Join the 1st Piano Duo Festival Composition Competition!

Are you a composer under the age of 36, do you love playing the piano, and do you want your composition to be performed at two leading Dutch music festivals? Then participate in the 1st Pianoduo Festival Composition Competition!

The Pianoduo Festival Composition Competition (PFCC) is for young composers up to 35 years old, living in the Netherlands and studying or graduating from a conservatory. The winner is selected by an expert jury consisting of Jonás Bisquert (Gaudeamus programmer), Geoffrey Madge (pianist, specialist in contemporary repertoire), Peter-Jan Wagemans (composer) and the Scholtes & Janssens Piano Duo.

What to win

The prize package for the winning composer consists of: * premiere of the winning composition by the Pianoduo Scholtes & Janssens at the Pianoduo Festival Amsterdam 2022 * cash prize of €1500 (including costs made by the composers for travel, stay, materials etc)

Applications

Composers can send in a composition sketch of maximum 1 minute until July 30, 2022. This includes both the sheet music in PDF and a midi file. The sketch can be for either piano four hands or two pianos and must be acoustically performable. Works for prepared piano are allowed, as long as it concerns non-destructive elements; other tunings than the regular piano tuning are not allowed. So, for example, an eraser between the strings or drumsticks, but no half or quarter tones. Theatrical elements such as screaming or shouting are also allowed. Please send your application to info@pianoduofestival.nl, stating Pianoduo Festival Composition Competition.

In early August, the jury will meet to deliberate and announce which 1 or 2 composer(s) will be selected to develop their work into a complete composition of 5 to 7 minutes. You will have until October 1 at the latest to do this. The premiere will take place at the Pianoduo Festival Amsterdam 2022, which will take place from 30 November to 4 December 2022 at various locations in Amsterdam.

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