Rules

THE TAMPERE PIANO COMPETITION 2025  

Rules

Tampere Piano Society (Tampereen Pianoseura ry) is organising the Tampere Piano Competition, to be held in Tampere, Finland, on 5–15 May 2025. The competition is open to all Finnish citizens born between 5 May 1995 and 5 May 2010. The competition also welcomes applications from pianists born between 5 May 1995 and 5 May 2010 who will have studied in Finland for a continuous period of at least three academic years (having started no later than autumn 2022).

Timetable

  • Applications can be submitted between 16 December 2024 and 31 January 2025 at www.tampereenpianoseura.fi
  • The order of performance in the competition will be decided upon via a draw held on 22 April 2025
  • The first round will be completed at the Tampere Conservatoire on 5–9 May 2025
  • The second round will be completed at the Tampere Conservatoire on 10–11 May 2025 
  • The finals will be held at Tampere Hall on 14–15 May 2025
  • The award presentation will be held at Tampere Hall on 15 May 2025.

 

Applications

  • Applications are to be submitted between 16 December 2024 and 31 January 2025 via the link on Tampere Piano Society’s website at (www.tampereenpianoseura.fi).
  • Along with the application, the applicant needs to provide the following:
    • personal information
    • contact information
    • repertoire with durations
    • information on the applicant’s school, if they are a student
    • certificate of school registration with information on the continuous period of study, if the applicant is not a Finnish citizen
    • a link (such as YouTube or Dropbox) to a good-quality video recording. The video material must clearly show the entire person from a side view. The competition programme should include a virtuosic étude and a work composed in 1759–1828; in case of a work with multiple parts, one part with a fast tempo. The duration of the video recording must be a maximum of 15 minutes. The work can be recorded on separate video takes but they must be included in the same link.
    • A CV with a description of the applicant’s music studies and concert activities (a maximum of 800 characters).
    • a photograph of the applicant.
  • An application fee of 75 euros must be paid at the latest on 31 January 2025 to Tampere Piano Society’s bank account IBAN FI34 4726 0010 0961 91, BIC POPFFI22. Please include the applicant’s name in the message field. The application fee is non-refundable. Only musicians who have paid the application fee can take part in the competition. The application constitutes an agreement to follow the rules stated here.
  • The order of performance in the competition will be decided upon via a draw held on 22 April 2025 at noon. Only the first contestant is decided upon in the draw; the rest of the order will follow the contestants’ last names in alphabetical order.
  • The order of performance will remain the same throughout the competition. For the finals, the order may be changed for reasons of expediency.

Procedure and repertoire

The competition programme must include works composed by representatives of more than one gender. In the second round, the gender of the composer of the work awarded honours in the composition competition shall not affect other choices of works.

FIRST ROUND

  • music composed before 1759
  • music composed in 1759–1828
    • it is possible to play a part or parts of a work
  • two études of different styles
    • one étude composed before 1945
    • one étude composed in or after 1945.

In the first round, the duration of the entire programme, including breaks, should be 25–30 minutes.

SECOND ROUND

  • the work winning the composition contest organised for the piano competition, lasting 4–8 minutes
    • the sheet music will be provided for the contestants at the latest on 9 March 2025
  • a programme of the contestant’s own choice.

In the second round, the duration of the entire programme, including breaks, should be 40–50 minutes.

FINALS

One of the following concertos:

  • Bartók No. 3
  • Beethoven No. 3, 4 or 5
  • Brahms No. 1 or 2
  • Chopin No. 1 or 2
  • Kaprálová
  • Liszt No. 1
  • Mendelssohn No. 1
  • Meriläinen No. 1
  • Mozart No. 19 in F major (K 459) or No. 22 in E-flat major (K 482)
  • Prokofjev No. 2 or 3
  • Rahmaninov No. 2 or 3
  • Ravel in G major
  • Saint-Saëns No. 2
  • C. Schumann
  • R. Schumann
  • If the number of applicants is large enough to so require, a preliminary selection stage will be organised. Results of a preliminary selection shall be notified to the applicants by 9 February 2025.
  • The jury will select no more than 14 contestants for the second round.
  • For the finals, the jury will select six participants.
  • A possibility for practicing shall be arranged for the contestants during the competition.
  • The competition repertoire must be performed from memory. However, the work commissioned for the competition and other demanding contemporary works may be played from sheet music.
  • Changes to the competition repertoire can be implemented until 31 March 2025.
  • Any performance time different from the one determined by the draw for the order of performance must be separately applied for from the competition committee. Such changes are permissible only for especially weighty reasons.
  • · The order of performance of pieces in the applicant’s competition programme can be freely chosen.
  • No work may be played in more than one round of the competition. This rule does not apply with respect to any preliminary elimination performed on the basis of video recordings.
  • On request, the sheet music for the works must be provided for the jury.
  • All competition events are open to the public.

