THE KARLOVAC INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION

A decision of including a piano competition in our festival came from the intention to stimulate a more engaging and effective learning incentive. Besides the basic, educational nature of our program, we believe that this competitive tryout will encourage young pianists for greater improvements. At the same time, our essential goal is to cultivate a supportive and collegial atmosphere as much as possible unaffected by contesting tensions. Furthermore, the festival's essential aim is to nurture a judging system which will promote strictly fair evaluations/scoring, based on interpretational qualities and not affected by any non-musical aspects. Jury will not make any disparity between competitors who DO or DO NOT actively participate in the summer school.

Silvije Vidovic, Artistic Director

* ANNOUNCEMENT - The Karlovac International Piano Competition is postponed until 2022

APPLICATION & RULES

• The 7th Karlovac International Piano Competition will be held in Karlovac Music School (Karlovac, Croatia) from 8th of July (Semi-Finals) until 9th of July, 2020 (Finals).

• The Semi-Final Round will be held at Karlovac Music School recital hall, and the Final Round will take place in Zorin-dom Theatre, Karlovac.

• The competition is open to all pianists born between 1st of January 1982 and 31st of December 2002.

• The competition is open to pianists of all nationalities.

• Festival participants who are taking lessons with our faculty, and also wish to participate in the piano competition, are required to independently complete all the competition application process.

• The competition-ONLY participants can observe all festival activities or may arrive/register right at the beginning of the competition. Since the Semi-Final Round will start from the morning hours of July 8th, competitors who travel from abroad are advised to arrive to Karlovac by 7th of July, 2020.

• The piano tryout will be scheduled for the morning of July 8th (before the beginning of semi-final) and potentially in the evening of July 7th. The exact times for performances, tryouts, practicing, and warm-ups will be e-mailed to the competitors a few days before the beginning of the competition.

• The application deadline for the competition is 15th of May, 2020. The applicants will receive notifications of their potential acceptance to the Semi-Final Round latest by 1st of June, 2020. A maximum of approximately 15 pianists will be accepted to the Semi-Finals. The applicants who are not accepted to the Semi-Finals, will receive a registration fee reimbursement (lessened by the bank transfer fee). In case if applied candidate decides to cancel his/her participation in the competition, registration fee will be returned only if the organizer is informed on that matter no latter than 20th of May, 2020 (cancellation needs to be sent to karlovacpianofestival@gmail.com).

• The winners’ announcements and the official prize-giving ceremony will be held on 9th of July, 2020, approx. 30 minutes after the conclusion of the Final Round. The jury’s decision is final, however, all the competitors are encouraged to speak with the jury members afterwards.

• The prizes will be deposited to the winners' bank accounts no later then 10 days after the Finals. No taxes will be accounted to the prize amount.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

As part of pre-screening round, competition participants are required to send an un-edited video recording in minimum of 10 minutes. The video recording needs to be sent in a form of Youtube video, Dropbox link, or similar (you will be able to paste Internet link(s) in the Competition Application Form bellow). If your pieces are recorded/published separately, you may provide us with two or more links. This recording selection should consist of 2 contrasting pieces. One of the works should be a bigger scale composition selected from standard piano literature (such as Chopin's ballade, a single movement from Beethoven's piano sonata, or similar), and the other work should be of a virtuosic character (such as Chopin's etude, Liszt's transcendental etude, Rachmaninoff's Etude-tableaux, etc.).
Deposit the competition registration fee (click HERE for bank info):
- €90 (if you will be also participating in our Summer Piano School, the competition registration fee needs to be deposited in addition to the Summer Piano School registration fee)

Send a copy of your deposit invoice to karlovacpianofestival@gmail.com

Filled out the Competition Application Form (see bellow)
A recent portrait photo of higher resolution (desirable formats: jpg., gif., png., pdf.), sent as an attachment to karlovacpianofestival@gmail.com
A copy of passport's photo page (send it as attachment to karlovacpianofestival@gmail.com). This is not required for the citizens of the Republic of Croatia.
For a full consideration, all the above noted requirements should be received latest by 15th of May, 2020. If it happens that you do not hear from us by May 15th, please contact us via e-mail to check if your materials were received correctly.

