BFOS Art Song Composition Program
Write for the Living Voice
The Barcelona Festival of Song® invites emerging and established composers to participate in an intensive program devoted to writing for the classical voice and exploring the artistic possibilities of Latin American and Iberian art song.
The program is embedded within an international festival that has spent more than two decades studying, performing, publishing, commissioning, and premiering this repertoire. Composers join a community of selected classical singers and collaborative pianists who travel to Barcelona from different parts of the world to deepen their knowledge of this music, its languages, and its cultural contexts.
Unlike a composition course separated from the realities of performance, BFOS places composers within a living vocal laboratory. Participants can listen to different voices, observe singers and pianists at work, discuss the practical and expressive dimensions of vocal writing, and experience how musical ideas change when they move from the page into the performer’s body.
Through seminars, masterclasses, score study, individual consultations, and direct collaboration with festival artists, composers will refine their craft while creating new work in an academically rigorous and artistically supportive environment.
A Living and Expanding Repertoire
Since its founding, BFOS has worked closely with composers and poets, commissioning a new song cycle each year and presenting its premiere during the festival. The Composition Program grows from this long-standing commitment to contemporary creation.
The program approaches Latin American and Iberian art song as a living repertoire—rooted in history while continuing to evolve through new voices, languages, perspectives, and musical ideas. Participants will engage with works from Spain, Portugal, and Latin America, including repertoire in Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, and Indigenous languages.
Areas of exploration include:
Writing effectively and imaginatively for the classical voice
Poetry, prosody, text setting, and linguistic rhythm
Vocal range, tessitura, registration, and expressive possibility
The artistic relationship between voice and piano
Cultural and historical approaches to Latin American and Iberian art song
Analysis of historical and contemporary vocal works
Collaboration and communication with singers and pianists
Development of an individual compositional voice
Individual Mentorship Within a Small Cohort
Enrollment is limited to four to six composers. This small cohort allows each participant to receive individualized guidance based on their experience, artistic interests, compositional language, and professional goals.
The program combines academic rigor with an open, supportive, and noncompetitive environment. Participants are encouraged to experiment, ask questions, exchange ideas, and learn from one another. Emerging and established composers bring different perspectives to a shared process of artistic inquiry.
World Premiere Workshop Project
Each composer will create a new art song during the festival. Throughout the program, the work will be developed in consultation with the composition faculty and rehearsed in collaboration with selected BFOS singers and pianists.
Every participating composer is guaranteed:
A professional workshop of the new composition
A live reading and workshop premiere by BFOS performers
A high-quality archival recording of the performance
Individual feedback from composition faculty, singers, and pianists
Admission
Admission is by competitive portfolio review. Applicants should submit:
Three representative scores (recordings encouraged but not required)
Curriculum vitae or résumé
Brief statement of artistic interests
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until all available places have been filled.