Competition ‘Pianovoce’ for Vocal and Piano Duos

1. General Provisions

1.1. The full official name of the competition is Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory’s International Pianovoce Competition of Vocal and Piano Duos (hereinafter to be referred to as “the Pianovoce Competition”).

1.2. The Pianovoce Competition was established in 2011 by Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory (hereinafter to be referred to as “the Conservatory”).

1.3. The Pianovoce Competition is held no more often than every two years. 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 Pianovoce Competition with a specific number.

2. Prizes of the Pianovoce Competition

2.1. The Organizing Committee of the Pianovoce Competition (hereinafter to be referred to as “the Organizing Committee”: see Сlause 8.1) is to announce three monetary prizes for the laureates and two monetary prizes for the diploma winners. 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 Pianovoce Competition with
a specific number.

2.2. The whole amount of every winning duo’s prize is to be paid jointly to one of its musicians.

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 competing duos. Decisions to award any special prizes and/or gifts will be made by the Jury Team of Rounds Two and Three (see Сlause 3.1.2).

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

3. The Jury Teams of the Pianovoce Competition

3.1. The Organizing Committee is to appoint two teams of the Pianovoce Competition Jury (hereinafter to be referred to as “the Jury Teams”):

• 3.1.1. the Jury Team of Round One are to approve the list of participants of Round Two upon results
  of watching their video-recorded performances (hereinafter to be referred to as “the Video Recording”:
  see Сlauses 5.2 and 9.5);
• 3.1.2. the Jury Team of Rounds Two and Three are to award the prizes upon results of listening to the competing duos’ public performances.

3.2. 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 Pianovoce Competition with a specific number.

3.3. The results of each round are to be announced publicly as soon as it ends and then published on the Conservatory’s official website: see the webpage of the respective year’s Pianovoce Competition with a specific number.

3.4. The Jury Team of Rounds Two and Three may, at their own discretion:

• 3.4.1. award not all of the prizes and/or diplomas;
• 3.4.2. divide the amounts of any prizes and/or diplomas between several winning duos within the limits of the established prize fund;
• 3.4.3. share the monetary part of non-awarded prizes and/or diplomas between the duos that win any other prizes, within the limits of the established prize fund;
• 3.4.4. award any other special prizes (see Сlause 2.3).

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

3.6. Upon a decision of the Jury Team of Rounds Two and Three, any competing duo’s performance may be shortened or stopped.

3.7. No member of the Jury Team of Rounds Two and Three, including the chairperson, may vote for any competing duos whose musicians officially have been/were his/her students during the three years immediately preceding the respective year’s Pianovoce Competition. 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 Pianovoce Competition

4.1. Students of specialized institutions of music education, as well as professional musicians, may take part
in the Pianovoce Competition if their ages as of the first day of the respective year’s auditions are:

• 4.1.1. for the pianists — not less than 16 but less than 33 years;
• 4.1.2. for the singers — not less than 18 but less than 37 years.

4.2.1. The duo that won the First prize at Pianovoce Competition No. Z may not participate in Pianovoce Competition No. Z+1 if both musicians of this duo are the same (see Сlause 1.3).
4.2.2. No teacher of the applying duo may participate in the Pianovoce Competition as either a pianist or
a singer of this duo.
4.2.3. No musician of any duo who has applied for participation in the respective year’s Pianovoce Competition with a specific number may apply for participation in the same year’s Pianovoce Competition with the same number as the musician of any other duo.

4.3. The number of the duos to be admitted to participate in the Pianovoce Competition are as follows:

• 4.3.1. a maximum of twenty duos for Round Two;
• 4.3.2. a maximum of six duos for Round Three.

4.4.1. The musicians of all the duos admitted to participate in Round Two of the Pianovoce Competition 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 Pianovoce Competition 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 competing duos’ performances.

4.5. The sequence of the competing duos’ performances in Rounds Two and Three is to be determined upon results of the drawing of lots and remains unchanged until the end of the respective year’s Pianovoce Competition, omitting the withdrawn duos’ counting numbers.

