Guidelines

Requirements for Admission

• The Competition is open to String Quartets of any nationality.
• The combined age of the four members of each Quartet must not exceed 128 years.
• Single members can be no older than 35 years old as of June 4, 2021 (included).

How to apply
1. Complete and submit the online application.
2. Applications for participation in the Competition must be submitted exclusively online. The Application requirements are as follows:

• A biography of the Quartet
• A personal biography of each member of the Quartet that specifies previous training and teachers
• Two recent photos of the Quartet
• Two letters of presentation for the Quartet specifically prepared for the Competition by:
  • the Quartet’s teacher in the last three-year period
  • and/or from one or two musicians, at least one of whom is a member of a Quartet
• Whenever exclusive agency contracts with agents, similar organizations or record companies are in force, a statement from the same expressing permission for the Quartet to fulfill every obligation required by participation in the Competition is required, particularly in regard to the obligations specified in Art 7 of the Rules
• Two videos of professional recording quality made after June 15, 2020, using a steady camera without interruption (even between the different movements of the same piece) or editing of any kind (on pain of exclusion) of any piece selected at the Quarter’s discretion from the following repertory:
  • One video to be chosen from among the following compositions:
    • F. J. Haydn: any quartet
    • W. A. Mozart: choosing from String Quartet KV 387, String Quartet KV 421, or String Quartet KV 428
  • One video to be chosen from among the following compositions:
    • A. Webern, Five pieces for string quartet Op. 5
    • Stravinsky, Three pieces for string quartets

The Application online and the required documents mentioned above must be compiled online between the dates of June 18, 2020, to within and not beyond the hour of 11:59 pm (GMT), Sunday, February 14, 2020.

After the deadline above, no application for participation can be accepted. Incomplete documentation will be the cause of exclusion from the Competition.

Selection and admission procedure

• A number of maximum 12 (twelve) Quartets will be admitted to the Competition.
• The Pre-selection Commission will inform candidates of its decision via email by February 20, 2021.
• The quartets selected by the Pre-selection Commission prior to the suspension of activities due to the international health emergency will not be required to re-present their applications, provided that their members have not changed.  Whenever a quartet now includes a different member, all the documentation indicated in Art. 3 of these Rules must be re-submitted, and admission will be re-assessed by the Pre-selection Commission.
• The Quartets admitted must pay a registration fee of € 150,00 (one-hundred and fifty/00) with no additional charges to the beneficiary within and no later than February 15, 2021.

Structure of Competition
The Competition consists of four rounds for all the Quartets admitted and one final round, to which 3 Quartets will be admitted. Each round regards the specific repertory indicated in the Competition’s Rules.

Prizes

• 1st Prize : € 25,000 (twenty-five thousand/00) + International Tour + Artistic Residency in Reggio Emilia.
• 2nd Prize: € 10,000 (ten thousand/00)
• 3rd Prize: € 5,000 (five thousand/00)
• Special Prize: € 3,000 (three thousand/00) for the best performance of the new composition from Toshio Hosokawa
• Audience Prize: € 2,000 (two-thousand/00)
• Under-20 Prize: € 1.000 (one-thousand/00)
• Jeunesses Musicales Deutschland Prize: scholarship worth € 6,000 for participation in the Schloss Weikersheim International Chamber Music Campus in 2022.

Travel and accommodation expenses
The Competition’s organizer, Fondazione I Teatri, will bear the accommodation expenses (room and board) from June 5 to June 13, 2021 included for the admitted Quartets and will contribute a maximum 500 euros to the travel expenses of each Quartet.

Information
premioborciani@iteatri.re.it / www.iteatri.re.it