The New Jersey Symphony is now accepting applications for the ninth annual Edward T. Cone Composition Institute. This multifaced, tuition-free Institute is an opportunity designed to promote contemporary orchestral music by enhancing the careers of four emerging composers. Winning composers will have their music performed by the New Jersey Symphony and participate in in-depth sessions with industry leaders.

Celebrated composer Steven Mackey, a music professor and director of graduate studies in composition at Princeton University, is the Institute Director. World-renowned Maestro Case Scaglione, the Chief Conductor of the Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn in Germany and Music Director of Orchestre national d’Île de France, joins as the Institute’s guest conductor.

The Institute is open to university composition students and composers in the early stages of their professional careers. Composers selected for this tuition-free program will participate in a week of the following activities:

-Rehearsals and premiere performance of their work by the New Jersey Symphony in a public concert
-One-on-one and group coaching sessions with Institute Director Steven Mackey and conductor Case Scaglione
-Career-development sessions on public speaking, music editing and networking skills
-Feedback sessions with music industry leaders, New Jersey Symphony musicians and staff
-Discussions of best practices for getting contemporary classical music funded, published and performed

The 2023 Cone Institute will take place July 9–15, 2023 in Princeton, culminating in a public performance at the Richardson Auditorium in Princeton, NJ on Saturday, July 15 at 8 pm. The performance will be conducted by Case Scaglione. The Institute is presented in collaboration with the Princeton University Music Department.

Composers will receive housing and meals in Princeton. The New Jersey Symphony will reimburse up to $250 of participants’ travel costs. The application deadline is Friday, February 24, 2023.

Composition Requirements
-Applicants must submit an original composition that is no more than thirteen (13) minutes in duration. Eligible composition requirements include the following:
-Composition must be an orchestral work (no concerto soloists) and instrumentation may not exceed the following: 3‐3‐3‐3 woodwinds (including standard doublings), 4‐3‐3‐1 brass, timpani, 3 percussion, harp, keyboard (piano or synthesizer) and strings.
-Composition must have no prior professional performance or publication history. Compositions that have had university or conservatory performances, or readings by professional ensembles are eligible for submission.
-The submitted composition must have a title.
-All measures must be numbered in the score at the beginning of each line.