 

Contestants

  • The competition is open to all Finnish citizens born between 5 May 1995 and 5 May 2010. The competition also welcomes applications from pianists born between 5 May 1995 and 5 May 2010 who will have studied in Finland for a continuous period of at least three academic years (having started no later than autumn 2022).
  • The contestants must arrange and pay for their travel and accommodation themselves.
  • The competition organisers will not arrange any insurance for the contestants during the competition.
  • Any contestant who chooses not to follow the terms of these rules may be excluded from the competition.

Organisation of the competition

  • The competition is organised by Tampereen Pianoseura ry (Tampere Piano Society).
  • Tampere Piano Society will bear primary responsibility for all the competition arrangements.
  • The competition committee is formed of the board of the Tampere Piano Society. The committee can invite Finnish professionals in piano playing as committee members. The competition committee will decide on the following:
    • the competition rules
    • the competition repertoire
    • the interpretation of rules and resolutions in situations arising from disputes and cases of force majeure
    • exclusion of a contestant from the competition for reasons of breach of these rules
    • the composition of the jury.

 

The jury

  • The competition committee decides on the composition of the competition jury.
  • The competition committee will appoint a secretary for the jury.
  • During the competition, as long as the contestants have not been eliminated from the competition, they are not allowed to have any contact with members of the jury.
  • The jury’s decisions are final, and they cannot be appealed.
  • Evaluation of the competition performances is handled thus:
    • The evaluation by the jury is always based on a vote.
    • A member of the jury can only have at most two competition contestants whose regular teacher they are.
    • A member of the jury must always recuse themselves with regard to a contestant to whom they have a family relationship or whom they have been teaching regularly within the last two years.
    • Also, a jury member shall recuse themselves whenever sharing any other type of relationship with a contestant that could compromise the objectivity of their evaluation.
    • In unclear cases, the need for recusal shall be decided upon by the chairman of the jury (and by the chairman of the competition committee if the case pertains to the chairman of the jury).
    • When selecting participants for the finals, the jury shall take the performances from both the first and the second round into consideration.
    • When making the decisions on the competition results, the jury shall consider the performances from all rounds in the competition.
    • The jury shall have the right to cut short a performance that exceeds the time limit specified in the rules.

Prizes

  • The prizes will be awarded after the finals, on 15 May 2025.
  • The main prizes in the competition shall be awarded to those contestants in first through third place. Other recognition may be granted to the other finalists. In addition, special prizes and concert awards may be awarded in the competition.
  • The competition’s main prizes:
    • First prize: EUR 12,500
    • Second prize: EUR 9,000
    • Third prize: EUR 6,000
  • The competition jury reserve the right to apportion the amount between the main prizes in a different manner. However, the total number of prizes shall remain the same.

The rights of the competition organiser

  • The competition organiser shall have the right, without geographical or temporal limitations, to broadcast and record (including on tape or film), televise, and make CDs of the competition performances and to present and post competition performances on its website(s) and via other media without payment of compensation to the contestants. With regard to the said rights, the competition organiser shall not be liable for any payment of compensation to the competition participants.

Data protection

  • All personal data shall be processed in accordance with the principles of data protection pursuant to data protection legislation.

These rules were prepared in Finnish, and the Finnish version hence is definitive: any contradictions between versions in different languages shall be resolved on the basis of the Finnish-language text.


Inquiries about the competition can be sent to pianokilpailu(a)tampereenpianoseura.fi.