AAF-catalogue-2017

Various rounds
The table on pages 53-57 show that most major competitions consist of two or three
preliminary rounds followed by a final stage with orchestra.
No elimination
There is not always an elimination after each round (Bachauer, Cliburn, Honens, Hilton
Head, New Orleans, Canberra, Glasgow, the Pianale and Pretoria, for example). If the
contestants have to perform twice before someone is eliminated, this has been indicated
by, for example, "25 + 30" in the column under "1 st stage": all candidates have 25 minutes
performance time in the first part and 30 minutes in the second part.
For the Prix Animato in Paris, all contestants perform three times. Everybody stays in the
competition until the end. No elimination either at the New York International Piano
Competition. At the 2017 Liszt Competition in Utrecht, all contestants will appear in three
rounds before the jury decides who will be the finalists.
One round only
A few other competitions consist of only one single round. For these competitions (and
for those mentioned above where there is no elimination at all) "---" appears in the
columns for the 2 nd stage, the 3 rd stage and the finals.
Many rounds
The other extreme is provided by the Cooper Competition in Oberlin (USA), where the
contestants have to survive four elimination rounds before arriving in the finals.
Many competitions are preceded by a preselection. More information about this is given
on page 51.
Confusion may easily arise due to the usage of different terminology: after a preselection,
organisers may call the first public round 'semi-finals', and sometimes all selected pianists
who are invited to compete, are called finalists.
••• Piano Concertos •••
Most competitions require a piano concerto for the final stage. A few competitions
require two concertos. In Budapest, three works by Liszt for piano and orchestra had to be
prepared (Totentanz and his two concertos), after which the jury chose which one must be
performed. From the tables on pages 53-58 it can be seen that sometimes only one
movement (•) needs to be performed.
Which piano concertos may be played, is specified in the overviews on pages 62-67.
52 | Piano Competitions Worldwide 2017