Koussevitzky Music Foundation Commissioning Program (2027)

This fund pays a composer's commission fee so an ensemble can bring a new concert work into existence. One structural point shapes everything: composers cannot apply for themselves. The application is made by the performing organisation — an orchestra, chamber group, or another ensemble with a real record in contemporary music — and each organisation may propose one composer per round. Nationality is open on both sides; neither the composer nor the ensemble needs to be based in the United States.

For a chamber work the fee runs roughly USD 10,000 to 15,000 and the Foundation covers it in full. For a symphonic work the Foundation will contribute up to USD 20,000, but the ensemble must raise matching funds of at least half that amount, from any source it chooses. In return the Foundation takes first-position dedication on the score and first-position credit in publicity and programme listings, and the composer's original manuscript is deposited in the Library of Congress Music Division's permanent collection.

Applications go by email, not through a portal. You send a typed application form, a composer biography or website link, details of the ensemble including its appearances over the last two seasons, the proposed instrumentation and duration, up to three recent scores as separate PDFs, and working audio links for at least two of those scores — the links must stay live through the whole review period. A cover letter from the ensemble has to include a firm commitment to premiere the work in its regular concert series within two years of receiving the finished score.

Composers with two prior Koussevitzky commissions are ineligible, and a single prior commission only counts if it fell outside the last ten rounds. Decisions usually arrive the August after the deadline. The Foundation says plainly that late or incomplete proposals are unlikely to be funded.