The Edvard Grieg Society of Minnesota 2024 Arranging Competition is designed to encourage arrangers to explore the music of Edvard Grieg, Nordic folk music, and other Nordic composers. In doing so, we hope to usher in a love of these works among the next generations of musicians and music lovers.

First Prize
$1,500 CASH AWARD
+ Winner’s Recital Performance 2025

Second Prize
$1,000 CASH AWARD

Third Prize
$250 CASH AWARD

The above prizes are awarded in both Youth and Adult Divisions.

Arrangement Competition:

The successful applicant will have arranged either a folk song from one of the Scandinavian countries (Norway, Denmark, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Sweden, or music of the Sami people) or a work of art music in the public domain by a recognized composer from a Scandinavian country.

The arrangement should be for band, chorus, orchestra, or chamber ensemble, with an eye toward the level being suitable for good high school players.

  • Youth Division: open to arrangers ages 25 and under as of March 1, 2024

    Adult Division: open to arrangers ages 26 and older as of March 1, 2024

  • 1) APPLICATION FORM
    Download and complete the PDF application form

    2) ATTACHMENTS
    Submit the application form to edvardgriegsocietymn@gmail.com, along with:
    - full scores (in pdf format)
    - a recording of your work (MP3/MP4, MIDI file audio, and/or YouTube audio/visual)

    Applications in PDF format must be labeled/named/saved with the performer’s last name, followed by first name:example: doe-jane.pdf

    Audio recordings must be labeled/named/saved with the performer’s last name, followed by first nameexample: doe-john.mp3

    3) APPLICATION FEE
    A non-refundable application fee of $50 must be paid online or by check for each submission


    Winning applicants will be required to submit a video performance of their work.

    • Submissions must be an arrangement of an existing work, and the applicant must explain the origin of the source material (e.g., “My work is an arrangement for chorus of a song by Grieg, opus X, no. X”).

    • Works may be submitted whether or not they have been performed publicly.

    • Works that have already won a prize as of the date of submission are ineligible.

    • An entrant may submit a maximum of three (3) works.
      Please note that no individual contestant will be awarded more than one prize in any given year. Each submission will require a separate application and fee.

    • Submissions in the Young Artist division must be accompanied by a photocopy of the arranger’s passport, birth certificate, or driver’s license.

    • Works may be any length.

    • The applicant must sign each submission. In so doing, the applicant affirms that
      a) they are the creator of the arrangement being submitted and
      b) they will make themselves available to appear at the August 2025 Winners’ Recital in Minneapolis.

    • The arrangement will be suitable for a high-level high school band, choir, or orchestra.

    • By signing their application, the entrant agrees to submit an honest and complete application and supporting materials, to follow the procedures, rules, and expectations for all rounds of competition, and to make themselves available to appear at the Edvard Grieg Society of Minnesota 2025 Winners’ Recital in Minneapolis on August 1, 2025.

  • First, second, and third-place prizes will be awarded in both the Youth and Adult Divisions.

    The first-place winner may be reimbursed up to $500 for travel and lodging, with the expectation they will be present for the August 1, 2025, Winners’ Recital in Minneapolis.

    Performance opportunities may be available to second and third-place entries apart from the winners’ recital.

  • The entrant is responsible for assuring that the work they are arranging is in the public domain. Questions with regard to the application and public domain may be directed to the Organizing Committee via email to edvardgriegsocietymn@gmail.com.

    The Organizing Committee reserves the right to broadcast the Participants’ winning video recordings, as well as the right to post them on their website without any compensation to the contestants and their ensembles.

    The Organizing Committee shall not be entitled to use and distribute for its own purposes the works of the festival competition participants without the consent of the Arranger/Participant.

Questions? Please email the Edvard Grieg Society of Minnesota at edvardgriegsocietymn@gmail.com

Meet the Judges

  • Born December 24, 1950, in Wilmington, Delaware, Libby Larsen is one of America’s most-performed living composers.

    She has created a catalog of over 500 works spanning virtually every genre, from intimate vocal and chamber music to massive orchestral works and over 15 operas. Grammy award-winning and widely recorded, including over 50 CDs of her work, she is constantly sought after for commissions and premieres by major artists, ensembles, and orchestras around the world, and has established a permanent place for her works in the concert repertory.

    She has created a catalogue of over 500 works spanning virtually every genre, from intimate vocal and chamber music to massive orchestral works and over 15 operas. Grammy award-winning and widely recorded, including over 50 CDs of her work, she is constantly sought after for commissions and premieres by major artists, ensembles, and orchestras around the world, and has established a permanent place for her works in the concert repertory.

  • Since the splash of his Fantasia in G 40 years ago, Timothy Mahr's compositions have been performed, recorded, and broadcast worldwide.

    The first recipient of a commission from the American Bandmasters Association Commissioning Project, Mahr has composed works for the Music Educators National Conference, the United States Air Force Band, the American School Band Directors Association, and the Kappa Kappa Psi/Tau Beta Sigma National Intercollegiate Band.  He received the 1991 ABA/Ostwald Award for his work The Soaring Hawk. 

    Dr. Timothy Mahr is a professor emeritus of music at St. Olaf College, where he conducted the St. Olaf Band, and taught courses in composition, music education, and conducting for 29 years.

    More info at www.timothymahr.com.

  • Bradley Ellingboe has led a wide-ranging career in the world of singing, including accomplishments as a choral conductor, soloist, composer, scholar, and teacher.

    As a choral conductor, he has led festival choruses in 40 US states and 14 countries. As a bass-baritone soloist, he has sung under such conductors as Robert Shaw, Helmuth Rilling, and Sir David Willcocks. Ellingboe has more than 160 pieces of music in print. The University of New Mexico Alumni Association named him Faculty of the Year as a teacher in 2008. From 2020 to 2023, he was Composer-In-Residence for Albany Pro Musica.

    For his scholarly work in making the songs of Edvard Grieg more accessible to the English-speaking public, he was awarded the Medal of St. Olav by the King of Norway in 1994.

    His newest large work, A Place Called Home premiered in Carnegie Hall in April of 2023.