Call for Scores is an open submission process for music to be performed at the next Festival. Since the first Call for Scores in 2010 we have received hundreds of new compositions from around the world, both from established composers as well as from those whose careers are just beginning. All composers, no matter your age and level of experience, are warmly invited to submit new works. We also accept commercial submissions of newly published contemporary music.

Churches across London are invited to select music from Call for Scores to include in their services. These will principally be Choral Eucharist and Choral Evensong services that are sung on the opening and closing Sundays of the Festival. In addition to these services, we are interested in new music for Compline, sung at St Pancras Parish Church during Festival week. On certain occasions, submissions to Call for Scores may also be premiered at concerts and recitals.

  • Musical items for Choral Eucharist include Introits, Masses, and Motets.
  • Musical items for Choral Evensong include Introits, Preces and Responses, Canticles, and Anthems.
  • Musical items for Compline include unaccompanied settings of the Nunc Dimittis, and choral settings of Compline hymns such as Te lucis ante terminum and Save us, O Lord.
  • With the exception of Compline, all services include congregational hymns and organ voluntaries, and we welcome submissions of new hymns and works for solo organ suitable for performance at organ recitals during the Festival.

Submitting to Call for Scores

There are three ways for you to submit your music to Call for Scores.

  • Youth submissions from composers aged 21 or younger. All young unpublished composers are welcome to submit works to Call for Scores. The Festival offers mentoring and feedback before and after your submission, and selected submissions will be premiered during the Festival at a Choral Eucharist featuring music drawn entirely from submissions by young composers.
  • Personal submissions of unpublished works by composers aged over 21. All composers are welcome to submit one or more unpublished works to Call for Scores. You acknowledge you hold the copyright of your submissions, and you agree to grant us the right to distribute and reproduce your scores for the purpose of rehearsal and performance during the Festival. We then liaise with participating churches to ensure that as many qualifying submissions as possible receive a performance.
  • Commercial submissions of published works by composers of any age. Commercial publishers are welcome to submit new publications to Call for Scores. You agree to grant us the right to distribute your scores, strictly for the purposes of review as part of the Festival, to participating churches. You are encouraged to watermark your scores. Interested churches will contact you directly to make a purchase.

Submission Guidelines

We generally receive many more pieces than we have the possibility of performing. Please consider the following guidelines carefully.

  • Pieces for choir should be scored for SATB or SSATB with minimal divisi. Both accompanied and unaccompanied pieces are accepted, with the exception of music for Compline, which should be unaccompanied.
  • We can also accept shorter pieces for use as introits scored for upper or lower voices alone, though these should be unaccompanied.
  • Music should be appropriate for regular use in church services, written at a level of difficulty that is appropriate for a single rehearsal before each service.
  • Music should be submitted as a PDF generated directly from a music typesetter. Scans of pre-printed or handwritten scores will not be accepted. Experience shows that our participating churches tend not to select scores that are poorly presented, so we will ask you to correct typos, fix layout problems, and generally ensure the presentation of your score is as of as high a standard as possible before we accept it for distribution.
  • You must gain appropriate written permission to use any texts currently under copyright before submitting your score.
  • Works might celebrate, reflect or focus upon the season of Easter, the establishment of the church, the life of St Pancras or of saints in general, or Pentecost.
  • We cannot arrange liturgical performance of music that is not seasonally suitable for the Festival period; we cannot arrange performances of Christmas and Advent music during Eastertide, for instance. Consider the seasonality and liturgical appropriateness of your music carefully.
  • We are looking for works which are idiomatic and effective; works which are written to be performed in services, to be contemplative, inspiring, uplifting; and works which are able to act as a point of focus.
  • Some of the most effective works are comparatively simple; this is particularly important for works that we hope will become a regular feature in the repertoire of church choirs.

Submit your scores

Please choose the submission track you would like to use to submit your scores. You will then be able to upload your scores as PDF files. We also ask you to complete an information form relevant to your submission track.