NYC E-A Music Festival (NYCEMF) -- 2026 call for works

Community
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Full announcement below. Source of truth at https://nycemf.org .

Submission deadline: December 31, 2025.

Regards,
David Reeder
NYCEMF

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Announcing the 2026 New York City
Electroacoustic Music Festival
June 19-25, 2026

The New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival is now accepting
submissions for its festival in June, 2026. Now in its sixteenth year,
NYCEMF is the largest annual showcase of electroacoustic music in New York
City, and one of the largest festivals of its kind in the world. Full
details are posted on our website, www.nycemf.org.

Call for Works

This call is open to all composers and performers regardless of
nationality, age, career state, style, or area of expertise.

I. Music and Video

Composers or performers are invited to submit works in any style of
electroacoustic music in any the following categories:

  • Electronic music for fixed media alone, with up to 16 channels of sound.
  • Works involving live electronics, including computer processing, laptop
    orchestras, or live coding, with up to 8 channels.
  • Works combining musical instruments or voice with live or fixed media
    electronics, with up to 8 channels.
  • Video and multimedia works with up to 8 channels

  1. This call is open to all composers and performers regardless of
    nationality, age, career stage, style, or area of expertise. Individuals
    may submit one or two works and may also submit a proposal for an
    installation, curated concert, or paper. Works of any length may be
    submitted, but, for practical reasons, we are more likely to be able to
    include shorter works than longer ones. Any works longer than 20 minutes
    in duration must be submitted as part of a curated concert proposal. Only
    one work per composer will be selected unless the submissions are part of a
    curated concert.

  2. Works in progress will be considered if a substantial portion of the
    work is complete. The accepted work cannot exceed the duration indicated at
    the time of submission, and the final versions cannot be substantially
    different from the work submitted.

  3. Both audio and video works must be submitted in compressed formats.
    Multichannel works must be submitted as high-quality stereo mixes.

  4. Works involving instrumentalists are welcome, but if the submitter is
    unable to provide the performer(s), additional costs per performer will be
    incurred.

  5. Performers (artists who are not the composer of the work) may submit up
    to two works with the agreement that they will play them if selected. If a
    performer wishes to submit more works, he or she may propose a curated
    concert.

  6. A work is eligible to be submitted only if it has not been performed at
    a previous NYCEMF concert.

  7. Works must be submitted online through the Conference Management
    Toolkit (CMT).

  8. All submissions should be anonymous. Please make sure that no artist
    markings are recognizable. Works that are not anonymous will not be
    disqualified, however.

  9. The organizers will provide in each performance space a mixing console,
    speaker system, microphones, cables, and a computer and audio interface for
    the playback of fixed media audio/video. Composers of interactive works
    will be responsible for providing their own computer, audio interface, and
    any specialized peripherals.

Performers

The featured performers for NYCEMF 2026 will be cellist Madeleine Shapiro,
clarinet and tarogato player Esther Lamneck, violinist Maja Cerar,
clarinetist Marianne Gythfeldt, percussionist Patti Cudd, saxophonist Enzo
Filippetti, flutist Beatrix Wagner, pianists Shiau-uen Ding and Markus
Kaitila, and soprano Eleonora Claps.

Instruments

Instruments can be rented, though only those common to orchestral or
chamber music. Any large instruments that need to be rented, such as harp,
marimba, or vibraphone, will require an additional fee for rental and
cartage.

Multichannel Works

All performance spaces will be equipped with at least eight loudspeakers in
surround sound configuration. We will also have a 16-channel performance
space. Nevertheless, submitters of 16 channel works should be prepared to
provide an 8-channel version if necessary. Stereo works can be diffused at
the mixing console. Speaker configurations will be fixed and cannot be
moved for individual works.

Curated Concerts

Proposals are also invited for the presentation half of a two-hour concert,
not to exceed 54 minutes in duration of music. These concerts represent an
opportunity for someone to put together an entire concert consisting of
works of their choice. The concert may be organized around a composer,
theme or idea, and it may include works of historical importance as well as
more recent works. A performer may also propose a concert that he or she
will play.

