Competition of Junior Composers of the Center for Organizing the Conservatory Graduates’ Training and Careers

1. General Provisions

1.1. The full official name of the competition is The International Competition of Junior Composers of Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory’s Center for Organizing Its Graduates’ Practical Training and Careers (hereinafter to be referred to as “the COGPTC Competition”).

1.2. The COGPTC Competition was established in 2015 (briefly named “the Competition of the Educational Center for Curriculum and Training Studies” up until the year 2021) by the Composition Faculty’s Department of Composing, renamed as the Composition Department of the Faculty of Musicology and Composition since 2023 (hereinafter to be referred to as “the CD FMC”), and by the Educational Center for Curriculum and Training Studies, renamed as Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory’s Center for Organizing Its Graduates’ Practical Training and Careers since 2023 (hereinafter to be respectively referred to as “the Conservatory” and/or “the COGPTC”).

1.3. The COGPTC Competition is held 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 COGPTC Competition with a specific number.

1.4.1. The COGPTC Competition is held for the following three age groups:

• (1) Group One  — not younger than seven but younger than ten years old;
• (2) Group Two — not younger than ten but younger than fourteen years old;
• (3) Group Three — not younger than fourteen but younger than eighteen years old.

1.4.2. Henceforth the terms “junior,” “applicant,” “participant” and “laureate” relate exclusively to sub-adult applicants, participants and laureates of the COGPTC Competition according to Russia’s legislation.

2. Prizes of the COGPTC Competition

2.1. The Working Group for organizing and holding the COGPTC Competition (hereinafter to be referred to as “the Working Group”: see clause 8.1) is to announce:

• 2.1.1. nine monetary prizes — three per each age group;
• 2.1.2. three non-monetary diplomas — one per each age group;
• 2.1.3. one personal prize from Prof. Alexander Chaykovsky for all age groups (hereinafter to be referred to as “Alexander Chaykovsky’s Prize”).

2.2. 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 COGPTC Competition with a specific number.

2.3. Upon the Working Group’s consent, public organizations, foundations, mass media and/or individuals may establish any additional prizes, awards and/or gifts for the competing composers. Decisions to award any special prizes and/or gifts will be made by the Jury Team of the COGPTC Competition (hereinafter to be referred to as “the Jury Team”).

2.4. The prize awarded to each laureate of the COGPTC Competition will be paid to the bank account of his/her parent or any other legal representative (hereinafter to be generically referred to as “the Parent”) in rubles, tax deducted under Russia’s legislation.

3. The Jury Team of the COGPTC Competition

3.1.1. Members of the Jury Team are to be appointed by the Working Group. The Jury Team includes teachers of the CD FMC, as well as the Conservatory students who have passed their official practice term at the COGPTC and shown their high professional level as practicing teachers.
3.1.2. The list of members of the Jury Team is to be specified and published on the Conservatory’s official website in advance: see the webpage of the respective year’s COGPTC Competition with a specific number.

3.2. Members of the Jury Team:

• 3.2.1. approve the list of participants of Round Two upon results of analyzing the scores of their competing pieces that their Parents have submitted to the Working Group (hereinafter to be referred to as “the Pieces”: see clause 5.2);
• 3.2.2. award the prizes and/or diploma in each age group upon the results of listening to the Pieces in Round Two (see clause 2.1);
• 3.2.3. provide no comments and/or advice of any kind to any participants of the COGPTC Competition in the course of either preparing or holding it;
• 3.2.4. perform their duties exclusively free of any charge.

3.3. No member of the Jury Team, including the chairperson, may undertake any direct or indirect actions aiming to disclose the authorship of any Piece (see clauses 5.2.1, 5.6 and 5.8).

3.4. 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 COGPTC Competition with a specific number.

