IX Concurso de Composición para Banda de Música (FTB Canarias)

A composition prize for band writing, run by the Tenerife band federation with the island council. The theme is fixed: the piece has to draw on the Canary Islands — their history, traditions, landscapes or legends — and you justify that connection in your submission. There are two categories. A pasodoble for street parade, four to six minutes long. And a symphonic work for concert band at grade 3–4 difficulty, seven to ten minutes. Each comes with a mandatory instrumentation list you must write to.

Open to composers of any nationality over 18, with a maximum of two works per category. Entries must be original and unpublished, never awarded in another competition and never publicly performed before the jury decides.

Prizes are cash, with Spanish tax withheld: EUR 2,000 and EUR 1,000 for the top two symphonic works, and EUR 1,200, EUR 750 and EUR 500 for the three pasodobles. An audience vote carries a certificate but no money. Entry is not free — EUR 20 per pasodoble and EUR 40 per symphonic work, non-refundable unless the federation cancels.

Submission is physical: a sealed envelope, posted or handed in at Tacoronte, holding a USB stick with the score and parts as PDFs, an MP3, a copy of your ID, the entry form, a sworn declaration of originality and signed acceptance of the rules. Scores carry a motto instead of your name, and anonymity holds until the end. Engraving standards are enforced — handwritten scores and reductions are rejected, and cramped or uneven layout can get a piece excluded.

At least three finalists per category are played live by the federation's Banda Insular at a closing concert, where the jury scores the writing rather than the performance. Prizes can be left unawarded if nothing reaches the standard. All documents are in Spanish.