Commissioning Opportunities

As of February 2025, the American Composers Orchestra and American Composers Forum has announced a new joint initiative: The Sorel Award, a three-year opportunity for mid-career women composers that includes the workshopping and premiere of a newly-commissioned orchestral work, personalized professional development, active relationship-building, and booking support. One award will be offered every three years, and the inaugural recipient is composer Andreia Pinto Correia. ‍

‍This newly endowed award is made possible with a significant grant from The Elizabeth and Michel Sorel Charitable Organization, Inc., and offers catalytic support for mid-career women composers in the U.S. Addressing the needs articulated by composers served by ACO and ACF, The Sorel Award is supported by the Sorel Endowment for Women in Music, honoring pianist, educator, and philanthropist Claudette Sorel, and the memory of her parents, Elizabeth and Michel.

Award activities include one co-commissioned orchestral piece (10-15 minutes), which will be workshopped through ACO’s EarShot CoLABoratory program and premiered by ACO at Carnegie Hall, or a similar venue; professional audio and video recording following the ACO performance to be commercially released, access to CoLABoratory Residencies; and an invitation to contribute an essay and/or interview to be featured on ACF’s Anatomy of a Commission series on I CARE IF YOU LISTEN. Over three years, the awardee will work with both organizations and an artist manager partner to assess and elevate their profile, develop relationships, and optimize the award to cultivate a greater portfolio of opportunities. ACO will include the commissioned work in its EarShot Publishing catalog, administered in partnership with Boosey & Hawkes, providing additional promotional support towards subsequent performances. Composers will have ongoing full access to the two partners’ suite of expertise and services, including 1:1 strategy sessions, marketing help, contract questions, fundraising guidance, and project support.‍

‍Candidates for The Sorel Awards are identified by the partners through ACF and ACO’s existing open call processes, including EarShot Readings and CoLABoratory national open calls, ACF Create, McKnight Composer Fellowships and McKnight Visiting Composers, and Innova Recordings.

Candidates will have had some demonstrated success with orchestras via participation in composer advancement programs, commissions, and performances, but will be at the career stage where the program is essential towards achieving career momentum and sustainability in their activities with orchestras.

‍‍By addressing some of the biggest obstacles for women composers today, The Sorel Awardees will not only receive important support to activate opportunities to work with orchestras, but also develop skills, relationships, and strategies to elevate and sustain their career beyond the award period. ‍

We strongly recommend that composers submit their orchestral scores to our open calls for EarShot each season. If you would like to submit a score outside of these calls for consideration, you may do so using this form.

**Please note: we do not have the capacity to review physical scores; we will only accept PDF scores via this form. We will be in touch only if the score is a good fit for an upcoming season.

If you would like to learn more about how to introduce yourself and your work to orchestras and other potential collaborators, we encourage you to watch the following digital professional development sessions: