The third edition of the Singapore International Competition for Chinese Orchestral Composition (SICCOC) is now accepting applications.
The contest aims to promote Nanyang heritage and establish a repertoire of Nanyang and Singapore-inspired Chinese orchestral works.
Tsung Yeh, chairman of the judging panel and music director of the Singapore Chinese Orchestra, said: ‘The competition aims to showcase compositions written with a Nanyang flavour. That means a style or theme relating to Singapore and its neighbouring countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia. That could be a story related to those countries or musical elements such as melody, rhythm, theme or the instrument. It could also include music from South China like Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Hakka or Hainan. We include this in our definition of Nanyang because the Chinese population in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia largely originate from Southern China, provinces like Guangdong.’
The competition, which is open to all nationalities and ages, is calling for entries which must encompass ‘Nanyang musical elements’ or ‘Nanyang socio-cultural elements’.
Winning compositions will be given their world premieres by the Singapore Chinese Orchestra.
Yeh added: ‘The two competitions held in 2006 and 2011 have been very successful. The winners have had their works performed by the SCO and several other Chinese orchestras. The composers then become recognised and are receiving many commissions for other works. For example, SICCOC 2006’s first prize winner, Eric Watson, has composed various new works for SCO such as The Ceilidh, Mahjong Kaki, Dialogue for Solo Tabla and Chinese Orchestra.’
The preliminary selection will be in August 2015, with finalists announced on 20 November 2015.
The closing date for registration is 31 March 2015.
Photo: The contest’s 2011 edition.