Finding opportunities as a composer can be difficult and competitive at the best of times. We thought we’d list a few annual artist development opportunities that some composers we’ve featured have found integral to their development as artists. This is by no means a comprehensive list; if you’re a music organisation and would like your opportunity listed here, get in touch — we’d love to hear from you.
All of the UK-based opportunities below adhere to Sound and Music’s Fair Access Principles. If you’re unfamiliar with these, please give them a read and understand why they’re important.
UK opportunities
• Royal Philharmonic Society Composers Programme: a year-long dedicated programme for composers, offering a commission, premiere, and a year of professional development, alongside other professional opportunities and mentoring. Applications tend to open at the beginning of the year, with the deadline in spring. Past recipients include Aileen Sweeney, Andrew Chen, and Lucy Armstrong. Learn more
• Sound and Music’s artist development programme In Motion supports a diverse range of composers at a pivotal stage in their artistic journey. Past participants include Ben Nobuto and Rylan Gleave. Learn more
• The London Symphony Orchestra offers a wide variety of artist development opportunities, with programmes including the Helen Hamlyn Panufnik Composers Scheme, LSO Soundhub, and Jerwood Composer+. Applications are spread out throughout the year, with the Panufnik scheme usually closing in January. Past participants include Marcus Rock, Robert Crehan, and Emma-Kate Matthews. Learn more
Applications to the 2026 LSO Helen Hamlyn Panufnik Composers Scheme are now open: deadline is 4pm GMT Monday 5 January 2026. Learn more and apply
• The London Philharmonic Orchestra Young Composers Programme aims to support the progression of talented orchestral composers, creating a new work for chamber orchestra to premiere with the LPO. Past recipients include Zhenyan Li, Sun Keting, and Alex Tay. Learn more
• Britten Pears Arts host a variety of courses and residencies supporting the development of emerging artists, composers, and performers, including the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme and Britten Pears Residencies. Past participants include Anna Disley-Simpson, Jasmine Morris, and Emily Hazrati. Learn more
• Britten Sinfonia operate two artist development opportunities for composers — Opus 1 and Magnum Opus — aimed at composers of differing levels of professional experience and establishment. Past participants include Aileen Sweeney, Crystalla Serghiou, and Alex Groves. Learn more
• Manchester Collective EXPERIMENTA: a new scheme for music creators based in the north of England, to write and showcase new work supported by the Manchester Collective. The programme runs from February to summer 2025. Learn more
• nonclassical run programmes include AiR (Artist in Residence): a biannual artist development programme for composers, including two commissions for Contemporary Music for All and Southbank Sinfonia; and Battle of the Bands: a performance platform for emerging artists. Past participants include Emily Abdy, Atefeh Einali, and Vulva Voce. Learn more
• Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra‘s Rushworth Composition Prize: an award for early-career composers based in North-West England (Merseyside, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Cumbria), to write a new work for the RLPO’s Ensemble 10:10. Past recipients include Athanasia Kontou and Nneka Cummins. Learn more
• CoMA London (Contemporary Music for All)’s Composers in Residence programme: a year-long programme for composers to create a new work for CoMA London, as well as join the ensemble as performer. Learn more
We spoke with the directors of CoMA London, alongside the participants of their inaugural composers-in-residence programme, about their music and experiences with the residency — learn more about the residency here.
• National Youth Choir Young Composers programme supports the professional development of composers aged 18-29 in writing for choir. Applications usually take place from spring to summer. Past participants include Emily Hazrati, Millicent James, Alex Tay, and Will Harmer. Learn more
• EMPOWER: Women Changing Music‘s OpusHER Award: a commissioning award for women composers aged 18+ to create a new work for the EMPOWER tour, in partnership with ABRSM. Learn more
• Philharmonia Composers’ Academy: a year-long programme for composers to hone and develop their skills, culminating in the commission of a 10-minute piece to premiere at part of the Philharmonia’s Music of Today contemporary music series. Applications usually take place in the summer. Past participants include Florence Anna Maunders, Mathis Saunier, and Elif Karlidag. Learn more
• London Sinfonietta‘s Writing the Future is a multi-year artist development programme for music creators, creating a new work for up to six London Sinfonietta musicians, performed as part of their main season. Past participants include Alex Paxton and Sun Keting. Learn more
• ORA Singers Graduate Composers programme: a development programme for aspiring graduates pursuing a career in composition; participants are commissioned to write a new piece for ORA Singers to be performed at at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Past participants include Jorge Ramos. Learn more
• Making Music‘s Adopt a Music Creator: an opportunity for emerging music creators to gain industry experience by composing a new piece of music in collaboration with a leisure-time music group, with the support of an experienced mentor. Past participants include Robin Fiedler, Fraz Ireland, and Charlotte Botterill. Learn more
• sound Development opportunities for Scottish composers: a series of development opportunities for emerging Scottish-based composers, supported by experiences mentor-composers and leading to performances at sound festival. Learn more
• Cheltenham Festival’s Cheltenham Composer Academy: a week-long course for emerging composers, developing a piece with a resident ensemble to premiere at Cheltenham Music Festival.
We spoke with the participants of Cheltenham Composer Academy 2021 about their music and experiences at the Academy — learn more about their approaches here and here.