3.5. The Jury Team may, at their own discretion:

• 3.5.1. award not all of the prizes and/or not to award the diploma in any of the age groups;
• 3.5.2. divide the amounts of any prizes, except for Alexander Chaykovsky’s Prize, between several laureates within the limits of the established prize fund;
• 3.5.3. share the monetary part of non-awarded prizes between the laureates of any other prizes within the limits of the established prize fund;
• 3.5.4. award any other special prizes (see clause 2.3).

3.6. The Jury Team are to evaluate each Piece according to the following criteria:

• (1) compliance of each submitted Piece with the requirements of the respective year’s COGPTC Competition (also see clauses 4.4, 4.5 and 5.2);
• (2) the level of composition skills in correspondence with the competitor’s age;
• (3) the composer’s ability to express his/her original creative idea with adequate musical means;
• (4) the composer’s ability to write a brief, competent and comprehensible summary for each submitted Piece.

3.7. All decisions of the Jury Team are final and irrevocable.

3.8. No member of the Jury Team, including the chairperson, may vote for any competing composers who officially have been or were his/her students during the three years immediately preceding the respective year’s COGPTC Competition. Should such a case take place, the respective member of the Jury Team must notify the Working Group thereon in writing prior to the beginning of the Jury’s work.

4. Procedure for Holding the COGPTC Competition

4.1. Junior composers who are not younger than seven but younger than eighteen years old as of the first day of the respective year’s COGPTC Competition may take part in it.

4.2. No First-prize laureates of COGPTC Competition No. Z may participate in COGPTC Competition No. Z+1, regardless of the age group in which the First Prize was awarded (see clauses 1.3 and 1.4).

4.3. The COGPTC Competition consists of two rounds.

• 4.3.1. Round One is an eliminating contest of the submitted Pieces (see clause 5.2).
• 4.3.2. The Jury Team will admit a maximum of four competitors in each age group to participate in Round Two. The auditions of Round Two are held in the form of a concert whose time and venue are to be set by the Working Group and then published on the Conservatory’s official website in advance: see the webpage of the respective year’s COGPTC Competition with a specific number.

4.4. No Pieces earlier published, publicly performed or awarded with any prizes at any other competitions of junior composers may participate in the COGPTC Competition.

4.5. The total duration of all the Pieces to be submitted for the COGPTC Competition has to be:

• 4.5.1. for Group One — not shorter than three but not longer than five minutes;
• 4.5.2. for Group Two — not shorter than five but not longer than ten minutes;
• 4.5.3. for Group Three — not shorter than ten but not longer than fifteen minutes.

4.6.1. Every Parent must organize decent-quality performances of all Pieces admitted to participate in Round Two. Such performances have to be done individually at such a Parent’s own expense at the time and venue to be published on the webpage of the respective year’s COGPTC Competition with a specific number.
4.6.2. In the event it is impossible to organize decent-quality performances of all the Pieces, such a competitor’s Parent is obligated to submit to the Working Group, in advance, decent-quality video recordings of the performances of all the Pieces as MP4 files for their public demonstration at the time and venue to be announced by the Working Group.

5. Procedure for Submitting the Application, the Documents and the Pieces

5.1. In order to participate in the COGPTC Competition, the following documents have to be scanned and forwarded to the Working Group’s official e-mail address (see clause 8.1.1):

• 5.1.1. a personal application form filled out and signed by the applicant’s Parent (hereinafter to be referred to as “the Application”) — see the link on the webpage of the respective year’s COGPTC Competition with a specific number;
• 5.1.2. a consent for processing the applicant’s personal data with his/her Parent’s personal signature (hereinafter to be referred to as “the Consent”) — see the link on the webpage of the respective year’s COGPTC Competition with a specific number;
• 5.1.3. either the front page of the applicant’s passport with the holder’s photo and signature, or his/her birth certificate (if he/she has no passport yet);
• 5.1.4. the applicant’s artistic photo taken by his/her Parent against a neutral background with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi;
• 5.1.5. a receipt on the payment by the Parent of a registration fee for the applicant’s participation in the COGPTC Competition (hereinafter to be respectively referred to as “the Receipt” and/or “the Fee”: see clause 6.1).

