Amateur Competition

Rules

Eligibility

  1. Applicants should be those who play piano for pleasure and dedication to the instrument and its repertoire. They may not perform, teach, or compose music primarily for professional pursuits or financial benefit.
  2. Applicants must be age 35 or over by June 15, 2012, in order to participate.
  3. Previous first-prize winners of the International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs™ are not eligible.

Rules

  1. All pianists must complete the application form and upload a performance video through the contest portal which can be accessed through either the Cliburn's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/vancliburnfoundation, or at Cliburn.org
  2. When uploading your video, you will be asked for a Title and Description. Please enter:
    Title: 2012 Cliburn Amateur Piano Video Contest
    Description: please list your name, occupation, nationality, and the piece(s) you are performing, including the composer, title, number, key, opus, and movements.
  3. Performance videos must be a minimum length of 5 minutes and a maximum length of 10 minutes.
  4. The video must be filmed with both the pianist's face and hands in the frame. A suggested angle is shown in the picture below:

    Rules
  5. All approved videos will be posted to the Cliburn Amateur Piano Video Contest portal and will remain there for three months following the announcement of the winner.
  6. Video content must not have been submitted to another contest or filmed more than six months prior to submission.
  7. Only one video per applicant will be accepted.

If you have trouble submitting your video, please contact Patrick Bibb, artistic planning intern, at intern@cliburn.org or 817.738.6536.

Repertoire Guidelines

Applicants may perform any work or works written for solo piano by a classical composer of any era, including contemporary music, as long as the time limits defined above are met. Pieces must be played in their entirety, although repeats may be omitted. Separate complete movements of larger works are allowed. Works need not be memorized; use of sheet music is allowed. Broadway show tunes, movie music, jazz, folk, and other forms of popular music generally will not be eligible for consideration.

For repertoire examples, please view past amateur contestant videos on the Cliburn YouTube channel.

Questions about specific repertoire choices may be submitted to Sandra Doan, director of artistic planning, at sdoan@cliburn.org.

Deadline

Videos may be posted online beginning June 15, 2012. All videos and applications must be submitted by July 31, 2012, at 11:59 CDT/GMT-6.

Voting Procedure

  1. The winner will be determined by public vote. All votes must be cast through the contest portal on the Cliburn's Facebook page or Web site. Likes, Comments, and Thumbs Up will not be considered as a vote.
  2. Individuals may vote for each video once per day.
  3. Voting will begin on August 1, 2012, and close on August 10, 2012.
  4. The winner will be announced on August 14, 2012.

Award

The winner will be awarded automatic entry into the seventh International Competition for Outstanding Amateurs, taking place in May 2015, provided eligibility for the competition is met.

Participation Agreement

  1. The Van Cliburn Foundation reserves the right to disqualify or exclude any individual from the competition for any reason whatsoever, including tampering with the audition process or violating any rules.
  2. The Cliburn reserves the right to use videos for publicity purposes and to use the names and/or likenesses of those who audition.
  3. The Cliburn reserves the right to change the rules and procedures of the Cliburn Amateur Piano Video Contest at its discretion. All dates are subject to change.