• The Night With…‘s Composer Development Scheme: an opportunity for emerging composers and those who may not have had many professional development opportunities, to have a piece workshopped and potentially toured as part of The Night With…’s 2025 edition. Past participants include Mathis Saunier. Learn more
• Three Choirs Festival‘s New Voices Academy: a new week-long course for emerging composers, developing a piece for choir to be performed at Three Choirs Festival and Spitalfields Music Festival. Learn more
• CERDDWN: A new opportunity for Welsh and UK/international composers in mid-Wales, culminating in an orchestral commission for Sinfonia Cymru or Aberystwyth Philomusica. Past participants include Kian Ravaei. Learn more
• Birmingham Opera Company’s Open Call for Composers: a commissioning initiative for three composer-librettist pairs to create short new pieces to be premiered in Birmingham. Past recipients include Daniel Blanco Albert and Ryan Morgan. Learn more
• Ludlow Song Young Composers’ Workshop: a programme for composers aged 16-25 facing financial barriers to composition, creating new English song. Learn more
• Chineke! Composer in Residence: a new opportunity to work close with Chineke! including three new commissions, and engagement with Chineke! throughout the 2026/27 concert season. Learn more
Applications for Chineke!’s 2026/27 Composer in Residence are now open: deadline is 13 February 2026. Learn more and apply
• Orpheus Foundation Programme: a programme for composers of all backgrounds, up to two years after leaving formal study, to compose a new orchestral work for Orpheus Sinfonia. Past participants include Tayla-Leigh Payne. Learn more
• Standard Issue‘s Call for Scores: an commission opportunity aimed at early-career composers, to write a new work for members of Standard Issue. Past recipients include Mathis Saunier and Anna Disley-Simpson. Learn more
• Royal Over-Seas League Composition Award: an opportunity for six advanced emerging composers from the UK, Commonwealth countries, EU/EEA, Switzerland, USA, Japan, or South Korea to workshop a new work, with one composer being awarded a £3000 commission. The ROSL Composition Award 2025 is in association with London Sinfonietta. Past recipients and nominees include Christian Drew. Learn more
• The International Society of Contemporary Music runs an annual call for works as part of the ISCM World Music Days Festival. The British contingent is run by Sound and Music; composers based in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are also eligible to submit pieces in their own categories. Learn more
International opportunities*
• orkest de ereprijs’ Young Composers Meeting (Apeldoorn, Netherlands): a course for composers under the age of 30 to write for orkest de ereprijs and possibly extended voices, coached by Georgi Sztojanov. Commissions are handed out after the final concert. Past participants include Emily Abdy, Victoria Benito, Polina Korobkova, and Aidan Teplitzky. Learn more
• The Gaudeamus Award (Utrecht, Netherlands): Five composers are nominated and participate in Gaudeamus Festival, with one composer awarded the commission worth €5,000 for a new composition. Past nominees include Patrick Ellis and Alex Paxton. Learn more
• impuls Academy and impuls Composition Competition (Graz, Austria): a composition academy and workshop welcoming participants from across the world. The Composition Competition commissions new works for ensemble every second year from young composers (born on or after 1990) selected by a jury. Learn more
• Lucerne Festival Composer Seminar (Lucerne, Switzerland): a two-week composition seminar run by Unsuk Chin and Dieter Ammann as part of Lucerne Festival, culminating in the premiere of a new work by IEMA (International Ensemble Modern Academy). Past participants include Sofia Jen Ouyang and Zhenyan Li. Learn more
• The Fromm Foundation Composer Fellowship at the Composers Conference (New Hampshire, USA): a two-week intensive summer fellowship including the premiere of a new work, seminars, workshops, and mentoring from two guest composers. Past participants include Victoria Cheah and Jeremy Rosenstock. Learn more
Applications for the 2026 Composers Conference are now open: deadline is 1st January 2026. Learn more and apply
• Mizzou International Composers Festival (Missouri, USA): an opportunity for eight resident composers from around the world to write a new work for Alarm Will Sound to be performed in Missouri, as well as mentorship from two distinguished guest composers. Learn more
• Salastina Composer Collective (Los Angeles, USA): an online, year-long development programme for composers aged 18-30, writing a new work to be premiered and recorded by Salastina musicians. Past participants include Kian Ravaei, Riccardo Perugini, and Kirsten Strom. Learn more
• .abeceda Institute (Bled, Slovenia) run a number of composition opportunities, including: the [New Music Academy] and the New Music Course, composing new work for .abeceda [New Music Ensemble] and .abeceda [String Quartet] for Bled Contemporary Music Week in Slovenia; and residency programmes including enuntiatio.praefatio.formulae and precept.concept.percept. Scholarships also available to apply for.Learn more
Applications for .abeceda Insitute’s The New Music Symposium are now open: deadline for the January cycle is 18 December 2025. Learn more and apply
Further resources
• The Royal Philharmonic Society‘s Further Opportunities page catalogues UK-based composition programmes and funding opportunities for emerging composers: https://royalphilharmonicsociety.org.uk/composers/further-opportunities
• The Sound and Music Opportunities page is a resource of opportunities for emerging composers, featuring commissions, collaborative work, jobs, and more: https://soundandmusic.org/opportunities/
• The Alternative Classical Newsletter compiles monthly opportunities for emerging composers, as well as news on contemporary classical concerts, events, jobs and more: https://www.alternativeclassical.co.uk/newsletter
• The Ulysses-Platform (formerly the Ulysses-Network) is a hub and network for European composers, focusing on EU-based calls and opportunities: https://ulysses-platform.eu/upcoming-and-open-opportunities
• The Composers’ Site is a predominant resource for user-submitted calls for scores, composing opportunities, commissions, courses, and more: http://composerssite.com/
• New music organisation Vox Novus (USA) run a variety of opportunities for composers, including Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame, 60×60, and Composer’s Voice. http://www.musicavatar.org/
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*International opportunities featured are open to composers of any nationality.
header image: Jeremy Rosenstock performing ‘Twenty stones, after Bergson’ at Taverna Maderna, Lavarone, Italy, September 2022. Photo by Giordano De Nisi. Learn more about Jeremy Rosenstock