Frequently asked questions
Q: What kind of composer should apply to Connecticut Summerfest?
A: Any composer who is interested in a collaborative, in-depth, educational, exploratory experience! We value relationships at Connecticut Summerfest; this is not the festival to “just get another premiere.” Our festival composers work collaboratively with our ensembles-in-residence, while also expanding their creative community by getting to know other festival composers, our composition faculty, guest lecturers, and staff. Check out testimonials from past festival composers, and watch our 2022 season promo video!
Q: What kind of composer should not apply to Connecticut Summerfest?
A: Composers who do not wish to work collaboratively; are not interested in forming lasting, meaningful artistic relationships; and are not respectful of all musical styles and backgrounds are discouraged from applying to Connecticut Summerfest.
Q: What are Connecticut Summerfest's COVID-19 safety protocols?
A: Connecticut Summerfest 2022 is planned to take place in-person (but with a virtual contingency plan, should there be a pandemic resurgence). Festival attendees will be required to follow COVID-19 vaccine and safety guidelines as outlined by the University of Hartford, including being fully vaccinated against COVID-19 prior to the festival.
Accepted festival composers must show proof of COVID-19 vaccination in order to attend Connecticut Summerfest 2022. This season, festival composers will be housed in single-occupancy rooms at no extra charge, and the majority of our dining will be held outdoors (with a tent in case of rain) or in a private area reserved especially for festival attendees.
Q: How much is tuition for the Connecticut Summerfest 2022 Composition Program? Are scholarships available?
A: Tuition for those accepted is $1450, which we are thrilled to announce is 30% lower or $625 less expensive than the planned in-person tuition for our 2020 festival! Connecticut Summerfest recently embarked on our Tuition Free Initiative, generously kickstarted by a 2020 Impact Award from the Eileen Weiser Fund at the EXCEL Lab, University of Michigan.
A non-refundable deposit of $250 is to be submitted within 10 days of acceptance to confirm a position on our roster. Two types of scholarship are available for accepted composers: the Gender Diversity Scholarship and the Composers of Color Scholarship. Please check the appropriate boxes on your application to be considered for these scholarships.
Q: How much is tuition for the Connecticut Summerfest 2022 Composition Program if the festival ends up having to be virtual due to a pandemic resurgence? Will scholarships still be available?
A: If Connecticut Summerfest 2022 must be virtual, tuition for those accepted will be $725. A non-refundable deposit of $250 would still be required to be submitted within 10 days of acceptance to confirm a position on our roster. Both types of scholarship—the Gender Diversity Scholarship and the Composers of Color Scholarship—would still be available for accepted composers.
Q: Why does Connecticut Summerfest have a suggested application fee of $30?
A: One of the founding principles of Connecticut Summerfest was to create a summer composition program accessible to composers of all backgrounds. One of our primary ways of doing this is keeping our recommended application fee low--$30 was our former Early Bird Application fee--and our 2022 Composition Program application is pay-what-you-wish. No composer will be turned away due to an inability to pay the application fee. We want any composer to be able to apply to Connecticut Summerfest, regardless of their financial situation.
Furthermore, part of Connecticut Summerfest’s mission is to amplify the voices of composers from historically underrepresented groups. It is important to us that these composers are included in our application pool and go on to have the opportunity to collaborate with and learn from our ensembles-in-residence, composition faculty, and guest lecturers. We are proud to be a platform for emerging composers, and we specifically seek to amplify art by composers of color and gender diverse composers.
When you apply to Connecticut Summerfest, four adjudicators are carefully listening to up to 15 minutes of your music. Every single submitted work is critically evaluated, scored, and given feedback, and we compensate our adjudicators for these professional assessments. In order to provide a fair evaluation to all applicants, we engage an independent board of adjudicators each year and require that all scores and recordings be anonymous.
Q: Who will be adjudicating these anonymous applications?
