EUROPEAN UNION COMPETITION FOR ORCHESTRA CONDUCTORS
Classics Management Budapest, in cooperation with the National Academy of Music in Sofia and Pazardjik Symphony Orchestra, announces the second edition of “EUROPEAN UNION COMPETITION FOR ORCHESTRA CONDUCTORS”.
The competition is open to musicians of any nationality without age limits.
The competition will be held in Sofia and Pazardjik (Bulgaria) from 4 until 11 January 2020.
The awards include money prizes and concerts in Italy, Hungary, Russia, Bulgaria, Turkey and Poland.
RULES
The competition is structured in two main phases, ELIMINATORY phase that starts April the 1st 2019 and ends on November the 1st 2019. The eliminatory phase will consist in the examination of videos and CVs; the FIRST ROUND and the following phases will take place from January the 4th until Janaury the 11th in Sofia and Pazardjik. The Final will consist in a public concert to be held in the Grand Hall of the National Academy of Music in Sofia. (Bulgaria);
1. Eligibility
The competition is open to all the conductors, without nationality or age limitations;
2. Eliminatory phase
Dates for sending applications: April the 1st 2019 until November the 1st 2019;
The candidates will have to send links to two videos that will be judged by the jury;
VIDEO DETAILS
The Videos can contain pieces from any historical period, with any kind of ensemble both vocal or instrumental;
The videos must be played in streaming mode (videos don’t have to be downloaded) and each must last at least 5 minutes; at least half of the video has to be filmed with frontal view;
Videos in which the candidate conducts a piano are admissible only if there are at least two players (4 hands piano or two pianos);
CANDIDATES ADMITTED TO THE FIRST ROUND
The admitted candidates will be informed by email within November the 15th 2019 and the admitted candidate’s names will also be published on the website;
The competition is structured as follows:
First Round: 4 hands piano, January 4, 5, 6 2020
Second Round: Symphony, Orchestra January 7, 8 2020
Semifinal: Symphony Orchestra, January 9 2020
Final: Symphony Orchestra and solo piano, January 10, 11 2020
3. Repertoire.
First Round: Piano 4 hands
Johannes Brahms: I Symphony in C minor Op. 68, 1st movement (Un poco sostenuto – Allegro)
Claude Debussy: Prélude a l’après-midi d’un faune (arrangement: Maurice Ravel)
Second Round: Symphony Orchestra
Ludwig van Beethoven: V Symphony n° 1st movement
Giuseppe Verdi: Prélude to Act III of “La traviata”
Johannes Brahms: II Symphony 3rd movement
Semifinal: Symphony Orchestra
Jean Sibelius: Finlandia Op. 26
Petko Staynov: Rachenitca from “Thracian Dances”
Antonín Dvořák: IX Symphony Op. 95 “from the New World” 4th movement
Each competitor will have ca 30 minutes to rehearse
Final: Symphony Orchestra
Group A
Ludwig van Beethoven: I Symphony 1st movement
Fryderyk Chopin: II Piano Concerto in f minor Op. 21, 3rd movement (Allegro vivace)
Group B
Ludwig van Beethoven: II Symphony 1st movement
Robert Schumann: Piano concerto in A minor Op. 54, 3rd movement (Allegro vivace)
Group C
Ludwig van Beethoven: IV Symphony 1st movement
Johannes Brahms: II Piano Concerto in B flat Op. 83, 4th movement (Allegretto grazioso)
Group D
Ludwig van Beethoven: VII Symphony 1st movement
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto in Bb Op. 23, 2nd movement (Andantino semplice – Prestissimo)
The Final is open to n°4 competitors, a group will be assigned to each and each will have about 75 minutes of rehearsal on Friday January 10 the pieces of the assigned group;
On Saturday 11 in Grand Hall of the National Academy of Music in Sofia will take place the final concert that wil be part of the competition, in this concert each competitor will conduct the assigned pieces;
The soloist will M° Ivan Donchev;
Concert suit/dress is required;
The winner will be announced after the final concert, to the presence of the audience;
The pieces will be drawn the evening before the day of the specific phase. The competitors are required to know all the pieces of the repertoire;
4. PRIZES
FIRST PRIZE
– Money prize 4.000 lEv
– 1 concert with MÁV Symphony Orchestra (Hungary);
– 1 concert with Pazardjik Symphony Orchestra (Bulgaria);
– 1 concert with Philharmonishces Kammerorkester Berlin (Germany);
– 1 concert with Sanremo Symphony Orchestra (Italy);
– 1 concert with Orchestre de Cannes (France);
– Official Diploma.
