When was the last time you attended a musical performance, classical or otherwise, that featured works by female composers? 

Women's Orchestra of Arizona not only regularly performs works by noted and under-the-radar female composers, it also encourages and recognizes new compositions by women through its annual Composition Competition. 

The first concert of the 2022-2023 season featured the winning entry in the 2019-2020 WOA Composition Competition,  "Khodahafez," a rich, driving work for strings by Florence Anna Maunders, of the United Kingdom.

The 2022-2023 competition will be accepting scores until March 15, 2023; the winner will be announced before May 1 and the work will be performed by the Women's Orchestra of Arizona in the 2023-2024 concert season. Applicants should identify themselves as females with a minimum age of 16 years old. Works must be scored for a maximum instrumentation of full strings and woodwinds.

The Women's Orchestra of Arizona Composition Competition provides women composers the opportunity to have their original orchestral work recognized and given a premiere performance by the orchestra. 

In making the winning selection, the competition committee looks for creative imagination, stylistic originality, and presence of a personal voice.

Past competition winners include Roxanne Sacketti (Prescott) and Diane Sullivan (Phoenix), former WOA concertmaster.