 30 minute piece to be combined together to form a three act single evening production entitled& Forgive Us Our Trespasses. The writing is to be inspired by the poem of the same title by the Northern Irish poet, Sinéad Morrissey (http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jan/13/ts-eliot-poetry-prize-sinead-morrissey-parallax), or other of her work; Sinead is Belfast’s Poet Laureate and has recently won the prestigious T.S. Eliot Prize for Poetry.
Performances will take place at The Mac ( http://themaclive.com/ ) (Metropolitan Arts Centre), Belfast on the 15 and 16 August, with a rehearsal period from Monday 4 August.
Application Timescale
Applications are being accepted from 8 January, 2014, and forms can be downloaded here (http://www.youthmusictheatreuk.org/sites/default/files/attachments/Application%20Form%20Composers%27%20Scheme%20Triptych%202014%20-%20FINAL.doc). The deadline for applications is Friday 4 April. Submissions will be reviewed and assessed the following week, and a short-list drawn up.
Short-listed candidates will be interviewed between 14 – 24 April (excluding the Easter holiday break). Candidates unable to attend can ask to be interviewed via Skype.
The three successful candidates will be announced on Friday 25 April.
Application Form
The application form can be downloaded here (https://www.youthmusictheatreuk.org/sites/default/files/attachments/Application%20Form%20Composers%27%20Scheme%20Triptych%202014%20-%20FINAL.doc).
Candidates
The scheme is open to any female composer whether based in the UK or abroad although the final work to be commissioned should be written and sung largely in English.
Selection will be made on the basis of previous creative work, and, in addition to the application form, writers will need to submit:
- A CV and professional reference relating to their own creative musical theatre writing.
- A 15 minute excerpt of a musical theatre piece from their portfolio, video (preferably) or audio, plus a hard copy (or pdf) of the
full score, and a vocal score. - Candidates will need to demonstrate their ability to create for the stage.
Collaboration
Composers may wish to collaborate with a lyricist/writer but will need to make arranegmenst within the fee for any such collaboartion. Preferably YMT is looking for composers who can also provide scoring for their piece, however, we will also consider a composer who wishes to work with an arranger . Again, the single commission fee for the piece remains at £3,000. But please also note the section about Assistant Musical Directors below who may be able to provide arranging and orchestration services.
Writing Timescale
Once the three composers have been appointed (by 25 April), they will be required to submit a synopsis by Friday 16 May for approval and dramaturgical analysis.
Once the synopsis is approved, the score will be written through June and July, and the first version of the vocal score is to be submitted by 30 July. Professor Derek Barnes will mentor the writing process during this period, and into the final stages of production. The score needs to be flexible enough for changes to be made during the rehearsal process.
The scoring has to be completed by Sunday 10 August (end of the first rehearsal week), which is the day when the instrumentalists arrive. The genre and style of the piece is not restricted. It will be a piece of ‘music theatre’ articulated within (but not necessarily
exclusively) the styles of contemporary classical, mainstream musical theatre, jazz, opera, traditional music, folk, pop/rock or world music. It also needs to be apprpariate for the acting group of young performers who will have been selected from UK wide auditions. Their ages will most likely be 14 to 21.
Rehearsals
The company will consist of 36 young performers on stage, mixed but probably mainly girls, with an age range 14 to 21. Each piece should contain 12 main roles (solo work) and 12 ensemble voices, and should provide opportunities for strong female characters. There is flexibility here and synopses can be discussed with the dircetor and musical director and in the light of the performers available (who will have been allocated to the poroject before the appointment of the composers).
The rehearsal period is from Monday 4 August to at Victoria College, Belfast ( http://www.victoriacollege.org.uk/ ). It is a requirement that the Writers attend full-time during the rehearsal period and for the performances. YMT will provide full-board accommodation at Victoria College and cover travel to and from Belfast within the UK.
It should be emphasised that the rehearsal process will be intensive with up to three sessions each day. The three acts will be rehearsed at the same time. All the creative and professional staff, cast and pastoral care staff remain on-site throughout the period of rehearsal.
Creative Team and Music Staff
You will be working with:
A professional Director/Dramaturg: tbc
A professional Choreographer/Movement Director: tbc
A professional Musical Director/Mentor: Professor Derek Barnes ( http://www.youthmusictheatreuk.org/our-people/derek-barnes )
In addition there will be three Assistant Musical Directors recruited from Creative Trainee Scheme (
http://www.youthmusictheatreuk.org/creative-trainee-scheme ) (one dedicated to each production) who will be available to act as
repetiteurs, copying and arranging assistants and keyboard players.
Instrumental Ensemble
The three AMDs will form the core of the instrumental ensemble (one acoustic piano, and two synthesizers/keyboards) plus a limited number of additional instrumentalists (to be decided) recruited through the YMT audition process. These additional instrumentalists will be of grade7/grade 8 standard with the additional possibility of incorporating actor/musicians from the stage cast.
For more information contact us ( mailto:derekbarnes@ymtuk.org ).