The Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition of Belgium is holding a competition from 29 April to 25 May 2019 for violinists. This competition is for violinists between 18 and 30 years of age (see Article 2) who have completed their training and who are ready to embark upon an international career.
Online application will open in November 2018.
THE CANDIDATES
ENTRY CONDITIONS
The competition is open to violinists of all nationalities, who are aged at least 18 and have not yet reached the age of 30 on 31 December 2018 (i.e. they must be born after 31 December 1988 and before 1 January 2001).
This competition is not open to laureates of a previous Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition. No candidate may take part more than twice in the public rounds of the Competition in the same discipline.
Applications
All applications must be made using the form available on the Queen Elisabeth Competition website
(www.qeimc.be). No other method of submission will be accepted.
Application forms together with their appendices must be submitted and have been formally approved by 12 noon (GMT) on 5 December 2018 at the latest. This deadline cannot be extended under any circumstances.
Candidates will be sent an e-mail confirming the formal approval of their application. No incomplete application can be formally approved.
It is the candidate’s responsibility to take all the necessary steps so that the application can be approved by the deadline and to keep a copy of the application. The Competition cannot be held responsible if an application is not received. In order to ensure that an application is formally approved on time, it is strongly recommended that it should be submitted 48 hours before the deadline for applications.
If a candidate encounters technical problems during his or her online application, the candidate must inform the secretariat of the Competition about the problem by sending an e-mail to application@qeimc.be no later than 48 hours before the applications deadline, in order to enable the application to be submitted and approved on time.
The application fee of EUR 100, payable via the same online form, will not be reimbursed under any circumstances.
Examination of applications
Applications
The applications will be examined by the Competition’s organisers. The Competition reserves the right to require candidates to provide additional further information. The videos of those candidates whose applications are not in order or who have not met the documentation requirements by 15 January 2019 will not be viewed during the preselection process and those candidates, accordingly, cannot be admitted to the competition.
Programme
The programme will be examined by an Artistic Committee specially designated for this purpose. This committee will have the right to impose changes to the programme in order to ensure that it complies with the rules and artistic requirements of the Competition. Once the deadline for applications (5 December 2018 at 12 noon GMT) has passed, no change can be made to the programme, except where required by the Artistic Committee or requested by the Competition’s organisers, as provided for in Article 23.
Acceptance
Once his or her application has been accepted by the organisers of the Competition and his or her programme has been accepted by the Artistic Committee, each candidate who has been selected in the preselection process will receive confirmation of his or her admission to the first round.
Candidates may not be rejected on any ideological, linguistic, political, religious, or racial grounds.
GENERAL CONDITIONS
By applying to take part in the Competition, candidates indicate their acceptance of these rules.
By entering the Competition, candidates agree to participate in all the rounds as well as in all ceremonies and concerts for which they will be selected by the jury or the organisers of the Competition.
Candidates shall not be required, in the framework of the Competition, to make any financial contribution other than the registration fee.
If it is established, at any time, that a candidate does not fulfil the conditions for application to the competition, that candidate will be immediately excluded from it by the Competition’s organisers. Appeal against this decision could be formed by the candidate before the Legal Committee.
Travel expenses
The 24 candidates selected for the semi-final round will be reimbursed 50% of their travelling expenses (a return journey to Brussels, subject to a maximum of EUR 500) upon presentation of documentation of their expenses. The Competition cannot reimburse the travel expenses of candidates who are residents in Belgium or who travel by car.
Accommodation
A Welcoming Committee will arrange free accommodation for the candidates who request it, subject to availability, with families in and around Brussels. These families cannot also provide accommodation for relatives or friends of the candidate. Subject to these conditions and bearing in mind these restrictions, a maximum number of candidates will be accommodated during the first round. Thereafter, only those candidates who are admitted to the semi-final and to the final will be able to continue to benefit from this assistance.
Pianists to accompany the violinists
Pianists designated by the organisers of the competition are at the disposal of the candidates. Candidates may, nonetheless, have a personal accompanist, in which case the Competition will pay the accompanist EUR 150 for taking part in the first round and EUR 250 for taking part in the semi-final. These sums include all recording fees. The pianists may also be accommodated by a host family as long as the candidate in question is still involved, until the end of the semi-final at the latest. The Competition will also reimburse 50% of the accompanist’s travel expenses (a return journey to Brussels, subject to a maximum of EUR 500) if the candidate reaches the semi-final. The Competition cannot reimburse the travel expenses of accompanists who are resident in Belgium or who travel by car. A candidate’s choice between accompaniment by a Competition pianist or by a personal pianist will be valid for all rounds of the competition. Candidates who opt for an official Competition pianist will be put in contact with the pianist in question when they arrive in Brussels. As far as possible, this pianist will accompany the candidate in all rounds. Nevertheless, for organisational reasons, a candidate may be allocated a different accompanist from one round to another. An official Competition accompanist may not accompany a candidate in a private capacity.
