The Princeton Festival Piano Competition

The Princeton Festival invites young musicians, ages 6 to 24, to enter its piano competition this 2010 season.

Print application form and regulations.

CONTENTS
       1. Eligibility
       2. Repertoire
       3. Prizes & awards
       4. General information
       5. Application procedure
       6. Rules & regulations

ELIGIBILITY

1. The 2010 Princeton Festival Piano Competition is open to pianists of any nationality residing in the states of New Jersey, New York & Pennsylvania.
   
   
2. Admission to the Competition will be granted if the private teacher presents the student.
   
   
3. Pianists must enter their appropriate age category.
   
   
4. Any pianist under the age of 25 by June 24, 2010 may enter the open category.
   
   
5. Contestants who are students or relatives of the adjudicators are not eligible for the competition.

REPERTOIRE

Contestants must play one piece selected from the test pieces specified for their respective age category.

PRIZES & AWARDS

SPECIAL AWARD:
The Richard L. Tang Yuk Award will be presented to the Most Outstanding Performer in the competition. It is awarded by the adjudicators to a winner of a category, and carries no cash prize.

GENERAL INFORMATION & RULES

1. The 2010 Princeton Festival Piano Competition preliminaries will be held on Saturday June 12th, 2010, with the finals on the evening of Thursday June 24th, 2010. Three performers in each category will advance to the final round.
   
   
2. In the event that there are too few applicants in a particular age group, the adjudicators may advance those applicants directly to the finals.
   
   
3. The preliminary round on Saturday June 12, 2010 will take place at Clark Music Building at the Lawrenceville School, Route 206 Lawrenceville, NJ. The finals will take place at Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall at Princeton University in Princeton, NJ.
   
   
4. The adjudicators may provide a few general oral comments after the preliminary round of each  age category, before the finalists for that category are announced.
   
   
5. Written comments from the adjudicators will be mailed to all contestants’ teachers following the preliminary round of the Competition.
   
   
6. Age categories (age is considered as of June 24th, 2010):
   
           Elementary Artists Ages 6-9
           Intermediate Artists Ages 10-12
           Junior Artists Ages 13-15
           Senior Artists Ages 16-18
           Open class: Artists under the age of 25
   
   
7. The competition will be judged by two professional pianists/teachers appointed by the Artistic Director of The Princeton Festival. The identity of the adjudicators will not be revealed to the applicants prior to the competition.
   
   
8. The piano used for the competition is a Steinway, model B for the preliminaries, and a model D for the finals.
   
   
9. No practice/warm up rooms are available for the competition.
   
   
10. Practice on the piano used for the competition is not possible, as it is impractical to provide equal practice time to all contestants on the instrument. However, on the day of the finals, if requested, contestants will be scheduled for a strict period of 5 minutes to get a feel for the instrument prior to the start of the final round of the competition.
    
    
11. By applying to the competition, performers, teachers and parents understand that the student must be available to perform at a specified time on Saturday, June 12th for the preliminary round and finalists must be available from 6 pm on the evening of Thursday, June 24th, Scheduling of specific time slots will take place after the deadline for applications, May 17, 2010.
    
    
12. Contestants must not have any other commitments on these dates.
    
    
13. All contestants must give credit for all awards/prizes won at The Princeton Festival Piano Competition in all future publicity.
    
    
14. The competition reserves the right, without payment of fees, to record and distribute recordings for media and other purposes, including via the Internet, and to televise, broadcast, film, record, videotape, photograph or live stream all stages of the competition.
    
    
15. The Competition reserves the right to make necessary changes as circumstances dictate.
    
    
16. Contestants are financially responsible for their travel to and from Princeton, New Jersey.
    
    
17. Housing is not provided.
    
    
18. By applying to the competition, performers agree to abide by all the rules and regulations of The Princeton Festival Piano Competition.
    
    
19. All rounds of the Competition will be open to the public.
    
    
20. Questions on any aspect of the competition may be submitted by e-mail to pianocompetition@princetonfestival.org.
    
    We strongly encourage questions to be submitted by the teachers only.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

1. The Festival will begin accepting applications from November 1st, 2009.
   Teachers should indicate an intent to apply and to which categories, by sending an e-mail to pianocompetition@princetonfestival.org.
   