5.2.1. Also, in order to participate in the COGPTC Competition, every applicant must submit:

• (1) the scores of all Pieces to be signed by the applicant’s identifying password only (hereinafter to be referred to as “the Password”), with no name on them, as PDF files, provided that the name of each graphic file has to contain only the Password and the Arabic number at the end, correspondingly to each particular Piece;
• (2) the audio recordings of all Pieces as MP3 files, provided that the name of each audio file has to contain only the Password and the Arabic number at the end, correspondingly to each particular Piece;
• (3) brief summaries for all Pieces to be signed by the Password only, with no name on them, as DOC or DOCX files, provided that the name of each text file has to contain only the Password and the Arabic number at the end, correspondingly to each particular Piece.

5.2.2. The requirements to the list of instruments for each Piece are to be specified by the Working Group and then published on the Conservatory’s official website in advance: see the webpage of the respective year’s COGPTC Competition with a specific number.

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

5.4. The deadline for submitting the composers’ Applications, documents and Pieces, together with their Parents’ documents and Receipts, to the Working Group’s official e-mail address is to be specified and published on the Conservatory’s official website in advance: see the webpage of the respective year’s COGPTC Competition with a specific number.

5.5. The fact of forwarding the Application and the Consent, both signed and scanned by the Parent, to the Working Group’s official e-mail address (see clauses 5.1.1 and 5.1.2) means both the applicant’s and his/her Parent’s unconditional consent with all the terms of these Regulations and their Annex.

5.6. Neither any music and/or audio material containing any personal information about the applicant and/or his/her Parent may be allowed to participate in the COGPTC Competition.

5.7. The Working Group may reject any Applications, documents and/or Pieces that do not meet any of the above-mentioned requirements.

5.8. An anonymous list of the competitors’ Passwords admitted to participate in Round Two is to be published on the Conservatory’s official website in advance: see the webpage of the respective year’s COGPTC Competition with a specific number.

6. Financial Terms

6.1. The Fee is to be paid by the applicant’s Parent in Russian rubles and is not to be returned.

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 COGPTC Competition with a specific number.

6.3. The Fee has to be timely transferred to the Conservatory’s bank account: see the COGPTC Competition webpage in Russian for details.

6.4. All transportation and other expenses directly or indirectly related to a junior composer’s participation in the COGPTC Competition have to be paid by his/her Parent.

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 the concert of the COGPTC Competition.

7.2. Neither the laureates of the COGPTC Competition nor their Parents receive any copyright for any usage by the Conservatory of audio- and/or video-recording, as well as of any TV and/or online broadcasts, of any public performances of the Pieces (see clause 4.3.2).

7.3. These Regulations are published on the webpage of the International Competition of Junior Composers of Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory’s Center for Organizing Its Graduates’ Practical Training and Careers, located on the Conservatory’s official website, both in Russian and in English. All the clauses that concern the holding of each COGPTC Competition in the respective year are published on the webpage of the respective year’s COGPTC 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 Working Group of the COGPTC Competition consists of the employees of the Conservatory’s COGPTC who will be appointed specifically for the purpose of organizing and holding this Competition.

• 8.1.1. The Working Group’s official e-mail address: artmosconsv@gmail.com.
• 8.1.2. The Working Group’s official phone number: +7 (495) 629 1179.

8.2. The Department for Festivals, Competitions and Special Events of Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory’s Center for Coordinating Artistic Projects (hereinafter to be referred to as “the Competition Department”) undertakes general control over the course of the COGPTC Competition and coordinates all the matters with regard to the holding of the event.

• 8.2.1. The Competition Department’s official phone number: +7 (495) 055 5519.
• 8.2.2. The official mutual mailing address of both the Working Group and the Competition Department: 13 Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street, Moscow, 125009, Russia.