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Festival of New American Music

About the Festival

Mark your calendars for the next Festival!

November 2-8, 2025

The Festival of New American Music brings extraordinary musicians to Sacramento, California, each year to present high-quality performances of a broad body of recently composed or improvised music by some of America’s most exciting artists. 2025 marks the 48th annual Festival!

Through public concerts, educational events, and outreach, the Festival serves three principal communities: those of the Sacramento State School of Music; the California State University, Sacramento; and the greater Sacramento region.

Committed to making music accessible to all, the Festival offers all of its concerts free of charge to the public. If you have any disability-related access needs to participate in our events, please contact us as soon as possible, and we will work with the Office for Disability Justice on arranging and meeting those needs.

The Festival concerts will be live-streamed on our YouTube page:

YOUTUBE LIVE

Driving/Parking Directions

Past Festivals

Questions?

Email Co-Director Shuying Li or Co-Director Jordan Shippy.

Call for Scores 2025

The 3rd Annual Call for Scores is open to composers of any age. Applicants must reside in the United States, Mexico, or Canada. The competition is judged by composition faculty and ensemble directors at the California State University, Sacramento School of Music as well as by nationally and internationally recognized festival guest composers. The winning pieces in each category will receive a performance at the 2025 Festival of New American Music. The submission deadline is July 15. The application fee is $15 for each work submitted.

This year's categories are:

  • Category A (Four Corners Ensemble): Submitted works may be scored for any subset of the full instrumentation of flute (doubles piccolo and alto flute), clarinet (A and Eb clarinets), violin, cello, and piano. One work will be selected and performed by the resident ensemble, Four Corners Ensemble.
  • Category B (Saxophone): Submitted works must be scored for any of the following instrumentations: Solo Saxophone, Saxophone and Piano, Saxophone Duo (two Saxophones), Piano Trio (2 Saxophones with Piano), Solo Saxophone with Fixed Media, and Saxophone Duo with Fixed Media. One work will be selected and performed by the resident artist and saxophonist, Carrie Koffman and other guest artists.
  • Category C (Chorus): Submitted works must be scored for mixed choir in 4-6 parts, with moderate divisi, with keyboard accompaniment. One winning work will be performed by Sacramento State University Chorale with director Dr. Brett Judson.
  • Category D (Wind Ensemble) : Submitted works should be scored for standard wind band instrumentation (Piccolo, Flute 1.2, Oboe 1.2, Bassoon 1.2, Bb Clarinet 1.2.3, Bass Clarinet, Alto Sax 1.2, Tenor Sax, Baritone Sax, Trumpet 1.2.3, Horn 1.2.3.4, Trombone 1.2.3 (bass), Euphonium, Tuba, Double Bass, Precision (5 players). One winning work will be performed by Sacramento State Symphonic Wind Ensemble with director Dr. Matthew Morse.

Read More

Submit Application

Pay Application Fee

Parking Info

Sac State uses virtual parking permits. A limited number of courtesy permits will be available for our evening concerts; links will be posted here each day. Daily permits may also be purchased from the machine on the 5th floor of the parking structure adjacent to our building, or online

Parking Link posted here by November 2, 2025

Directions: Select the Guest Login

  1. If you don't have an account, click here to create a guest account. Once you finish creating your account and registering your vehicle, click the visitor parking link provided above and use the Guest Login
  2. If you have an account already but forgot your password, click here to reset your password.

Select "Get Permits" from the "Permit" section. Complete the permit checkout process, making sure to select the correct valid date, to activate your visitor permit. Permits are valid for the whole day, up till 11:59pm.