REPERTOIRE

Semi-Finals (performing time 13-15 minutes)

One virtuosic etude (by Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, or similar)
Piano work(s) of free choice. We strongly advise a selection from standard piano literature (written before 1940).
Optionally, contestants could decide to perform Erinnerung (Remembrance), Op.24 by Croatian composer Dora Pejačević (1885-1923). This part of program is not required, however, the competitor with the best performance of this work will receive a special award. The duration of this piece is around 2 minutes and 50 seconds. Click HERE to access the music sheet.

Be certain that the total duration of the Semi-Final program does not exceeds 15 minutes - please include the exact timings in the Application Form next to your program selection. Competitors are allowed to perform works from their pre-screening selection. All works have to be performed by memory. Approximately 4-5 pianists will advance to the Finals.

Finals (performing time 20-22 minutes)

The repertoire for the Final Round is of free choice, however, contestants have to perform at least one larger piece from the standard piano literature of the Romantic Period lasting at least 10 minutes. Major works from the Early 20th century are also adequate (such as those by Russian or Spanish composers, Impressionistic Period, etc.) Single movement or few movements from a cyclic work is acceptable.

Competitors are not allowed to perform the works from the Semi-Final Round. All works have to be performed by memory. Finally, we advise you to choose the repertoire as much as based on the above noted instructions. The selection of pieces itself may possibly have an affect on your acceptance to the Semi-Finals, and will have a significant influence on your success during the entire competition. Please feel free to contact us if you have any doubts or questions on that matter.

PRIZES

1st Prize - €1,100
2nd Prize - €600
3rd Prize - €300

Audience Award (Final Round) - €100

Award for the Best Interpretation of a Work by a Croatian Composer - €100

The First Prize winner will have an opportunity for a piano concerto performance with Karlovac Chamber Orchestra (Spring, 2021), and will receive paid travel expenses up to €300 as well as accommodation for three days. The selection of piano concertos considered for this occasion will be announced after the completion of the competition.

COMPETITION JURY

• Anna Malikova, Lovre Marušić, Vladimir Viardo, Silvije Vidovic (jury president)

APPLICATION FORM - 2020 PIANO COMPETITION

(required fields are marked with*)

First name *
Last name *
Date of birth (day/month/year) *
Gender	Male Female
E-mail (where you will receive a confirmation of your application)*
Present address *
Phone (optional) - include only numbers
Your web site (optional)
Nationality *
Do you travel to Croatia with Visa? *	Yes No
Paste here Internet link(s) to your pre-screening program selection
List of compositions for the pre-screening round (please refer to our program requirements) * Please include the exact duration for each piece
List of compositions for the semi-final round (please refer to our program requirements) * Please include the exact duration for each piece
List of compositions for the final round (please refer to our program requirements) * Please include the exact duration for each piece
Did you deposit competition application fee? *	Yes No
A brief biography (where do you study, present teacher, competitions...) *
Message or comments
How did you find out about us?

- If you experience any issues with sending the application form, please contact us via e-mail

- Bank deposit info:

Name and address of the beneficiary: Glazbena Skola, Augusta Cesarca 3, 47000 Karlovac, Croatia

Beneficiary's account number/IBAN: HR1224000081190241348

BIC/SWIFT: KALCHR2X

Account with (bank): Karlovačka Banka d.d. Karlovac, Croatia

Bank address: Ul. Ivana Gorana Kovačića 1, 47000, Karlovac, Croatia

Bank phone: +385 47 417 371

Payment order should include:

- Full details of the ordering customer (name, address, country and account number/IBAN)

- Full details of the beneficiary (name, address, country and account number/IBAN)

*If you experience any issues with bank transfer to above noted account, please contact us via e-mail or contact page and we will provide you with another bank account or Paypal account as an alternative deposit option.