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International Composition Competition « Mixtes »
Nice – France · November 2026
Organized by the Conservatoire de Nice, Université Côte d’Azur, Ensemble Découverte Opéra de Nice, Studio Instrumental, and Ensemble Métis.
Calendar
Concerts: in November 2026 at the Conservatoire Pierre Cochereau in Nice.
Application deadline: February 15th, 2026
Presentation
The « Mixtes » competition is open to composers under 40 years old of all nationalities. It aims to encourage the creation of works combining acoustic instruments and electroacoustic devices in a professional and pedagogical framework of excellence.
Each candidate may send several pieces.
Each application must be sent in anonymously (no reference to the composer’s identity shall appear in either the score nor the annex documentation).
Pieces must have been composed after 2015.
Categories
Category 1 – Ensemble from 8 to 20 musicians
Performer: Ensemble Découverte de l’Opéra de Nice
- Duration: 7 to 10 minutes
- Electroacoustic: 2 to 8 audio channels (files can be played with a DAW or triggered live by a pedal)
- Acoustic instruments will not be amplified
- Available nomenclature is the following:
- 1 flute
- 1 oboe/english horn
- 1 clarinet
- 1 bassoon
- 1 French horn
- 1 trumpet
- 1 trombone/bass trombone
- 1 percussion
- Strings 4.3.2.2.1
All sub-ensembles from this nomenclature are allowed.
- Entering fee: 20 euros
Category 2 – Solo works to 5 musicians
Performer: Ensemble Métis
- Duration: 5 to 10 minutes
- Electroacoustic: 2 to 8 audio channels
- Instruments may be amplified
- Real time treatments may eventually be used, if compatible with the Conservatoire de Nice equipment
- Available nomenclature: oboe (+oboe d’amore, English horn), saxophone (sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, barytone), piano (+ electronic keyboard), violin, percussion
- Entering fee: 15 euros
Category 3 – Educational and easy works for 1 musician
Level: from end of cycle 1 to end of cycle 3 of the French Music Schools
- Duration: 2 minutes
- Electroacoustic: stereo only (no realtime processing allowed)
- Triggering audio files with a switch pedal is possible if a fully functional patcher (MaxMSP or PureData) is sent by the composer
- Instruments available: flute, oboe, clarinet, trumpet, trombone, harp, piano, vibraphone, marimba, kettledrums, violin, alto, cello, double-bass, recorder
- Entering fee: 5 euros
Rewards
| Category | 1st Prize |
|---|---|
| Category 1 | 1200 euros + 3 hotel nights + per diem (3×40 euros) |
| Category 2 | 800 euros + 3 hotel nights + per diem (3×40 euros) |
| Category 3 | 600 euros |
The winning pieces (1st and 2nd prices) of category 1 will be played by the musicians of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, the winner of category 2 by the musicians of Ensemble Métis, during concerts organized in November 2026 at the Auditorium of the Conservatoire Pierre Cochereau in Nice, France.
The winning pieces of category 3 will be played by the students of the Conservatoire de Nice under the direction of their respective teachers during the year 2027.
Travel expenses are not covered by the competition organizers.
Selection criteria
- Quality of the instrumental part(s) and score clarity
- Quality of the electroacoustic part
- Relation between the instrumental and electroacoustic parts
- Originality
- General quality
A first selection according to these criteria will be made by different rapporteurs from the professional field in order to propose to the jury 6 works per category which will be examined in the final by the jury listed below. The list of finalist works and those awarded will be published on the site of Studio Instrumental at the end of the competition.
Jury
- Pierre Jodlowski – Composer, Associate Artistic Director of the studio éOle, Toulouse and of the festival Musica Electronica Nova, Wroclaw, Poland
- Mario Mary – Composer, Teacher at Académie de Musique de Monaco
- François Paris – Composer, former Director of the Centre International de Recherche Musicale and the festival Manca
- Leo Warynski – Artistic Director of the choir Les Métaboles, Musical Director of Ensemble Multilatérale, Conductor of Ensemble Découverte
- Clarissa Severo da Borba – Percussionist, Director of the Conservatoire de Nice
- Pascal Decroupet – Research Teacher in musicology at the Université Côte d’Azur
- Alberto Chaves – Saxophonist, Ensemble Métis
Submissions
Log in to the page dedicated to the competition via the following link:
https://studio-instrumental.fr/concours/
Then follow the directions to enter the required information.
Applicants will be required to provide:
- A complete stereo version of the piece: instruments and electroacoustic in the format .wav 48kHz/16bits (preferably with an audio recording of the instrumental parts but a MIDI simulation will be tolerated)
- Scores, conductor and individual parts must be in .pdf
- A .pdf file including: Title of the work, Duration, Year of composition, Presentation on the piece (250 words maximum). Texts must be submitted only in French or English. No hints at the name or origin of the composer shall be included.
- A .pdf file including: Name and Surname of the composer, Location and date of birth, Nationality, Home address, Email, Short biography (250 words maximum). Texts must be submitted only in French or English.
- Separate electroacoustic parts. Audio files must be in the format .wav 48kHz/16bits. Multichannel tracks (up to 8 channels) must be sent as separate mono files numbered from 1 to 8 according to standard setups (no interleaved multichannel files, see in technical annex). Standard 5.1 or 7.1 setups will also be possible. A stereo version of multichannel works must also be submitted.
- Payment: From the page accessible via the access link above, fill in the form corresponding to the category in which the candidate is competing. Payment is made via Paypal which will provide a receipt once the payment is made.
Results and conditions
The final list of programmed works will be announced at the end of June 2026.
Any application that would not comply with the rules will not be taken into consideration.
To apply to this contest implies accepting the rules and the right to broadcast and record for documentary purposes any work submitted, in one of the concerts of the festival taking place in November 2026 in Nice, France.
Technical Annex
Available 8 channels diagrams :
Available equipment:
- Apple Macbook Pro Intel Intel Core i5 quad-core 1,4 GHz RAM 16Go MacOS13 Ventura
- Raspberry Pi 4 RAM 8Go + Pisound
Available softwares:
- MaxMSP 8.5.6 & 9 (Cycling74)
- Pure Data (most recent version)
- Ableton Live 12
- Digital Performer version 11.34
- Reaper 7.41 (Cockos)
- Kontakt 6 or 8 (Native Instruments)
- GRMTools 3.11
MIDI control devices:
- For the piano player: 1 switch pedal, 1 continuous control pedal, 1 mini keyboard Roli PianoM 24 keys sensible to polyphonic pressure or 1 keyboard Studiologic SLStudio 73 keys four zones
- For 1 other instrument player (or one electroacoustic performer at the sound desk): 1 switch pedal
Partners
Information
All useful information is available via:
https://studio-instrumental.fr/concours/
www.studio-instrumental.fr
📧 concours@studio-instrumental.fr