SECOND PRIZE
– Money prize 2000 lEv;
– 1 concert with Pazardjik Symphony Orchestra (Bulgaria);
– 1 concert with İzmir Karşıyaka Chamber Orchestra (Turkey);
– Official Diploma.
THIRD PRIZE
– Money prize 1200 lEv
– 1 concert with Pazardjik Symphony Orchestra (Bulgaria);
– Official Diploma.
FOURTH PRIZE
– Money prize 800 lEv
– Official Diploma.
BEETHOVEN PRIZE
– to the best performance of a Beethoven piece in the final round: official certificate;
To all the Semifinalists will be given an official certificate of Semifinalists;
Those who will successfully pass the eliminatory phase will receive a participation certificate.
The last stages of the competition will be open to the public and there will be representatives of International Artists Agencies present;
5. Jury
The International jury will be composed by the following members:
Eliminatory Phase and First Round:
M° Günter Neuhold (Austria); Dr. Davide Cicchetti (Italy); M° György Lendvai (Hungary); M° Grigor Palikarov (Bulgaria); M° Jeffrey Solares (The Philipines); M° Anastasios Symeonidis (Greece); representatives of Pazardjik Symphony Orchestra;
From the Second Round:
M° Günter Neuhold (Austria), President of the jury;
M° Rengim Gokmen (Turkey), Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of Presidential Symphony Orchestra in Istanbul;
M° György Lendvai (Hungary) Managing Director of MÁV Symphony Orchestra Budapest;
M° Grigor Palikarov (Bulgaria), full-time conductor at Sofia Opera and Ballet, Music Director of Pazardjik Symphony Orchestra;
M° Benjamin Levy (France), Music Director of Orchestre de Cannes and Orchestre de Chambre Pelléas;
NB In case of illness or force majeure the organization will replace the missing member with another internationally acknowledged Maestro.
6. Deadline for the application
To get registered you must send the application form and the required documents by Midnight (12:00 p.m.) GMT November the 1st 2019;
For any information: eu.conducting.competition@gmail.com
7. Fees
The application fee for the eliminatory phase is € 70,00 (Paypal: plus %5 fee)
The candidates admitted to the first round will be required to pay the participation fee that consists in €250,00 that has to be paid through the same method as the registration fee within November the 30st 2019;
The payment has to be made by using the same method of the previous step.
8. Transfer and accommodation
Transfers are up to the participants, the organization will assist the participants in finding the best way to get to Bulgaria and to the competition’s venues;
The organization is able to provide to the interested participants accommodation in the best hotels in Pazardjik at a very convenient prices;
9. Media rights
The candidates will by submitting their application hand over all rights of the TV and radio recordings to the Promoter, this includes all pictures taken on and off stage.
The candidates will also by submitting their application give their permission and approval to the Promoter to use the candidates’ names and pictures in press releases.
10. Final rules
The participation to the competition implies the full acceptance of the present rules. The organization reserves the right to change the rules of the competition in case of force majeure, in that case the organization will give prompt notification of any modification that may occur. The application and participation fees will not be returned except in case of cancellation of the competition. For any legal action the English text of the announcement must be considered. The forum in charge is Prato’s (Italy).