International Choir Competition of the Choral Art Festival Jihlava 2014

International Choir Competition of the Choral Art Festival (hereinafter referred to as FSU) Jihlava 2014 (version for foreign choirs)

Competition Rules

Date: 7th June 2014

Organizers: NIPOS-ARTAMA Prague and the Society for Organization of the FSU, c. a. Jihlava

Competition Rules:

  • Non-professional youth and adult choirs in the number up to 30 members only can take part in the Competition. The conductor can be a professional. Potential instrumentalists are not counted into the number of singers.
  • The organizers could limit the number of competing choirs on the grounds of capacity and economical reasons.
  • The total time limit of the competition programme is 20 minutes (i.e. including the entrance and leaving of choir). The sequence of compositions is of choir’s own choice.
  • The Competition is public.
  • The Competition will take place at Saturday 7th June, the announcement of results at some of following concerts. Analytic seminar will be held at Saturday 7th June in the afternoon.
  • The ‘first performed new composition’ will be evaluated as anonymous (the name of the composition and numerical code will be published in the programme).
  • The competition performance of choirs will be evaluated by the professional jury appointed by the organizers.
  • The ‘first performed new composition’ will be evaluated separately.

The Composition of the Competition Programme:

1. The ‘first performed new composition’ – we understand under this term:

−      EITHER the composition of a Czech composer on any text a capella or accompanied with 1-2 instruments that has never been performed in the Czech Republic before (the choir arrange the composition itself [e.g. via addressing of selected composer] and support it with the declaration that the composition has not been performed in the Czech Republic till now);

−      OR the composition from the Composer Competition of FSU that has never been performed in the Czech Republic before (the list of such compositions is published at www.fsujihlava.com).

2. The free choose of compositions a cappella or accompanied with 1-2 instruments till the time limit (the compositions of 20th and 21st centuries’ composers and of composers that celebrate a round anniversary in the frame of the Year of the Czech Music take precedence).

The Evaluation Criteria:

a)    Technical Merit – vocal culture and singing technique, intonation, rhythm;

b)    Interpretation Criteria – using the means of music expression (dynamics, tempo, agogics, timber), composition and phrasing, stylishness of the interpretation, dramaturgy of the competition performance, grade of difficulty;

c)    General Artistic Presentation – expression impact to the audience, contact of the choir with the conductor;

d)    General Final Impression from the performance of the ‘first performed new composition’.

The Jury:

The competition performance will be evaluated by the professional five-member-jury appointed by the organizers that will by composed of Czech or as the case may be of foreign professionals. It evaluates (with points) on the one hand the total interpretation level of the choir (on the basis of ‘a-c’ points of the Evaluation Criteria) an on the other hand the interpretation of the ‘first performed new composition’ (according to the ‘d’ point of the Evaluation Criteria).

Awards:

The professional jury can to rank the choir according to the competition result into the golden, silver or bronze level. Three most successful ‘first performed new compositions’ will be awarded separately. The special awards could be awarded.

The organizers try to arrange for the financial appreciation of the winning choirs.

The organizers could arrange for the concerts of the best choirs from the Competition in the frame of Festival concerts in following years.

Financial Requirements for foreign choirs:

The participation fee is EUR 30.00 for a member. The organizers provide the accommodation (university dormitory) and the contribution to the transport inside the Czech Republic; the food allowance will not be included into the services provided. In the case of economical problems could be one or more of abovementioned services cut down.

Applications:

The applicants for Competition will send their applications to: NIPOS-ARTAMA, Iva Daňková, P. O. BOX 12 / Fügnerovo nám. 5, 120 21 Praha 2, Czech Republic or via email: dankova@nipos-mk.cz. The application form will be for downloading at www.nipos-mk.cz and www.fsujihlava.com.

The deadline for application: 28th February 2014.

Till 28th March 2014:

  • The participation in the Competition for applied choirs will be confirmed;
  • More details will be sent to the admitted choirs;
  • The awarded compositions from past years of the International Composer Competition will be assigned to choirs that will ask for them on the base of their own choice. They will be the composition only that have never been performed and their premiere will be that way heard at the Festival.

 

Compiled by Iva Daňková

NIPOS-ARTAMA, October 2013