The 2018 Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition (MICMC) will feature the world premieres of two new works by Australian composers Holly Harrison and Paul Stanhope. The competition, which is being produced by Musica Viva for the first time this year, in partnership with Melbourne Recital Centre and the Australian National Academy of Music, will see eight string quartets and eight piano trios battle it out for a combined prize pool of over $150,000. There will also be prizes going to the best performances of the commissioned works.

Paul Stanhope

Paul Stanhope, who is Senior Lecturer in Composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (and whose recent album Luz Aeterna with the Sydney Chamber Choir received four stars from Limelight) will provide the new work for the piano trio stream.

“Musica Viva has a fantastic track record in supporting the creation of new chamber music,” Stanhope said. “This high-level competition is a wonderful and relatively rare opportunity for chamber music groups from around the world, and it will be a treat to hear the performances.”

Holly Harrison

Harrison, whose work Lobster Tales and Turtle Soup was...