2026 Abundant Silence Composition Contest

The 2026 Composition Contest is now open for submissions!

On behalf of the Abundant Silence and the Festival for Creative Pianists board of directors, we welcome composers to submit their piano works to our annual Composition Contest! We received over 300 submission for our 2025 contest, and are excited for another year. Click here to learn more about the 2025 winning works.

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Deadline: October 15th, 2026 (11:59pm ET)

Review of submissions will take place right after the deadline closes, with results of the competition by or before December 20th.

The Festival for Creative Pianists and Abundant Silence invites composers to submit solo piano works for our 2026-27 call for scores. Selected composers will have their works performed by our Pianist in Residence during our annual in-person festival program, and will be offered a composer member publishing agreement 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  • Submitted works must be unpublished or self-published.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, copyright information, dedications, etc will disqualify the piece from consideration. Please do not include any pseudonyms.

  • Works ranging from 3-10 minutes will be considered. Individual movement(s) will be considered.

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

  • Works for fixed media + piano will be accepted (2 channels) but no live electronics.

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

Application Fee: $10 (link to pay fee at the top of the application, proof of receipt required with submission). Multiple submissions are allowed and require multiple application fees.

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 as well as a special guest judge from the Abundant Silence composer roster.

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.

Deadline: October 15th, 2026

Results will be announced by December 20th, 2026

Submit your application using the form below!
Click here to pay your $10 application fee in advance and upload your receipt as part of your form submission 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.