A: The final round application adjudicators for Connecticut Summerfest 2022 are Adrienne Baker (flutist, 2022 ensemble-in-residence NorthStar Duo), Seychelle Dunn-Corbin (saxophonist, 2022 ensemble-in-residence NorthStar Duo), Lindsay Kesselman (soprano, 2022 ensemble-in-residence Haven Trio), and Andrey Stolyarov (The Hartt School).
Q: What is the Auditor Program and what does it include?
A: The Connecticut Summerfest Auditor Program allows composers to expand their creative community while engaging in many meaningful educational and artistically exploratory sessions. This program is meant for composers who cannot afford our current tuition cost, cannot add a new piece to their spring compositional schedule, or cannot attend our entire week-long festival. Accessibility is important to us, which is why we have recently embarked on our long-term Tuition Free Initiative as well.
Composers wishing to audit Connecticut Summerfest 2022 will have two auditor options: the In-Person Auditor Program or the Virtual Auditor Program. In-person auditors are composers who wish to physically attend Connecticut Summerfest in West Hartford, CT, either by commuting to festival events if they are local or by residing in the dormitory if they are joining us from far away. Virtual auditors will experience Connecticut Summerfest events via a web conferencing platform (e.g., Zoom) so that they may join us from anywhere in the world. All video calls will be facilitated by our livestream engineers and monitored by festival staff to ensure virtual auditors' questions and comments are communicated to faculty, ensemble members, guest lecturers, and in-person composer participants.
Auditing composers will have the opportunity to attend all composition faculty presentations, composition seminars, guest lectures, and concerts. Auditing composers may also meet one-on-one with Joshua DeVries, Founder and Creative Director of our publishing partner, Just a Theory Press, to discuss possible publication of their music, if desired. Auditing composers will not present their music at composition seminars, have private lessons with composition faculty, or write a new work for one of our ensembles-in-residence.
Q: How do I apply to the In-Person Auditor Program or Virtual Auditor Program?
A: Registration for Connecticut Summerfest's 2022 Auditor Programs will open in spring 2022. Registration will be on a first come, first served basis.
A: Any composer who is interested in a collaborative, in-depth, educational, exploratory experience! We value relationships at Connecticut Summerfest; this is not the festival to “just get another premiere.” Our festival composers work collaboratively with our ensembles-in-residence, while also expanding their creative community by getting to know other festival composers, our composition faculty, guest lecturers, and staff. Check out testimonials from past festival composers, and watch our 2022 season promo video!
Q: What kind of composer should not apply to Connecticut Summerfest?
A: Composers who do not wish to work collaboratively; are not interested in forming lasting, meaningful artistic relationships; and are not respectful of all musical styles and backgrounds are discouraged from applying to Connecticut Summerfest.
Q: What are Connecticut Summerfest's COVID-19 safety protocols?
A: Connecticut Summerfest 2022 is planned to take place in-person (but with a virtual contingency plan, should there be a pandemic resurgence). Festival attendees will be required to follow COVID-19 vaccine and safety guidelines as outlined by the University of Hartford, including being fully vaccinated against COVID-19 prior to the festival.
Accepted festival composers must show proof of COVID-19 vaccination in order to attend Connecticut Summerfest 2022. This season, festival composers will be housed in single-occupancy rooms at no extra charge, and the majority of our dining will be held outdoors (with a tent in case of rain) or in a private area reserved especially for festival attendees.
Q: How much is tuition for the Connecticut Summerfest 2022 Composition Program? Are scholarships available?
A: Tuition for those accepted is $1450, which we are thrilled to announce is 30% lower or $625 less expensive than the planned in-person tuition for our 2020 festival! Connecticut Summerfest recently embarked on our Tuition Free Initiative, generously kickstarted by a 2020 Impact Award from the Eileen Weiser Fund at the EXCEL Lab, University of Michigan.
A non-refundable deposit of $250 is to be submitted within 10 days of acceptance to confirm a position on our roster. Two types of scholarship are available for accepted composers: the Gender Diversity Scholarship and the Composers of Color Scholarship. Please check the appropriate boxes on your application to be considered for these scholarships.
