The Symposium
2024 ONLINE SYMPOSIUM
July 12-13
& August 12-16
COMPOSITION | GUITAR
The Twisted Spruce Online Symposium enables advancement of musicianship through music composition, performance of new music on guitar, critical career skills, and collaborative project development for participants.
The symposium is 100% virtual and divided into two, one-week sessions that are spaced one month apart. The first week, July 12-13, introduces participants to the key concepts of collaboration through classes and professional networking. At the end of the first week, participants are paired in duos (guitarist and composer) and work together to develop a composition. During the week of August 12-16, the students and instructors convene for individual consultations on projects.
Participants
Participants interested in advancing their musicianship and understanding of compositional techniques and contemporary music stylistic practices for guitar should register for the Twisted Spruce Online Symposium.
Composition Registration
Participation in Classes
Project development workshops
Musicianship and notation
Pairing workshop (with guitarist)
Career skills workshops
Composition Competition (details below)
Guitar Registration
Participation in Core Classes
Project development workshops
Musicianship and notation
Pairing workshop (with composer)
Career skills workshops
Possibility to be featured in next year's festival
Auditor Registration
Open access to observe classes and opportunity interact and network with symposium participants.
Early Registration Deadline by May 31, 2024 at 11:59 pm
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Registration Fee
Composition
Guitar
Auditors
Fees
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$40.00
$190.00
$190.00
$75.00
Final Registration Deadline
by June 15, 2024 at 11:59 pm
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Registration Fee
Composition
Guitar
Auditors
Fees
​
$40.00
$220.00
$220.00
$75.00
2024 Participants
Twisted Spruce Participants
Participants interested in advancing their musicianship, technique, or understanding of composition and stylistic practices for guitar should register for the Twisted Spruce Symposium. Participants are encouraged to share work samples of recent performances, video samples, or scores to enable us to pair registered participants with a suitable match.
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Why register for the symposium:
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The symposium is virtual and we have a number of international participants each year.
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Expand your professional network by being paired a guitarist or composer from different regions or countries, and challenge each other to advance you artistry and performance ability.
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Learn a new process of communication best practices while working with composers/guitarists.
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Develop empathy and adapt to a new composition style in performance.
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Develop empathy and adapt compositions to the strengths of a player.
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Participants younger than 18 are welcome to attend with the consent of their parents. At this time, we only offer an open division competition. Parents will be required to sign a consent form during the registration process.
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Auditor Registration (Please Enquire)
2024 Competition
Early Registration Deadline: May 31, 2024 by 11:59 pm
Final Registration Deadline: June 15, 2024 by 11:59 pm
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The Twisted Spruce Competition is about collaboration between composers and guitarists. Prizewinners will be decided upon by the overall creativity of their collaboration, quality of the score, and quality of the recording. Please see the list of important dates below.
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The competition guitar performance video must be a recording of three works: five-minute work composed on or after January 1, 1994 (composed in the last 30 years); five-minute free choice solo work (from any time or style); and the work that is composed in collaboration during the 2023 symposium (five-minute minimum and six-minute maximum in duration; *works exceeding six-minutes will be disqualified).
Top prize for the guitar
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$1000 cash prize
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An EP release with Frameworks Records
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Published performance edition (contingencies apply)
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Feature in subsequent festival
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Top prize for composition
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$1000 commission
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Published score
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Feature in subsequent festival
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Potential single or EP release with Frameworks Records
First prize collaborative team
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$200.00 (split between collaborative team)
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Presentation in the 2024 Symposium
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One of our aims is to create an environment for sharing ideas and contributing to the creative process. We are interested in participants who wish to open up their personal network and engage with musicians outside their immediate network, region, and/or country in the creation of new music. For example, in the past we have paired guitarists from Australia with composers in Canada, and guitarists in the US with composers in Germany. ​
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*The full prize menu is equally open to non-US citizens or green card holders except prizes that require travel to and from the United States. At the present time the Twisted Spruce does not cover international travel to and from the united states, nor can we cover the costs and filing fees for visas issued to non-US citizens. This means that non-US citizens and green card holders will be given the option to perform a virtual concert. We will work with you to record the Frameworks EP in your home country. The cash prize, Wilson Burnham guitar, and all other prizes can otherwise go to any global citizen who wins the competition. Exceptions will explored for artists traveling from Canada and Mexico.