   
2. The Application Form may be downloaded online at www.princetonfestival.org.
   
   
3. The deadline for applications is a postmarked date of May 17, 2010. No late applications will be considered.
   
   
4. Acknowledgement of the application will be sent to the teacher by email, please be sure we have a current e-mail address. If you do not hear from us within five working days, contact us immediately by phone at (609) 537-0071.
   
   
5. In the event of an overwhelming number of applicants to the competition, The Princeton Festival reserves the right to limit the total number of applicants to a number that can be reasonably accommodated at the preliminaries on June 12th, 2010. Therefore we strongly encourage teachers to apply early.
   
   
6. A completed application form and the required supporting materials should be mailed to:
   
             The Princeton Festival Piano Competition
             P.O. Box 2063
             Princeton, NJ 08543
   
   
7. Supporting materials:
   - Proof of age (photocopy of birth certificate or passport or driver’s license - DO NOT SEND ORIGINALS)
   - A non-refundable application fee of $30 (for each category entered) made payable to: The Princeton Festival
   - Biography of the performer (not more than 1 page)
   
   The required supporting materials, application form and fee payment must be postmarked by May 17, 2010.

ADDITIONAL RULES & REGULATIONS

1. Entry fee of $30 (for each category entered) payable to The Princeton Festival is non-refundable even if the contestant withdraws from the competition.
   
   
2. Proof of the contestant’s age is required as outlined above under application procedure. For this competition ‘age’ is defined as age on the day of the finals June 24th, 2010.
   
   
3. Once an application is submitted, students, teachers, and parents agree to abide by the rules and regulations as stated on our website and in this document. Failure to comply will result in disqualification.
   
   
4. In the event of an overwhelming number of applicants, The Princeton Festival reserves the right to limit the number of applicants in a particular category as necessary. Teachers are therefore encouraged to apply early.
   
   
5. Once a contestant has been scheduled, no changes in the date and time will be made.
   
   
6. Contestants, teachers and parents understand that by applying to the competition, they are making a commitment to be available to perform at the preliminaries on Saturday, June 12th, and at the finals (if selected), on the evening of Thursday June 24th. Depending on the number of applicants to the competition, the preliminary round may take all day, therefore applicants must keep the entire date open until you receive your scheduled time.
   
   
7. An official of the Princeton Festival will set all schedules.
   
   
8. Contestants may not choose their performance time slot. Contestants may not swap times with other performers.
   
   
9. Late arrivals cannot be accommodated.
   
   
10. Contestants in the open class (under age 25) must specify what piece they will be playing no later than two weeks prior to the preliminaries. The application without the choice of piece may be received before the deadline. No repertoire changes will be permitted once the choice is submitted.
    
    
11. Contestants of all age categories other than the open class need not specify which piece they will play until the day of the competition preliminaries.
    
    
12. Applications must be postmarked by May 17, 2010. Late applications will not be considered.
    
    
13. No repertoire changes are allowed. Each competitor must prepare one piece from the list provided in each category.
    
    
14. The test piece must be performed from memory and in its entirety.
    
    
15. Contestants, teachers, parents and relatives may not reveal the name of the teachers to the Adjudication Panel until after winners are announced at the finals on June 24th, 2010. Failure to comply with this may result in disqualification.
    
    
16. The adjudicators will only know the contestants by a randomly selected number until the results of the finals are announced.
    
    
17. Contestants, their teachers, parents and relatives are not permitted to have any contact with the adjudicators by any means until after the end of the finals on June 24th, 2010.
    
    
18. The adjudicators reserve the right to declare no winner in any category, as they deem appropriate.
    
    
19. The adjudicators’ decisions are final and may not be challenged.
    
    
20. Applicants will be disqualified at any phase of the competition when non-compliance with any part of the rules and regulations occurs or is discovered.
    
    
21. Questions regarding any aspect of the competition should be addressed to pianocompetition@princetonfestival.org and should be posed by the teacher.