2022 Piano Star International Competition Rules & Regulations
We are excited to announce that we will be hosting a winners concert at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, NY in June of 2023 for select winners. For details and eligibility, please check the prizes page.
Eligibility
- The Piano Star International Competition is open to pianists of any nationalities ages 18 and under
- Age requirements apply to the applicant’s age as of December 10, 2022 for Amateur Division applicants and December 11, 2022 for Professional Division applicants
- Applicants studying with any of the Grand Final judges are NOT eligible to apply in the same division that their teachers are judging in
- Applicants studying with any of the Final Round judges are eligible to apply, but will not receive votes/scores from their teacher
- Previous Gold prize winners are not eligible to apply to the same age group. However, they are eligible to compete in an older age group
Application Checklist
- Completed online application form (link to be updated here when available)
- Preliminary Round video
- Application fee payment
- Proof of age - passport or picture ID
- Deadline: November 1st, 2022, 11:59pm PT (NO late entries)
Competition Fees
- Application fee is $100 for all groups
- There is an additional Final Round fee of $75 for all finalists
- There are no additional costs to participate in the Grand Final Round
- There are no fees to participate in the Carnegie Hall Winners Concert for Gold Medalists. For eligibility and fees for other competitors, check the prizes page for details
Repertoire Requirements
- For a complete list of repertoire requirements for your age group, visit the Professional Division or Amateur Division page for more details.
The following applies to the Final Round & Grand Final Round only.
(Added on October 13th, 2022 for more clarity on repertoire choices. )
- Piece(s) must be from the Baroque, Classical, Romantic or 20th/21st Century period by a standard classical music composer.
- All pieces must be played from memory for all rounds.
- One movement of Sonatina, Sonata, or Suite can be considered as one piece.
- Arrangements, simplified or modified editions, and popular music will not be accepted.
- Piece(s) must be a solo work. Concertos, duets, and other chamber music works are not acceptable.
- Method book pieces are allowed under the given circumstances:
- Amateur Division Group A: piece(s) must be more than 16 measures long
- Amateur Division Group B: piece(s) must be more than 32 measures long
- Pieces must be an original solo by the pedagogical composer. Traditional tunes like Yankee Doodle, Row, Row, Row Your Boat, London Bridge, etc. are not acceptable.
- Method book pieces are not allowed in any other age group other than the two listed above.
- Questions about repertoire selection can be emailed to pi*******@th************.com.
Performance requirements for each round
- We are proud to present a unique multi-round performance opportunity to all participants by establishing a hybrid model between live, virtual performances and recorded performances.
- Pieces must be played from memory.
- Video(s) must be recorded on or after Dec 12th, 2021
- Each piece must be recorded continuously and unedited
- Video(s) are adjudicated privately by a panel of Preliminary Round judges
- The camera should be at a fixed position and viewed horizontally
- Preferably, the contestant’s entire body and the keyboard should be visible at all times
- If full-body angle is not possible, please make sure at least the upper body and the keyboard remain visible at all times
- Recording videos with a phone is sufficient for this competition
- Digital keyboards are accepted for Amateur Division performances, however, digital keyboards are not allowed for Professional Division performances
Examples:
- Contestants perform LIVE on Zoom (or equivalent software – to be announced) during their given time slot and are adjudicated by a panel of Final Round judges who will provide instant verbal feedback after each contestant’s performance.
- The Final Round is private and closed to the public in order to protect the privacy of the contestants during judges’ comments.
- The Zoom software needs to be downloaded and installed prior to the Final Round performance.
- The use of external microphones to enhance audio quality is encouraged, but not required. Please turn on “original sound” and disable any noise-suppression settings. This will improve the audio quality significantly.
- To minimize technical errors, it is highly recommended to test your Zoom settings and connection with someone, like your piano teacher, prior to your Final Round performance.
- In the event of internet failure, we will allow a second opportunity to perform only if time permits, and only when there is conclusive evidence that the internet caused a problem.
- Application fees will not be refunded to, whether or not they receive a second opportunity to perform.
- The rules for recording videos (listed above) also pertain to Zoom performances.
- A new video performance recorded on or after November 21st, 2022
- Performance recordings will be live-streamed world-wide
- A specific set of i
Preliminary Round
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After the preliminary round videos are reviewed, each contestant will receive a Star Score up to a perfect score of 10.0. The judges will consider the following definitions when giving their scores.
• 9.5 - 10.0 = High Distinction
• 9.0 - 9.4 = Distinction
• 8.0 - 8.9 = Merit
• 6.0 - 7.9 = Pass - All contestants will receive their scores. A Star Score only contains the numerical score - no comments are added.
- All contestants who scores 8.5 or above will be automatically admitted to the Final Round. Additional contestants, at the sole discretion of the judging panel, may or may not be admitted to the Final Round.
Final Round
- All contestants are given a second Star Score for their Final Round performance, using the same scoring rubric as mentioned above.
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Final Round prizes are solely determined by each contestant's Final Round Star Score:
• 1st prize certificate: Star Score 9.5-10.0
• 2nd prize certificate: Star Score 9.0-9.4
• 3rd prize certificate: Star Score 8.5-8.9
• All non-prize winners in this round will receive a Finalist certificate. - The top 4 scorers in each group will advance to the Grand Final, if their Final Round Star Score is 8.5 or above.
- Star Scores from all judges are published to the public.
GRAND FINAL Round
- Grand Finalists will not be given a Star Score, but will instead be ranked by the three judges who watch each performance live. All of the judges' votes will be published along with the results for complete transparency. Last year's voting can be seen here as an example.
- Click here for a complete list of cash prizes for the Grand Finalists.
- We only partner with reputable sponsors, and have obtained written agreements from those who generously donate prizes and scholarships to our winners. However, we are NOT responsible or liable for any breach of agreement by our partners and their actions after the competition, which include, but not limited to, unfulfilled scholarships and awards, extended delays, and fraud.
ADDITIONAL ruLES
- Only ONE entry per contestant is allowed. Contestants cannot apply for both Amateur and Professional Divisions simultaneously.
- Contestants should be dressed semi-formal or formal for all rounds.
- The judges’ decisions are final. There will be no changes to the results after the announcements are made.
- Should a contestant/teacher/parent violate any of the rules and regulations, and/or shows inappropriate behavior towards judges, the competition organizing committee reserves the right to disqualify the contestant and the application fee will not be refunded.
- We reserve the right to record performances in all rounds and use all video submissions for marketing purposes. No fee will be paid to the participants.
- We reserve the right to the interpretation of the Rules and Regulations.
- We reserve the right to cancel an age group should there be insufficient number of applicants. If this happens, application fees will be refunded.