2024 Schedule
Early Registration Deadline: May 31, 2024 by 11:59 pm
Final Registration Deadline: June 15, 2024 by 11:59 pm
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July 12-13, 2024
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July 19 at 12 pm: ORIENTATION
​July 19 at 1 pm:
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Oren Fader and Damen Ferrante on Collaboration
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July 20 at 12 pm:
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Jiji & Gulli Bjornsson
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July 20 at 1 pm:
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Pairing (guitarists & composers) ceremony
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August TBA:
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Winners Roundtable
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August 12-16, 2024
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Aug 12-16: Video consultations available upon request
Aug 11 at 12 pm: A/V for competition by Jamie Tagg
Aug 11 at 1 pm: Final questions, break for competition
Score submission deadline - September 1, 2024 (Sunday by 11:59 pm)​
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Email scores to twistedsprucemusic(at)gmail.com
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Format subject: 2023-Your Full Name-Composer
Video submission deadline - October 15, 2024 (Tuesday by 11:59 pm)​
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Email url to download your video to twistedsprucemusic(at)gmail.com (video must be in mp4 or mov format). We will not accept YouTube submissions.
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Format subject: 2023-Your Full Name-Guitar
Reel and awards announcement - November 17, 2024 (Sunday beginning at 12 pm ET)​
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2024 Instructors
Jiji Kim | Guitar
Gulli Björnsson | Composition & Guitar
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Olga Amelkina-Vera | Guitar & Composition
Kevin Ernst | Composition
Aaron Travers | Composition
Associate Professor of Composition at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
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Colin McAllister | Guitar
Jamie Tagg | Audio Engineering
Recorded three GRAMMY®-nominated albums, Professor of Audio Engineering Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
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Nathan Fischer | Guitar
Sergei Matokhin | Guitar
Professor of Moscow state Institute of culture, and State musical and pedagogical Institute M. M. Ippolitov-Ivanov
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Stephen Mattingly | Guitar
2024 Management Team
Daixuan Ai | Composition
Sy Anderson | Composition
Ben Diamond | Classical Guitar
MM Candidate in Classical Guitar Performance, McGill University
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FAQs
1. If I compose a work for the Symposium can I keep the copyright to that work?
Yes. The Twisted Spruce Music Foundation does not claim rights to any works by students or collaborators who participate in our events.
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2. I have a friend who is a composer or guitarist, may we register as a pair?
Yes. We welcome pre-formed pairs! However, the composition you collaborate on must be a new work developed after the start of the first week of the Twisted Spruce Symposium.
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3. I am a guitarists in the Twisted Spruce competition and I need a work that was composed in the past 30 years, where can I find one?
Guitarists can use any work composed in the past 30 years. If you are having a difficult time finding a score, consider the following resources:
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Azahar Press scores available have all been composed in the last 30 years www.AzaharPress.com
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Ask a composition professor or colleague at your university if they have a score
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Search library databases or the Library of Congress
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4. Is this a guitar competition, AND a composition competition? Is the composition a solo work or an ensemble work?
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This is a guitar competition and a composition competition - so there are three categories with prizes - composition prize, guitar prize, and collaboration prize. Participants should register either as a composer or as a guitarist. The symposium competition is designed so that composers collaborate with a single guitarist to write a solo work.
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5. I am not based in the United States, nor am I a U.S. citizen or green card holder. How do the prizes effect me?
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*The full prize menu is open to US citizens and green card holders except prizes that require travel to and from the United States. At the present time the Twisted Spruce does not cover international travel to and from the united states, nor can we cover the costs and filing fees for visas issued to non-US citizens. This means that non-US citizens and green card holders will be given the option to perform a virtual concert. We will work with you to record the Frameworks EP in your home country. The cash prize, Wilson Burnham guitar, and all other prizes can otherwise go to any global citizen who wins the competition. Exceptions will explored for artists traveling from Canada and Mexico. Please contact us if you wish to discuss this in further detail.
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