Moscow State Conservatory’s International Competition of Performers on Wind and Percussion Instruments

1. General Provisions

1.1. The full official name of the competition is Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory’s International Competition of Performers on Wind and Percussion Instruments (hereinafter to be referred to as “the Wind/Percussion Competition,” abbreviated as “the WPC”).

1.2. The WPC was established in 2009 by Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory (hereinafter to be referred to as “the Conservatory”).

1.3. The WPC is held every autumn. The dates of the respective year’s Competition are to be specified and published on the Conservatory’s official website in advance: see the webpage of the respective year’s WPC with a specific number.

1.4.1. Every WPC is held for two categories out of ten, cyclically rotating as follows:

• (1) the WPC whose number ends with either 1 or 6 — Bassoon & Tenor trombone;
• (2) the WPC whose number ends with either 2 or 7 — Oboe & French horn;
• (3) the WPC whose number ends with either 3 or 8 — Clarinet & Trumpet;
• (4) the WPC whose number ends with either 4 or 9 — Flute & Tuba;
• (5) the WPC whose number ends with either 5 or 0 — Percussion Instruments & Woodwind Quintet.

1.4.2. Every pair of the competing categories is to be specified and published on the Conservatory’s official website in advance: see the webpage of the respective year’s WPC with a specific number.

1.5. The competition program is to be specified separately for each round in both categories of the respective year and published on the Conservatory’s official website in advance: see the webpage of the respective year’s WPC with a specific number.

2. Prizes of the Wind/Percussion Competition

2.1. The Organizing Committee of the WPC (hereinafter to be referred to as “the Organizing Committee”: see clause 8.1) is to announce six monetary prizes for the laureates, three per each category. The amounts of all prizes are to be specified and published on the Conservatory’s official website in advance: see the webpage of the respective year’s WPC with a specific number.

2.2.1. The amount of each prize awarded in the category Woodwind Quintet to an entire winning group is to be paid jointly to one of its musicians in the year of the WPC whose number ends with either 5 or 0.
2.2.2. The amounts of all prizes in the remaining nine categories are to be paid personally to each winning soloist of the respective year (see clause 1.4.1).

2.3. Upon the Organizing Committee’s consent, public organizations, foundations, mass media and/or individuals may establish any additional prizes, awards and/or gifts for the competitors. Decisions to award any special prizes and/or gifts will be made by the Jury Teams of the WPC (hereinafter to be referred to as “the Jury Teams”).

2.4. All the prizes will be paid to the winning soloists and woodwind quintets in rubles, tax deducted under Russia’s legislation.

3. The Jury Teams of the Wind/Percussion Competition

3.1. The Organizing Committee is to appoint two Jury Teams who are to award the prizes separately in each category of the respective year’s WPC. The lists of members of both Jury Teams are to be published on the Conservatory’s official website in advance: see the webpage of the respective year’s WPC with a specific number.

3.2. The results of each round are to be announced publicly as soon as it ends (separately for each category) and published on the Conservatory’s official website: see the webpage of the respective year’s WPC with a specific number.

3.3. Both Jury Teams may, at their own discretion:

• 3.3.1. award not all of the prizes;
• 3.3.2. divide the amounts of any prizes, except for the First one, between several laureates within the limits of the established prize fund;
• 3.3.3. share the monetary part of non-awarded prizes between the laureates of any other prizes within the limits of the established prize fund;
• 3.3.4. award any other special prizes (see clause 2.3).

3.4. All decisions of both Jury Teams are final and irrevocable.

3.5. Upon a decision of either Jury Team, any competitor’s performance in any round may be shortened or stopped.

3.6. No member of either Jury Team, including both chairpersons, may vote for any competitors who officially have been/were his/her students during the five years immediately preceding the respective year’s WPC. Should such a case take place, the respective member of the Jury Team must notify the Organizing Committee thereon in writing prior to the beginning of the auditions.

4. Procedure for Holding the Wind/Percussion Competition

4.1. Students of specialized institutions of music education, as well as professional musicians, who are not younger than 16 but younger than 33 years as of the first day of the respective year’s WPC, may take part in it.

4.2.1. The First-prize laureate of WPC No. Z may not participate in WPC No. Z+5 in the same category (see clause 1.4.1).
4.2.2. No teacher of the applying woodwind quintet may participate in the WPC whose number ends with either 5 or 0 as one of this quintet’s musicians.
4.2.3. No musician of any woodwind quintet who has applied for participation in the WPC whose number ends with either 5 or 0, may apply for participation in the same year’s WPC with the same number as the musician
of any other quintet.

4.3. The WPC consists of three rounds. All the rounds are held publicly.

4.4.1. Each competitor must personally attend the organizational meeting at the Conservatory (hereinafter
to be referred to as “the Initial Meeting”). Information about the time and venue of the Initial Meeting is to be published on the Conservatory’s official website in advance: see the webpage of the respective year’s WPC with a specific number.
4.4.2. The drawing of lots is to be held during the Initial Meeting in order to establish the unified sequence of the competitors’ performances (separately for each category).

4.5. The sequence of the performances in all the rounds is to be determined upon results of the drawing of lots for each category and remains unchanged until the end of the respective year’s WPC, omitting the withdrawn competitors’ counting numbers.

4.6. Each competitor determines the sequence of performing the pieces on his/her program in all the rounds himself/herself.

4.7. In the event an orchestral piece is announced on the program of Round Three, each finalist of the WPC is to be granted one rehearsal with the orchestra.

4.8. At the end of the WPC, an award ceremony and a concert of the laureates (hereinafter to be referred to
as “the Final Concert”) will be held. The time and venue of the Final Concert are to be set by the Organizing Committee and published on the Conservatory’s official website in advance: see the webpage of the respective year’s WPC with a specific number.

