MusiCurate Competitions
The 2026 Arranging Competition.
Create a solo guitar arrangement of A Thought, a new lead sheet composition by Toronto guitarist and composer Brian Katz. The competition celebrates originality, craftsmanship and artistic expression in the evolving landscape of classical guitar.
The piece
A lead sheet, waiting for your hands.
A Thought arrives as a lead sheet: melody and chords, ready to be fully realized as a formal guitar arrangement. How you get there is up to you.
How to enter
Enter online.
Tell us who you are and where to find your performance video, and submit. We reply from music@musicurate.com; attach the PDF of your notated score to that reply, and your entry is complete.
Not ready to enter yet?
Leave your email and we will send a reminder before the December 31 deadline, along with competition news.
Judging
Blind judging, four criteria.
All submissions are anonymized for blind judging, then scored by a panel of professional musicians from diverse backgrounds against the following criteria:
The winning submission will be announced in MusiCurate, The Classical Guitar Magazine.
The winner receives
A feature in the magazine, built around you.
The winning arranger receives a full page feature in MusiCurate, The Classical Guitar Magazine: your arrangement, your story and your approach, in print and digital editions read in 35 countries. Alongside it:
- Guitar Music of Brian Katz: Three Pieces for Classical or Jazz Guitarists with a Supplementary Section on Tonal Improvisation
- Recordings: Leaves Will Speak (solo) and Bridges (with William Beauvais)
- 1.5 hours of online improvisation and composition studies with Brian Katz
- One-year print subscription to MusiCurate, The Classical Guitar Magazine
- $150 gift certificate for www.musicurate.com
Questions, answered
Can I submit more than one arrangement?
Yes. Each arrangement is a separate entry with its own score and performance video.
Who owns the rights to my arrangement?
You retain copyright in your arrangement. A Thought remains the copyright of Brian Katz. By entering, you grant MusiCurate permission to review your materials for judging and, if you win, to present your arrangement as part of your feature in the magazine.
Does my video need to be professionally produced?
No. A clear phone recording is fine. The video is scored on how accurately it conveys your notated arrangement, not on production quality.
Who can enter?
The competition is open to composers and arrangers everywhere, at any stage of their career. No purchase is necessary.
Past winners
Edgar Omar Rojas Ruiz, Rain of Sparks
A single movement composition for solo guitar. Canadian guitarist Ben Diamond records Rain of Sparks this summer.
Gwenyth Aggeler, Periodically
MusiCurate awarded a custom commission to the winner of the GuitarFest West performance competition in Calgary: Periodically, composed by Shelley Marwood.
The scores for both Rain of Sparks and Periodically join the MusiCurate catalogue this summer.
From the composer
A Thought was conceived while playing around with ideas on guitar. Many of my compositions begin with a germ of an idea. I then flesh things out, finding the essential melodies and chords, working to provide a balance between discovery and coherence.
I notate the essentials of the work in progress, which often results in a lead sheet first, and then, at a future time, I may create a more formal guitar arrangement from the lead sheet.
A Thought has landed in lead sheet form: it has the essential harmonies and melodies, and the work is ready to be fully realized as a more formal guitar arrangement. Would you like to try a stab at this?
If you don't fully understand the chord symbols I've used, or wish to change some of the harmonies, I would certainly be curious about what you come up with. After all, there are many ways to harmonize a melody.
Most of all, I hope you enjoy A Thought I had, and yours that follow!
Brian Katz, Toronto
Entries close December 31, 2026.
Download the lead sheet, make it yours, and send us your arrangement. We read, play and score every submission.