Broadcasting
The first round, semi-final, and final, as well as the laureates’ concerts, are recorded. Except in exceptional circumstances, they are also broadcast live and/or in pre-recorded broadcasts on radio, television, and the Internet. These recordings may be released in various formats: CD, DVD, etc.
Cession of rights
By participating in the Competition, the candidates cede to the Competition the right to record, reproduce, arrange for the reproduction of, and distribute their performances in the Competition and at the concerts on record, CD, SACD, sound track, audio cassette, video cassette, video disc, CD-ROM/CDI, DVD, minidisc, or any other existing or future medium, including in digital format, as well as the right to communicate their performances to the public by any televised or radio broadcast means, including broadcasting via the Internet, cable networks, and terrestrial or other broadcasting, live or pre-recorded, linear or on-demand, whether involving free or paid downloading or not, in Belgium or abroad. This cession of rights applies to all performances during the Competition and to the laureates’ concerts and is granted for the full duration of the protection of the rights in question, subject to the applicable laws in force at the time and in the future.
Scores
Candidates are expected to use the original scores of the works they perform. The Queen Elisabeth Competition cannot be held responsible for any fraud committed by a candidate in this regard (public use of illegal copies).
Candidates must be able to supply copies of the scores of the works performed in their programme to the Competition organisers and to their official accompanist(s), if any.
For the final, if it turns out that the orchestral material is not available in the time required for the smooth running of the competition, the Competition’s organisers may ask the candidate to perform another work from his or her repertoire.
Laureates’ concerts and recordings
The laureates are required to take part in concerts and recitals arranged by the organisation. The fee for these concerts is fixed by the Competition’s management. Some of these concerts will be organised in cooperation with the organisers of the Competition; others are agreed in advance with Belgian and foreign organisations. A list of these concerts will be given to the candidates after they have registered.
For a period of four months, beginning on the day of the announcement of the results, no laureate may give paid
public performances or agree to any recordings in Belgium without the authorisation of the Competition.
PART TWO:
TIMETABLE, THE ROUNDS OF THE COMPETITION, AND PROGRAMMES
TIMETABLE
5 December 2018 12 noon GMT
deadline for applications
25 April 2019
the candidates arrive
26 April 2019
drawing of lots
29 April > 4 May 2019
first round
6 > 11 May 2019
semi-final
20 > 25 May 2019
final
28 May 2019
awards ceremony
starting 29 May 2019
concerts given by laureates
ROUNDS AND PROGRAMMES
General provisions concerning the rounds of the competition
The public rounds of the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition are preceded by a preselection round behind closed doors, based on the viewing of the videos submitted by the candidates. The public rounds are divided into three stages:
– The purpose of the first round is to choose the 24 candidates who will be admitted to the semi-final round.
– The semi-final determines the 12 finalists.
– The purpose of the final round is to rank the top six laureates.
In the different public rounds, the candidates will perform in the order established by the drawing of lots.
All the rounds, except the preselection process, are open to the public.
Each of the candidates selected for the final will be entitled to the same amount of rehearsal time with the orchestra.
Each candidate admitted to take part in the public rounds undertakes to participate in those rounds, unless prevented from doing so by illness or accident.
All rounds, including the preselection, take place under the supervision of the ministerial official (as defined in Article 135 and following).
General remarks concerning programmes:
‐ Candidates are expected to treat each performance as a recital and should therefore put together their programme with this in mind. The jury will look at each performance as a whole.
‐ In each round all works must be performed from memory, with the exception of the sonatas for violin and piano
and the compulsory unpublished works in the semi-final and the final.
‐ A candidate may ask to perform some contemporary works using a score. The Artistic Committee has the authority to allow this. A request of this kind must be sent to application@qeimc.be by 15 March 2019 at the latest.
‐ Unless otherwise specified in these rules, repeats are left to the discretion of the candidates, but candidates
must take them into account when working out the timing of their programmes.
‐ Candidates may not include in their programme works that they themselves have composed.
‐ Once the closing date for the submission of applications (5 December 2018 12 noon GMT) has passed, the programme may not be changed, except at the request of the Artistic Committee, as provided for in Article 11, or at the request of the competition organisers, as provided for and in the situation described in Article 23.
Preselection: viewing of the videos
The purpose of the viewing of the videos is to eliminate candidates who have not attained the level required to participate in the public rounds of the competition and to reduce the number of candidates taking part in the public rounds.
An international jury appointed by the organisers of the Competition will make this selection, based on the videos submitted by the candidates.
When it comes to viewing the videos, only those of candidates whose applications are in order or have met the documentation requirements by 15 January 2019 will be considered (see Article 10).
Candidates will be informed individually of the results of the selection process by 15 March 2019 at the latest.
