The Princeton Festival Violin Competition

The Princeton Festival invites young musicians, ages 13 to 24,
to enter its violin competition.

Click here to download and 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 Violin Competition is open to violinists of any nationality residing in the states of New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.
   
   
2. Admission to the Competition will be granted if the private teacher presents the student.
   
   
3. Violinists must enter their appropriate age category.
   
   
4. Any violinist under the age of 25 by June 16, 2010 may enter the open category and Bach class.
   
   
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.

* All pieces must be performed from memory.
* Violinists must provide their own accompanist for each round of the competition.
*The contestant's selection for the open category may not be one of the test pieces in
  another category.

PRIZES & AWARDS

GENERAL INFORMATION & RULES

1. The 2010 Princeton Festival Violin Competition preliminaries will be held on Saturday, June5, 2010, with the finals on the evening of Wednesday 16, June, 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 adjudicator may advance those applicants directly to the finals.
   
   
3. Both rounds of the competition will take place at the Clark Music Building at
   
        The Lawrenceville School
        2500 Main Street
        Route 206 N.
        Lawrenceville, NJ 08648
   (Directions to The Lawrenceville School are available at www.lawrenceville.org.)
     
4. The adjudicator 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 16th, 2010):
   
      Junior Artists Ages 13-15
      Senior Artists Ages 16-18
      Open class: Artists under the age of 25
      Bach class: Artists under the age of 25
    
7. The Competition will be judged by a professional violinist/teacher appointed by the Artistic Director of The Princeton Festival. The identity of the adjudicator will not be revealed to the applicants prior to the competition.
   
   
8. Warm up rooms will be available prior to the competition. Warm up time will be limited therefore applicants are encouraged to arrive early.
   
   
9. By applying to the Competition, performers, teachers, accompanists, and parents understand that the student must be available to perform at a specified time on June 5, 2010 for the preliminary round, and finalists must be available from 7:00pm on June 16, 2010. Scheduling of specific time slots will take place after the deadline for applications, which is a postmark of May 10, 2010.
   
   
10. Contestants must not have any other commitments on these dates.
    
    
11. Violinists must provide their own accompanist for both round of the competition.
    
    
12. All contestants must give credit for all awards/ prizes won at The Princeton Festival Violin Competition in all future publicity.
    
    
13. 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.
    
    
14. The Competition reserves the right to make necessary changes as circumstances dictate.
    
    
15. Contestants are financially responsible for their travel to and from Princeton, New Jersey.
    
    
16. Housing is not provided.
    
    
17. By applying to the competition, performers agree to abide by all the rules and regulations of The Princeton Festival Violin Competition.
    
    
18. All rounds of the Competition will be open to the public.
    
    
19. Questions on any aspect of the competition may be submitted by email to violin competition@princetonfestival.org.

    We strongly encourage questions to be submitted by the teachers only.

    
    

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

1. The Festival will begin accepting applications from February 1, 2010. Teachers should indicate an intent to apply and to which category/s, by sending an email to violincompetition@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 10, 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 email 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 5, 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 Violin Competition
           P.O. Box 2063
           Princeton, NJ 08543
     
7. Supporting materials:
   
   
   • a) Proof of age: photocopy of birth certificate or passport or driver’s license. DO NOT SEND ORIGINALS.
     
     
   • b) A non-refundable application fee of $25 (for each category entered) made payable to: The Princeton Festival
     
     
   • c) Biography of the performer (not longer that 1 page)
     
   
   The required supporting materials, application form and fee payment must be postmarked by May 10, 2010.
   

ADDITIONAL RULES & REGULATIONS

1. Entry fee of $25 (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, Wednesday, 16 June, 2010.
   
   
3. Once an application is submitted, students, teachers, accompanists, 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, accompanists, and parents understand that by applying to the Competition, there are making a commitment to be available to perform at the preliminaries on Saturday, June 5, 2010, and at the finals (if selected), on Wednesday, June 16, 2010. 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. Please ensure adequate time to find the venue and warm up for the competition.
   
   
10. Contestants in the Open class and the Bach class 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 specific age categories (other than the Open class or Bach class), need not specify which piece they will play until the day of the competition preliminaries.
    
    
12. Applications must be postmarked by May 10, 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, accompanists, parents, and relatives may not reveal the names of the teachers to the Adjudicator until after winners are announced at the finals on June 16, 2010. Failure to comply with this may result in disqualification.
    
    
16. The adjudicator will only know the contestants by a randomly selected number until the results of the finals are announced.
    
    
17. Contestants, their teachers, accompanists, 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 16, 2010.
    
    
18. The adjudicator reserves the right to declare no winner in any category, as s/he deems appropriate.
    
    
19. The adjudicator’s 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 violincompetition@princetonfestival.org and should be posed by the teacher.