Vacancy Type:
Application deadline:
Sunday, 14 August 2022
Description of vacancy:
Bristol Reggae Orchestra has been awarded funding through the Windrush Day Grant Fund to create a Reggae Choir. The project aims to contribute to community cohesion by drawing together people from British Caribbean communities and other diverse backgrounds to explore, learn and create through the medium of reggae.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-61922763
This exciting new project includes funding to commission a new piece of music for orchestra and choir. The piece will be performed at a gala performance at the end of October.
Background
Bristol Reggae Orchestra was established in 2011 to reach out to diverse communities living in Bristol, extending opportunities for music making to excluded groups while creating high quality creative outputs and inclusive performances. BRO have worked with a range of local and national partners and are well known for the ‘feelgood’ factor that we create for all participants and audiences.
We have a strong track record of performance and recording including in 2014 a BBC radio 3 broadcast of Kim Moore’s ‘Edgelands’ at St Georges, Bristol with a choir comprising children from local schools. In 2021 we performed for the Real Photography Company’s “Windrush Generation” book launch which included a piece of new music specially commissioned for the event. You can listen to samples of our music here: Bristol Reggae Orchestra on SoundCloud
The project funding has enabled us to establish an adult choir that will meet regularly up until the gala performance. We seek to commission an exciting piece of music for orchestra and choir that may also include a chorus or verse written so that local children can be involved in the performance. The starting point for the piece is reggae music, which has historically helped to preserve a sense of home for many of the Windrush generation and their descendants, as well as supporting people through complex experiences including discrimination and providing points of positive connection with the host community. The piece must both celebrate the Windrush Generation and look to the future. It will sound original and feel authentic for voices of all ages in the choir to sing. It will take advantage of our unique orchestral sound, with interesting layers, strong melody, simplicity and directness. It will acknowledge our Bristol roots, enabling the choir and orchestra to celebrate history and take forward its lessons in a positive way.
We are excited to hear your personal response!
Composition brief
The final piece will be for orchestra and choir (see instrumentation/voices, below) and written for people with varied musical experiences and sight reading ability. Our rhythm section players tend to work with lead sheets and our percussionists by ear, while other sections rely on fully written parts. We require a final score and parts created in notation software such as Sibelius, Logic or MuseScore.
Instrumentation and voices
Flutes 1 & 2, Clarinet, Trumpet (can be 1 & 2 if needed), Trombone, Soprano Sax, Alto Sax 1 & 2, Tenor Sax 1 & 2, Baritone Sax, Violin, Cello.
Guitar (2 players), Keyboards, Bass, Drum kit, Percussion
Voices: Standard 4-part choir (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass)
Duration of piece: 5 minutes
Fee: £3500
Submission process
Deadline to submit a sample recording of at least one minute duration (a midi recording is acceptable) and a PDF score for the specified line up: 5pm 14 August.
Shortlisted composers will be invited to discuss their proposed work with the orchestra steering group via zoom shortly after submission and a decision will be made by 19 August.
Deadline for final scores: 5pm 16 September 2022.
Email submissions to choir@bristolreggaeorchestra.com