There is no limit on the number of candidates accepted.
Programme
‐ Candidates must upload, via the application form available on www.qeimc.be, good-quality video recordings (audio and video) of recent performances by themselves of:
a. A sonata for solo violin by J.S. Bach
b. A caprice by Paganini
c. A sonata (or sonatina) by Mozart, Beethoven, or Schubert (but not the Beethoven sonata that must
be performed in the first round).
d. A work of the candidate’s choice, with piano accompaniment. Solo works and works with orchestral
accompaniment are not accepted; concertos performed with piano accompaniment are not accepted.
The works performed in the preselection video may be included in the programme for the public rounds of the Competition (but they may not include Beethoven’s Sonata No. 8 in G major, Op. 30 No.3 – see article 49 of these rules).
For each file, the candidate must provide information on the place and date of recording. The candidate must certify its authenticity, as well as being the violinist/soloist, and must confirm that it is not subject to copyright restrictions.
Each piece must be recorded in a single audio take (no editing). It is strongly recommended that the candidate’s hands and face should be visible at all times and that the camera angle should be fixed.
It is also strongly recommended that the sound should be recorded professionally. A video whose quality, visual and/or audio, does not allow the jury to evaluate the candidate’s abilities will be rejected (see Art. 89 and following).
Drawing of lots by the candidates
Date: 26 April 2019
Venue: Flagey (Studio 1) – Brussels
The purpose of the drawing of lots is to establish the order in which candidates will perform. Candidates admitted to the first round will be assigned an individual place in the order of appearance, which will apply to the three public rounds of the Competition.
The drawing of lots will take place in the presence of the ministerial official, who will ensure that everything is done according to the rules and will record the result. At the request of the Competition’s organisers, the ministerial official will, first of all, ensure that a letter of the alphabet is drawn by lot, starting from which individual candidates
will draw in turn, by alphabetical order, to establish their order of performance.
All candidates are required to attend the drawing of lots and will be duly summoned by email. If a candidate cannot attend the draw owing to circumstances beyond his/her control, he or she must justify the absence in time (at least 48 hours before the draw); at the candidate’s express and written request, the ministerial official or a person designated by the candidate will draw lots on the candidate’s behalf. Candidates are requested to find out immediately after the draw from the Competition secretariat the date and time at which they must present themselves for their performances (and, where relevant, for rehearsals) for the first round.
Except for the situation provided for in Article 46, the order of appearance as determined by the draw may only be changed due to exceptional and unforeseeable circumstances, for which the candidate will have to provide justification. The Competition’s organisers will consider the reasons given and make a decision, which shall be final. Any alteration decided upon will only be valid for the round in question.
If a candidate wishes to obtain an exemption from the order decided on because of a professional engagement, he or she must make this request to the secretariat of the Competition and provide justification at least 48 hours before the drawing of lots. The Competition’s organisers will consider the reasons given and make a decision, which shall be final. An exemption may only be obtained for the first round. The unavailability of a candidate’s personal pianist accompanist may not be advanced as a reason for changing the order of performance.
Registration of the candidates
Candidates who are admitted to the first round will receive an individual registration document bearing the number obtained in the drawing of lots.
Each candidate must carry this document throughout the competition and present it whenever requested to do so by the Competition’s administrative services. Subject to availability, on presenting this document, he or she will be given an entry ticket for the rounds of the competition.
First round
Dates: 29 April > 4 May 2019
Venue: Flagey (Studio 4) – Brussels
Number of participants: unlimited
Accompaniment: piano
Duration of the performance: maximum 20 minutes
Programme to be prepared:
‐ A sonata for solo violin by J.S. Bach, chosen by the candidate from the sonatas in G minor, A minor, and C
major
‐ Beethoven’s Sonata No. 8 in G major, Op. 30 No.3
‐ Three caprices by Paganini
Programme to be performed:
Each candidate will play the works or excerpts from works that the jury will choose from among the works proposed.
The jury’s choice will be communicated to the candidate one hour before the performance. The candidate will choose the order in which he or she will play the different works in his or her programme.
Number of candidates admitted to the next round: 24
Semi-final
Dates: 6 >11 May 2019
Venue: Flagey (Studio 4) – Brussels
Number of participants: 24
Accompaniment: piano – Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie
Duration of the performance:
A recital lasting about 40 minutes
A concerto lasting about 25 minutes
Programme to be prepared
Recital
‐ An unpublished work (lasting about 5 minutes) written specially for this year’s competition. This work will be communicated to the candidates after the definitive acceptance of their applications.This work may not be performed in public in advance of the competition.
‐ Eugène Ysaÿe’s 3rd and 4th movements of the Sonata in G minor, Op. 27 No. 1
‐ Two coherent recital programmes, each lasting between 20 and 25 minutes. Each of these programmes must contain one sonata for violin and piano.