The choir, a 35-voice a cappella chamber group which performs at least four times a year, is collaborating with the Oxford University Museum of Natural History on the concert, themed ‘Breaking Ground’.

The concert will reflect the museum’s temporary exhibition of the same name, celebrating iconic fossils used in the first scientific description of a dinosaur in Oxfordshire 200 years ago.

Emerging composers are invited to create a piece with elements around palaeontology, discovery, and innovation.

The judging panel will include the choir’s musical director, Duncan Aspden, choral promotion specialist at Oxford University Press, Griselda Sherlaw-Johnson, and pianist Susie Allan.

The composer of the winning piece will receive £1,000 and a premiere performance at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History on March 28, 2025.

The competition to compose the three to five minute piece is open until Friday, November 22, and the winner will be notified by mid-December.

Entries should be submitted as an anonymous PDF and digital recording to secretary@oxfordchoir.org by the deadline.

The Breaking Ground exhibition, telling the story of major developments in our understanding of the history of life and Earth and showcasing more than 100 objects including the jaw of Megalosaurus, will open to the public on October 18.