Composition competition
The 2021 edition of our annual competition is now live!
Deadline: December 29
Entry Fee: $35
Prize: $1500
Find more information, full guidelines and entry form on our Composition Competition page.
In 2017, we launched our first competition, which has now had four annual editions. Winners have included:
2017 Nicholas Ryan Kelly – Little Bells
2018 Paul Aitken – Au Clair de la Lune
2019 Stuart Beatch – Your Stars to Hold (Premiered Nov 2021)
2020 Leonard Enns – A Little More Time (Premiered Nov 2021)
Commissioning
The choir is building a history of commissioning Canadian composers and giving their new works world-premiere performances:
2015 Trent Worthington – Rimini 1944
2017 Jeff Enns – Cantate Domino
2018 Alex Eddington – Picking Wild Berries
2019 Kristopher Fulton – I’ll Drown My Book
2020 Matthew Emery – Breathe, and I Breathe premiered Nov 2021
2020 Katerina Gimon – Spring Rain, Premiering Feb 2022
2021 Christine Donkin – Like Barley Bending, Premiering Feb 2022 (consortium commission)
2021 Nicholas Ryan Kelly – You Speak Violets, Premiering May 2022
2021 Marie-Claire Saindon – Title TBA, Premiering May 2022
2021 Andrew Balfour – Title TBA, Premiering May 2022
Additional Premieres
World premieres except where noted. Links may be to other performances.
2015 Guillaume Boulay – Voix du vent (Alberta premiere)
2018 Stuart Beatch – I Loved You First
2018 Nicholas Ryan Kelly – A Flame in the Embers
2018 Tawnie Olson – Spring and Fall (Canadian premiere)
2018 Zachary Wadsworth – Three Lacquer Prints (Canadian premiere)
2018 Peter Togni – The Eighth of September
2018 Jocelyn Morlock – One Black Spike (Alberta Premiere)
2019 Nicholas Piper – The Delight of Paradise (Alberta Premiere)
2019 Jonathan Dove – The Passing of the Year, pianos/percussion edition (Alberta Premiere)
2020 Hussein Janmohamed – Sun On Water (USA premiere)
2020 Jeff Enns – i carry your heart (USA premiere)
2020 Robin King – Exultate Deo (USA premiere)
Recordings
Check out our 2018 release Fresh: New Music From Canada, including new works by 12 Canadian composers. At the time of its release, this was the first commercial recording of all pieces featured. Since, many have been performed widely, published and recorded by other ensembles.
FRESH: New Music From Canada
New shorter works by Canadian composers: secular a cappella music on themes of nature, passion, love, loss, death, and hope.
The Simplest Way
This release features the music of Trent Worthington, recorded Spring 2016 at St. Andrew’s United Church in Edmonton.
Support New Music
We are always looking for support for new music projects, whether to continue operating our competition, commissioning new works, premiering new works or bringing composers to the city to work with the choir and attend premieres.
Interested in singing with us?
Chronos Vocal Ensemble is always seeking additional singers with a high level of musicianship, strong individual vocal technique and versatility, and a desire to be challenged in an ensemble environment.