4.6. The musicians of each competing duo are to determine the sequence of performing the pieces on their program in Rounds Two and Three themselves.

4.7. At the end of the Pianovoce Competition, an award ceremony and a concert of its winning duos (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 Pianovoce Competition with a specific number.

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

5. Submission of the Applications, the Documents and the Video Recording

5.1. In order to participate in the Pianovoce Competition, the pianist and the singer of each applying duo 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 Pianovoce Competition with a specific number) and insert the following documents into its respective fields:
• 5.1.2. the front pages of both applicants’ passports or other identifying documents (with both holders’ photo and signature) — as PDF files;
• 5.1.3. one collective artistic photo of the applying duo taken against a neutral background with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi — as a JPG file;
• 5.1.4. both applicants’ certificates of their music education and/or certificates from their respective educational institutions (if students), either in Russian or in English, — as PDF files;
• 5.1.5. a brief artistic portfolio of the applying duo, including information about the group’s teachers, participation in any other competitions of vocal and piano duos (including the year, venue and award), as well as any other information that the applying duo’s musicians consider essential for the Organizing Committee, — as a DOC/DOCX file.

5.2. In addition, every duo applying for participation in the Pianovoce Competition must submit their Video Recording (see Сlauses 3.1.1 and 9.5) in the form of a valid link to one of the following three “cloud” services: google.com, mail.ru, or yandex.ru. 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).

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

5.4. The deadline for submitting the applications, the documents and the Video Recording is to be specified and published on the Conservatory’s official website in advance: see the webpage of the respective year’s Pianovoce Competition with a specific number.

5.5. The fact of forwarding the Applications and the Video Recording to the Organizing Committee (see Сlause 6.1.1) means both applicants’ unconditional consent with all the terms of these Regulations and their Annex.

5.6. The Organizing Committee may reject any Applications, documents and/or Video Recordings that do not meet any of the above-mentioned requirements.

6. Financial Terms

6.1. A registration fee for participation in the Pianovoce Competition (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 Pianovoce Competition 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 Pianovoce Competition have to be paid either by the competiting duos 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 International Pianovoce Competition of Vocal and Piano Duos located on the Conservatory’s official website, both in Russian and in English. All the clauses that concern the holding of each Pianovoce Competition in the respective year are published on the webpage of the respective year’s Pianovoce Competition 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 Pianovoce Competition’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.
  

9. General Requirements for the Pianovoce Competition Program

9.1. All the pieces for voice and piano have to be performed in their original languages. No piece with any translated text may be performed in any round.

9.2. Only published pieces for voice and piano, including any arrangements and transcriptions, may be performed in all three rounds.

9.3. The singer must perform his/her program in Rounds One and Two by heart only.

9.4. The program of Round One may not be repeated in Round Two.

9.5.1. Round One is an eliminating contest of the applying duos’ Video Recordings (see Сlauses 3.1.1, 5.2 and 9.5.2). Total duration of the Video Recording has to be ten minutes maximum. The applying duo’s musicians have to video-record their performance of any two pieces for voice and piano composed not earlier than the year 1801 but earlier than the year 1951 (upon their own choice):

• (1) by any Western-European author;
• (2) by any Russian author.

9.5.2. No arias may be performed in Round One.

9.6.1. Round Two is held publicly. Total duration of the Round Two program has to be thirty minutes maximum. The competing duo’s musicians have to perform any four pieces for voice and piano (upon their own choice) composed:

• (1) by a Western-European author earlier than the year 1951;
• (2) by a Russian author earlier than the year 1951;
• (3) by any author not earlier than the year 1951;
• (4) as well as an aria or another fragment from any opera (with a duration of three minutes minimum).

9.6.2. More than four pieces may be performed only if their total duration does not exceed thirty minutes.

9.7. Round Three is held publicly. Total duration of the Round Three program has to be twenty minutes minimum but thirty minutes maximum. The competing duo’s musicians have to perform (upon their own choice):

• (a) either any song cycle for voice and piano;
• (b) or any several pieces for voice and piano unified into an opus.