ALMATY INTERNATIONAL CONDUCTING COMPETITION 2019

Kazakh State Philharmonic with the High Patronage of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Kazakhstan, in cooperation with Classics Management Budapest, announces the first edition of “ALMATY INTERNATIONAL CONDUCTING COMPETITION”.

The competition is open to musicians of any nationality without age limits.
The competition will be held in Almaty from 10 until 15 September 2019.
The prizes include concerts in some of the most prestigious institutions in Europe (Opera de Nice in France, Teatro Carlo Felice in Italy, Saremo Symphony Orchestra in Italy, Plovdiv Opera in Bulgaria etc.) and Kazakhstan (Kazakh State Philharmonic in Almaty, Astana Opera in Astana) and € 10.000 as money prize.

RULES
The competition is structured in two main phases:
ELIMINATORY phase that starts March 1 st 2019 and ends on July the 30st 2019. The eliminatory phase will be performed by the examination of videos and Cvs;
LIVE STAGE that consists in a First Round, a Second Round, a Semifinal and a Final with symphony orchestra; the live stage will take place from September the 10th until September 15th in Almaty (Kazakhstan).

1. Eligibility
The competition is open to all the conductors, without nationality or age limitations.

2. Eliminatory phase
Date for sending applications: March the 1 st 2019 until July the 30th 2019;
The candidates will have to send links to two videos that will be judged by the jury.

VIDEO DETAILS
The Videos can contain pieces from any historical period, with any kind of ensemble both vocal or instrumental;
The videos must be played in streaming mode (videos don’t have to be downloaded) and each must last at least 5 minutes; at least half of the video has to be filmed with frontal view;
Videos in which the candidate conducts a piano are admissible only if there are at least two players (4 hands piano or two pianos).

LIVE STAGE
The admitted candidates will be informed by email within August 10th 2017 and the admitted candidate’s names will also be published on the website;
The live stage of the competition is structured as follows:

First Round: String Orchestra, September 10 and 11
Second Round: Symphony Orchestra, September 12
Semifinal: Symphony Orchestra, September 13
Final: Symphony Orchestra, September 14
Final concert (part of the competition): September 15

The First Round will be open to 56 competitors.
The Second Round will be open to 16 competitors.
The Semifinal will be open to 8 competitors.
The Final will be open to 4 competitors

3. Repertoire

3.1 First Round: String orchestra open to up to 56 competitors
P.I. Tchaikovsky: Serenade for strings in C major op. 48
A. Dvorak: Serenade for Strings op. 22
Each competitor will have ca 15 minutes to rehearse

3.2 Second Round: Symphony Orchestra open to 16 competitors
L. van Beethoven: Symphony n°2 (1st mov.)
L. van Beethoven: Symphony n°3 (1st mov.)
L. van Beethoven: Symphony n°5 (1st mov.)
W. A. Mozart: Symphony n°39 (1st mov.)
Each competitor will have ca 20 minutes to rehearse

3.3 Semifinal: Symphony Orchestra open to 8 competitors
J. Strauss: Overture “Die Fledermaus”
R. Wagner: Overture “Der Fliegende Hollander”
G. Verdi: Overture “La Forza del Destino”
G. Rossini: Overture “Il Barbiere di Siviglia”
Each competitor will have ca 40 minutes to rehearse

3.4 Final: Symphony Orchestra open to 4 competitors

Group A
P. I. Tchaikovsky Symphony n°5 (1st mov.)
A.Zhubanov/L.Hamidi: Kazakh Folk Dances from the Act 3 of the opera “Abai”*

Group B
P. I. Tchaikovsky Symphony n°6 (1st mov.)
A.Zhubanov/L.Hamidi: Kazakh Folk Dances from the Act 3 of the opera “Abai”*

Group C
J. Brahms Symphony n°1 (1st mov.)
A.Zhubanov/L.Hamidi: Kazakh Folk Dances from the Act 3 of the opera “Abai”*

Group D
J. Brahms Symphony n°4 (1st mov.)
A.Zhubanov/L.Hamidi: Kazakh Folk Dances from the Act 3 of the opera “Abai”*

* the score of the Dances from 2nd Act from Abay will be sent to the participants by email.

The Final is open to n°4 competitors, a group will be assigned to each and each will have about 70 minutes of rehearsal during which rehearse the pieces of the assigned group.
The next day there will be a public concert that is part of the competition, in this concert each competitor will conduct the assigned pieces.
Concert suit/dress is required.
The winner will be announced after the final concert, to the presence of the public.
The pieces will be drawn the evening before the day of the specific phase.

4. Prizes

Special prizes
1 concert with Nice Philharmonic Orchestra in Nice (France) – to be assigend within M° György Györiványi Ráth discretion;
1 concert with Carlo Felice Symphony Orchestra in Genua (Italy) – to be assigned within M° Giuseppe Acquaviva discretion;

First place:
€ 5.000,00
1 concert with Kazakh State Philharmonic in Almaty (Kazakhstan) in 2020/2021 season;
1 concert in Astana Opera Theatre (Kazakhstan) in 2020/2021 season;
1 concert in Plovdiv Opera Theatre (Bulgaria) in 2020/2021 season;
1 concert with Sanremo Symphony Orchestra in Sanremo (Italy) in 2020/2021 season;

Second place:
€ 2.500,00
1 concert with Kazakh State Philharmonic in Almaty (Kazakhstan) in 2020/2021 season;

Third place:
€ 1.500,00

Fourth place:
€ 1.000,00

To all the Semifinalists will be given an official certificate of Semifinalists.
Those who will successfully pass the eliminatory phase will receive a participation certificate.
The last stages of the competition will be open to the public and there will be representatives of International Artists Agencies.

5. Jury
The International jury will be composed by the following members:

Eliminatory Phase:
M° Vittorio Parisi (G. Verdi Conservatoire Milan);
M° Dian Tchobanov (Plovidv Opera);
M° Nurlan Zharasov, (Kazakh National Conservatory);

From the First Round
M° Alan Buribayev (President of the jury, Kazakhstan);
M° Giuseppe Acquaviva (Italy);
M° Vittorio Parisi (Italy);
M° György Györiványi Ráth (Hungary);
M° Serik Syrlybayev (Kazakhstan);
M. Dian Tchobanov (Bulgaria);

6. Registration
To get registered you must fill the application form on the website by 12:00 pm GMT July the 30st 2019.

For any information: almatycompetition@gmail.com

7. Fees
The application fee for the eliminatory phase is € 95,00 (Paypal: plus %5 fee)
The candidates admitted to the first round will be required to pay the participation fee that consists in € 200,00 that has to be paid through the same method as the registration fee within August the 15th 2019.
The payment has to be made by using the same method of the previews step. The application and the participation fee are non-refundable under any circumstance, except for the cancellation of the competition.

8. Transfers and accommodation
Transfers and accommodation are up to the participants.

9. Media rights
The candidates will by submitting their application hand over all rights of the TV and radio recordings to the Promoter, this includes all pictures taken on and off stage.
The candidates will also by submitting their application give their permission and approval to the Promoter to use the candidates’ names and pictures in press releases.

10. Final rules
The participation to the competition implies the full acceptance of the present rules. The organization reserves the right to change the rules of the competition in case of force majeure, in that case the organization will give prompt notification of any modification that may occur.