Timeline

Submission deadline: December 31, 2025
Submission fee: none
Anticipated notification date: March 15, 2026

Review of Submissions

All submissions will be subject to peer review.

Post-review

Final audio and video files must be submitted by May 15, 2026.

II. Papers

We encourage the submission of papers on research topics including but not
limited to the following areas:

  • 3D Audio
  • Acoustic Ecology
  • Acoustics of Music
  • Acoustics, Space, and Sound Distribution
  • Aesthetics, Theory, History and Philosophy
  • Algorithmic Composition
  • Analysis of Electroacoustic Music
  • AR & VR
  • Archiving & Preservation of Electro-acoustic Music
  • Artificial Intelligence and Music
  • Computational Musicology
  • Composition Systems and Techniques
  • Digital Audio Signal Processing and Audio Effects
  • Distributed, Telematic, and Mobile Music
  • History of Electroacoustic Music
  • Improvisation and Technology
  • Languages for Computer Music
  • Live Coding
  • Mathematical Music Theory
  • Music Education
  • Music Information Retrieval
  • New Interfaces for Musical Expression
  • Notation and Scores
  • Perception and Cognition
  • Piece plus Paper Presentations
  • Software and Hardware Systems
  • Sonification
  • Sound Synthesis
  • Studio Reports

  1. The call is open to all researchers regardless of nationality, age or
    career stage or area of expertise.

  2. Formats include long papers (4-6 pages) or short papers (4 pages) with
    optional demos.

  3. Papers presented at previous NYCEMF events are not allowed unless
    significantly revised.

  4. All works must be submitted online as a PDF file through the Conference
    Management Toolkit (CMT).

  5. All submissions should be anonymous: please make sure that no author
    names are recognizable. Works that are not anonymous will not be
    disqualified, however.

  6. The reviews are anonymous: once accepted, camera-ready papers will need
    to include all author names.

  7. For conference presentations and publication proceedings, at least one
    author or co-author must register. A presenter only needs to register once
    if he or she will present more than one work at the festival.

Timeline

Submission deadline: December 31, 2025
Submission fee: none
Anticipated notification date: March 15, 2026

Review

All submissions will be subject to peer review.

Post-review

Following notification of acceptance, authors will be requested to submit
their camera-ready PDF files by May 16, 2026.

III. Installations

We invite submissions of installation works for exhibition at the
conference. Categories include but are not limited to:

  • Audience Participation Installations
  • Data-driven Installations
  • Happenings
  • Interactive Installations
  • Multimedia Installations
  • Performance-based installations

  1. The call is open to all artists/composers regardless of nationality,
    age or career stage.

  2. Works presented at previous NYCEMF events are not allowed unless
    significantly changed.

  3. Works must be submitted online, through the Conference Management
    Toolkit (CMT).

  4. Submissions should be anonymous: please make sure that no artist
    markings are recognizable. Works that are not anonymous will not be
    disqualified, however.

  5. For conference presentations, the artist or at least one of the
    collaborators must register. A presenter needs to register only once if
    making more than one presentation in different categories. All necessary
    installation equipment must be provided by the artist.

Review of Works

Submissions will be subject to peer review.

Timeline

Submission deadline: December 31, 2025
Submission fee: none
Anticipated notification date: March 15, 2026

VII. Participation and Fees

Accepted works will require a registration fee: approximately $350. In
addition, if you require NYCEMF to provide performers, there will be an
additional fee of $150 each. This fee also applies if you require large
instruments like harp, marimba or vibraphone.
For a curated concert the registration fee will be $700.

Students may receive a 50% discount of the registration fee. In order to
qualify for this, the student will be required to submit a copy of a
student ID card that is valid for 2026. This offer is limited to full-time
students in a music program only. Part-time, post-doctoral, or ABD
students (who have finished coursework except for the dissertation) are not
eligible. This applies to individual submissions only, not to curated
concerts.

Payment is required for all persons whose works are accepted. This fee
covers free admission to all events at the festival. Attendance is not
required, but even if persons submitting do not attend, the fee must still
be paid. Submitters whose works are selected are required to confirm
participation in the Festival by May 1, 2026.