The Military Wives Choirs launches call for composers
Thanks to funding, the Military Wives Choirs is delighted to announce a new commission and invites applications from composers across the musical landscape.
Who we are
The Military Wives Choirs is a community of over 2000 women in 70 choirs across the UK and internationally. We come together to celebrate a love of singing and a communal understanding that comes from our members' shared experiences of the Armed Forces.
We welcome all women whose lives are currently impacted by their military connection; our network supports each other and forms life-changing friendships that lead to new and uplifting experiences through singing.
Military life across the services has its challenges. Some families move yearly to a new posting, while for others deployments mean long periods of separation. With choirs across the UK and overseas, many of our members join a new choir when they are posted, enabling them to become part of a familiar community built upon the joy of singing.
Singing in a choir has been proven to increase wellbeing and improve mental and physical health. With no auditions and no pressure to perform, the Military Wives Choirs gives its members the opportunity to spend time with women that truly understand the challenges associated with military life.
We are the Military Wives Choirs. We connect women in the military community and create a support network through the power of singing.
What we are looking for
The Military Wives Choirs is unique in its proposition; with over 2000 singers, we achieve genuine artistic excellence and make a valuable contribution to the choral landscape, while being proud that our choirs are musically inclusive and non-auditioned.
We are fortunate to be supported in this by a dedicated and talented musical family, including the choirs’ local Musical Directors, the charity’s Artistic Director Hilary Davan Wetton, Producers and Ambassadors Sean Hargreaves and John Haywood and mezzo-soprano Laura Wright.
The choirs have a varied and high-profile performance schedule, from performances in their local military and civilian communities through to performances and recordings with BBC Radio 2 and Radio 3 In Tune, Scala Radio, BBC and ITV television, and at venues including the Houses of Parliament, St James’s Palace, Cadogan Hall and cathedrals and concert halls across the country.
The Military Wives Choirs have a shared ‘core repertoire’, which facilitates large-scale performances and projects and, most importantly, ensures that members can move to a new choir and immediately come together through singing and experience the wellbeing benefits of choir membership.
We are excited to have the opportunity through a piece of grant funding to commission our next iconic song to join our core repertoire. We are looking for a song which reflects and is inspired by the amazing women in our network and the joyful, uplifting role choir plays in their lives. The song needs to be upbeat, moving and of high musical quality, staying in the ears and hearts of both performers and audiences long after its close.
Who can apply
The Military Wives Choirs welcomes submissions from songwriters, composers and other artists. This submission should ultimately be in the form of a choral melody with lyrics, in two to three upper voice parts with piano accompaniment. You will collaborate with our choirs throughout this process; our members will provide inspiration for the lyrics but we do not have a lyricist.
To apply to fulfil this opportunity, please send your CV along with a previous example of your work, a summary of your vision for the song and a quote for the costs involved to Julia Hudson, Artistic Planning & Engagement Manager via commission@militarywiveschoirs.org. If you would like to have an informal conversation about the project, please contact Julia via this email address.
There will then be a shortlisting process; following this we will arrange for shortlisted candidates to speak to our panel.
The closing date for applications is 15th January 2024.
