2025 Abundant Silence Composition Contest

The 2025 contest is now closed! Please sign up to our newsletter for updates on this year’s contest and future opportunities. New announcement date is November 14th.

On behalf of the Abundant Silence Composition Competition we would like to sincerely thank you all for applying to this year's call! We received over 300 submissions, which far exceeded our expectations! As such, it is taking longer for us to adjudicate the competition. We will be extending our selection process and now plan on announcing the results of the competition by or before November 14th.

We thank you for your patience and we look forward to looking through each of your submissions! Of the ones we have seen so far, we are blown away by the quality of pieces that were sent to us. Be on the lookout for an update from us by November 14th and once again, we apologize for the delay and inconvenience.

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Deadline: October 1st, 2025 (11:59pm ET)

The Festival for Creative Pianists and Abundant Silence invites composers to submit solo piano works for our 2025-26 call for scores. Selected composers will have their works performed by our Pianist in Residence at the 37th FOCAM festival at Washington State University, and will be offered a publishing contract with Abundant Silence.

Eligibility:

  • This opportunity is open to any composer, over the age of 18, regardless of level of education. 

  • Composers must reside in the United States.

  • Composers who are already published by Abundant Silence are not eligible to apply.

Criteria:

  • Submitted works must be unpublished or self-published.

  • All submissions must be anonymous. Any identifying marks on scores or recordings such as commission information, name of self-publishing company, performance information, composer name, etc will disqualify the piece from consideration. Please do not include any pseudonyms.

  • Works of any length will be considered. However, preference will be given to works 3-8 minutes in length.

  • Works must be for solo piano. Minimal extended techniques are accepted. Works requiring prepared piano will not be accepted due to recital logistics.

  • Submission requires a legible, computer engraved score, and a recording. MIDI renditions will be accepted.

  • Only one submission per composer. 

Judging process:

  • The judges will only see anonymous scores and recordings. Headshot, bios, and links will not be available to the judges.

  • Judges will be comprised of FCP/AS Board members.

More information:

-Composers on the Abundant Silence roster retain all rights to their work.

-Selected composers will not be required to attend the Festival in person. FCP/AS cannot provide travel or lodging stipends.

While we are not charging an application fee for this competition, Festival for Creative Pianists primarily runs off of donations, and we greatly appreciate them. The suggested donation amount is $10. Your donation will not affect your application in any way.

Deadline: October 1st, 2025

Results will be announced by October 20th

Submit your application using the form below!

Please note that the file upload fields only allow up to 10MB each. Reduce your mp3 file to 192kbps or 128kbps if needed. Audacity and Quicktime are two free options for reducing mp3 file size.
After submitting, you will be redirected to a confirmation and donation page.