Okay, a little note on my submission. Alan, you never stated that we needed to use our own theme. SOOooooo....... my entry is based entirely on the Irish tune, "Auld Lang Syne" and the Chinese new years song, "Gung Shi". Now, remember that one of your parameters was:
"Melodic intrest- Can you convey a melody in a way to let me understand it completely?"
So, I took the melody I was going to use, and the melody ONLY (which is only eight bars of material, mind you), and tried to build around it harmonically to convey a certain feeling. Your second parameter is harmonic interest, and all of my harmonies are my own original concoctions. I also used the two melodies together in one piece to take the listener to different places (your third parameter). My instrumentation (fourth parameter) is as follows:
Violoncello I
Violoncello II
Violoncello III
Contrebasse I
Contrebasse II
Obviously, your fifth parameter was the name of the game, so I went after that like a herd of turtles. The introduction is my own material, as is some filler material after Gung Shi. These bits of original material are mostly to give the feeling of cherishing the past year and welcoming the new one, as is the main theme, Auld Lang Syne. My middle section, the the Gung Shi melody, is the New Years party. As you can tell, it's rather rowdy, but all eventually calms down and everyone starts singing Auld Lang Syne again. (of course

)
Since you said to send by PM, I'll post the links in this thread after the judging has already taken place and any winners have been announced.
*runs off to upload the files to eSnips*