Q: How much is tuition for the Connecticut Summerfest 2022 Composition Program if the festival ends up having to be virtual due to a pandemic resurgence? Will scholarships still be available?
A: If Connecticut Summerfest 2022 must be virtual, tuition for those accepted will be $725. A non-refundable deposit of $250 would still be required to be submitted within 10 days of acceptance to confirm a position on our roster. Both types of scholarship—the Gender Diversity Scholarship and the Composers of Color Scholarship—would still be available for accepted composers.
Q: Why does Connecticut Summerfest have a suggested application fee of $30?
A: One of the founding principles of Connecticut Summerfest was to create a summer composition program accessible to composers of all backgrounds. One of our primary ways of doing this is keeping our recommended application fee low--$30 was our former Early Bird Application fee--and our 2022 Composition Program application is pay-what-you-wish. No composer will be turned away due to an inability to pay the application fee. We want any composer to be able to apply to Connecticut Summerfest, regardless of their financial situation.
Furthermore, part of Connecticut Summerfest’s mission is to amplify the voices of composers from historically underrepresented groups. It is important to us that these composers are included in our application pool and go on to have the opportunity to collaborate with and learn from our ensembles-in-residence, composition faculty, and guest lecturers. We are proud to be a platform for emerging composers, and we specifically seek to amplify art by composers of color and gender diverse composers.
When you apply to Connecticut Summerfest, four adjudicators are carefully listening to up to 15 minutes of your music. Every single submitted work is critically evaluated, scored, and given feedback, and we compensate our adjudicators for these professional assessments. In order to provide a fair evaluation to all applicants, we engage an independent board of adjudicators each year and require that all scores and recordings be anonymous.
Q: Who will be adjudicating these anonymous applications?
A: The final round application adjudicators for Connecticut Summerfest 2022 are Adrienne Baker (flutist, 2022 ensemble-in-residence NorthStar Duo), Seychelle Dunn-Corbin (saxophonist, 2022 ensemble-in-residence NorthStar Duo), Lindsay Kesselman (soprano, 2022 ensemble-in-residence Haven Trio), and Andrey Stolyarov (The Hartt School).
Q: What is the Auditor Program and what does it include?
A: The Connecticut Summerfest Auditor Program allows composers to expand their creative community while engaging in many meaningful educational and artistically exploratory sessions. This program is meant for composers who cannot afford our current tuition cost, cannot add a new piece to their spring compositional schedule, or cannot attend our entire week-long festival. Accessibility is important to us, which is why we have recently embarked on our long-term Tuition Free Initiative as well.
Composers wishing to audit Connecticut Summerfest 2022 will have two auditor options: the In-Person Auditor Program or the Virtual Auditor Program. In-person auditors are composers who wish to physically attend Connecticut Summerfest in West Hartford, CT, either by commuting to festival events if they are local or by residing in the dormitory if they are joining us from far away. Virtual auditors will experience Connecticut Summerfest events via a web conferencing platform (e.g., Zoom) so that they may join us from anywhere in the world. All video calls will be facilitated by our livestream engineers and monitored by festival staff to ensure virtual auditors' questions and comments are communicated to faculty, ensemble members, guest lecturers, and in-person composer participants.
Auditing composers will have the opportunity to attend all composition faculty presentations, composition seminars, guest lectures, and concerts. Auditing composers may also meet one-on-one with Joshua DeVries, Founder and Creative Director of our publishing partner, Just a Theory Press, to discuss possible publication of their music, if desired. Auditing composers will not present their music at composition seminars, have private lessons with composition faculty, or write a new work for one of our ensembles-in-residence.
Q: How do I apply to the In-Person Auditor Program or Virtual Auditor Program?
A: Registration for Connecticut Summerfest's 2022 Auditor Programs will open in spring 2022. Registration will be on a first come, first served basis.