4.9. The laureates must perform at the Final Concert with no remuneration. In case of refusal to participate
in the Final Concert with no valid reason, the awarded prize will not be paid.

5. Submission of the Application and the Documents

5.1. The list of documents for those who wish to participate in the category Woodwind Quintet is published
in clause 5.2 below. In order to participate in any of the other nine categories (see clause 1.4.1), the applicant must:

• 5.1.1. fill out his/her personal online application form (hereinafter to be referred to as “the Application”; see the link on the webpage of the respective year’s WPC with a specific number) and insert the following documents into its respective fields:
• 5.1.2. the front page of the applicant’s passport or other identifying document (with the holder’s photo and signature) — as a PDF file;
• 5.1.3. the applicant’s artistic photo taken against a neutral background with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi — as a JPG file;
• 5.1.4. the applicant’s certificate of music education or certificate from his/her educational institution
  (if a student), either in Russian or in English, — as a PDF file;
• 5.1.5. the applicant’s brief artistic portfolio, including information about his/her place of study/work, the year of study at the time of the respective year’s WPC (if a student), his/her teachers, participation in any other competitions of solo performers (including the year, venue and award), as well as any other information that the applicant considers essential for the Organizing Committee, — as a DOC/DOCX file.

5.2. In order to participate in the category Woodwind Quintet, the applicants must:

• 5.2.1. fill out five personal online application forms, one from each musician of each applying quintet (see the link on the webpage of the WPC whose number ends with either 5 or 0) and insert the following documents into its respective fields:
• 5.2.2. the front pages of the five applicants’ passports or other identifying documents (with each holder’s photo and signature) — as PDF files;
• 5.2.3. one collective artistic photo of the applying quintet taken against a neutral background with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi — as a JPG file;
• 5.2.4. the five applicants’ certificates of everyone’s music education and/or certificates from their respective educational institutions, either in Russian or in English, — as PDF files;
• 5.2.5. a brief artistic portfolio of the applying quintet (DOC or DOCX only), including information about the group’s teachers, participation in any other competitions of woodwind ensembles (including the year, venue and award), as well as any other information that the applying quintet’s musicians consider essential for the Organizing Committee, — as a DOC/DOCX file.

5.3. In addition, every applicant for the Category Flute must submit the video recording of his/her performance of the program of Round One in the form of a valid link to one of the following three “cloud” services: google.com, mail.ru, or yandex.ru (hereinafter to be referred to as “the Video Recording”). The obligatory technical requirements are as follows:

• (1) the video recording has to be made with a still camera as a single frame: no editing is allowed;
• (2) the link must open one and the only video file of high density;
• (3) only the AVI, MOV, WMV, or MP4 file formats are admitted;
• (4) the video file may not be downloaded on any streaming video hosting (e.g. youtube.com, hulu.com, vimeo.com and the like).

5.4. Every applicant who is a citizen of Russia must submit three additional documents: see the WPC webpage in Russian.

5.5. The deadline for submitting the Video Recording (for the Category Flute) the Applications and the documents is to be specified and published on the Conservatory’s official website in advance: see the webpage of the respective year’s WPC with a specific number.

5.6. The fact of forwarding the Application to the Organizing Committee (see clause 5.1.1 or 5.2.1) means
the applicants’ unconditional consent with all the clauses of these Regulations and their Annex.

5.7. The Organizing Committee may reject any Video Recordings (for the Category Flute), Applications and/or documents that do not meet any of the above-mentioned requirements.

6. Financial Terms

6.1. A registration fee for participation in the WPC (hereinafter to be referred to as “the Fee”) is to be paid after the Initial Meeting by the Organizing Committee’s instruction in any of the following four currencies, optionally: (1) Russian rubles; (2) Chinese yuans; (3) US dollars; (4) euros.

6.2. The amount of the Fee is to be updated and published on the Conservatory’s official website in advance: see the webpage of the respective year’s WPC with a specific number. The Organizing Committee assumes that the amount of the Fee is to be economically equivalent in all the four currencies; however, the team reserves the right to adjust it selectively, considering any current fluctuations of the respective exchange rates to be officially established by the Bank of Russia.

6.3. All transportation and other expenses directly or indirectly related to participation in the WPC have to be paid either by the competitors themselves or by their sponsoring organizations.

7. Special Provisions

7.1. The Conservatory is one and the only owner of an exclusive copyright for audio- and/or video-recording,
as well as for any TV and/or online broadcasts, of all the rounds and the Final Concert.

7.2. The competitors receive no remuneration for their performances during the rounds; nor are they paid any copyright for any usage of audio- and/or video-recording, as well as of any TV and/or online broadcasts, of any of their performances by the Conservatory.

7.3. These Regulations are published on the webpage of the Conservatory’s International Competition of Performers on Wind and Percussion Instruments located on the Conservatory’s official website, both in Russian and in English. All the clauses that concern the holding of each WPC in the respective year are published on the webpage of the respective year’s WPC with a specific number, both in Russian and in English.

7.4. Should any dispute or disagreement arise in the interpretation of any of the terms of these Regulations and/or their Annex, the versions published in Russian shall prevail.

8. Contact Information

8.1. The WPC’s Organizing Committee is the Department for Festivals, Competitions and Special Events
of Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory’s Center for Coordinating Artistic Projects.

• 8.1.1. Official telephone number: +7 (495) 055 5519.
• 8.1.2. Official e-mail address: artmosconsv@gmail.com
• 8.1.3. Official mailing address: 13 Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street, Moscow, 125009, Russia.