2026 Arranging Competition

A Thought by Brian Katz, the 2026 MusiCurate Arrangement Competition

Deadline: July 1, 2026. No purchase necessary. Open to composers and arrangers everywhere.

The MusiCurate Arrangement Competition invites you to 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 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.

Download the lead sheet: A Thought by Brian Katz (PDF)

Prizes

  • 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
  • Full page promotional feature in MusiCurate, The Classical Guitar Magazine
  • $150 gift certificate for www.musicurate.com

How to enter

  1. Complete the entry form (download PDF)
  2. Email music@musicurate.com with the subject line competition arrangement 2026, attaching:
    • your completed entry form
    • a PDF of your notated score for solo guitar
    • a link to a YouTube video performance of your arrangement

Judging

All submissions are anonymized for blind judging, then scored by a panel of professional musicians from diverse backgrounds against the following criteria:

  • Creativity, originality and musicality of the arrangement (60 points)
  • Clarity of the notated score: easy to read, understand and interpret (20 points)
  • How accurately the video performance conveys the notated arrangement (10 points)
  • Value of the program notes for performers and audiences (10 points)

The winning submission will be announced in MusiCurate, The Classical Guitar Magazine.

Past winners

2025 Composing Competition
Edgar Omar Rojas Ruiz, Rain of Sparks, a single movement composition for solo guitar. Canadian guitarist Ben Diamond records Rain of Sparks this summer.

2024 GuitarFest West Performance Prize
MusiCurate awarded a custom commission to Gwenyth Aggeler, 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