songSLAM
What is a songSLAM?
The Sparks & Wiry Cries songSLAM is a unique and energizing community event for composer/performer teams to premiere new art songs and compete for cash prizes.
Each team presents a new song of no more than 5 minutes for voice and piano, in any language, for the voting audience, who—in the poetry slam tradition—will then vote on their favorites and award prize money to the winning competitors!
First premiered in NYC in 2015, the songSLAM has now been co-presented with regional partners in four countries and 13 different cities around the globe: NYC, Toronto, Vancouver, Bloomington, Tallahassee, Rochester, London, Ljubljana, Ann Arbor, Cincinnati, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Waco, with even more growth on the horizon.
NYC songSLAM 2026
Details coming soon for our 10th annual NYC songSLAM!
We are excited to announce that songSLAM Songbook, Volume 2 will be available soon
from New Music Shelf!
Volume 1 contains sixteen pieces debuted at seven of our songSLAM competitions. The songbook, curated by Erika Switzer and Martha Guth, is a selection of the most promising songs premiered since its inception. Many of them were prize winners, though not all.