Rules and regulations

for participation in Aarhus International Piano Competition 2025

 

1. The 7th Aarhus International Piano Competition is organized by the non-profit organisation ”Aarhus International Piano Competition” and will be held in Aarhus, Denmark between the 7th and 15th of March 2025.
2. The competition is open to pianists of all nationalities. However a former 1st Prize Winner of one of the competition's categories can not take part in the same category again.
3. Competitors in Category A must be born between 8th of March 2009 - 7th of March 2014.
4. Competitors in Category B must be born between 8th of March 2003 - 7th of March 2009. 
5. All necessary documents for participation in the competition must be received by the Competition Secretary through the online application system on 15th of November 2024 at the latest. Applications that are received late or are incomplete will not be accepted. 
6. The application fee is 120 euros and it can not be refunded. 
7. Each applicant must upload an audio recording together with the application. Editing in the recordings are not allowed, but seperate works or movement can be from different takes. For details about the program for the audio recording, please look here.
8. The recordings from all applicants will be presented for the preselection jury in anonymized form. All applicants will be informed about the result of the preselection on the 15th of December 2024 at the latest. 
9. In Category A 20 pianists will be invited for the competition and in Category B 22 pianists will be invited. In Category B two places are reserved for Danish pianists. 
10. Competitors must register at the Competition Office on 7th of March 2025. 
11. The order of playing in the first round will be decided at the public ballot on 7th of March at 10 pm. All competitiors must be present at this event. For the second round and the final there will be held new ballots just after the annoncement of the result of the previous round. 
12. Each competitor is responsible for all costs that are incurred by participation in the competition.
13. As many competitors as possible shall be offered private accomodation in or near Aarhus during the competition period. 
14. The jury assesses the competitors on the basis of the Jury Rules. The Jury will award all Prizes except the Audience Prize. 
15. The Jury´s decisions are final and not subject to appeal. 
16. All votes of the Jury will be published in unanonymized form shortly after the competition.
17. Jury members and active competitors are not allowed to have any kind of contact with each other during the competition.
18. All repertoire must be played from memory.
19. A competitor can alter his/her programme for any stage of the Competition by informing the Competition Secretary on the 1st of February at the latest.
20. All rounds of the Competition are open to the public and they will be live-streamed on video. The Aarhus International Piano Competition is the sole holder of the rights to all video or audio recordings and Internet Broadcasts in all stages of the competition. Competitors cede to the Aarhus International Piano Competition, without remuneration, the rights to the following: 
    1. performances of the works during the whole Competition. 
    2. performances of works during the concerts for participants and the final concert. 
    3. photographic and recorded images taken during participation in  the Competition and the concerts. 
       
       These rights are unlimited in time and space for the following purposes:
       • recording
       • reproduction (all forms)
       • trading
       • placing on computer memory, internet or other networks
       • public playback and performance
       • exhibiting
       • screening
       • renting
       • leasing
       • broadcasting by wired or wireless sound  by terrestial or satellite stations
       • simultaneous and integral radio and television transmission and retransmission
         
         The exploitation of these rights in the ways set out above will be carried out by individuals, firms, radio and televisions stations and record labels authorised to do so by Aarhus International Piano Competition.
21. Practice instruments will be availiable for all competitiors for 5 - 6 hours every day during the competition. All finalists will have a room with a grand piano availiable on the entire day of the finals. The finalists in Category B will have two rehearsal with Aarhus Symphony Orchestra before the final performance.
22. Concerts are arranged for the competitors who do not go the second round or the final. These concerts take place during the competition period in Aarhus or in other Danish cities. The Competitors are required to perform at these concerts. No fee will be payed for playing at these concerts.
23. All Prize Winners are obliged to take part in the final concert and to be present at the distribution of prizes. Should a Prize Winner not appear he/she can lose the right to the Prize. The management of the Competition will decide in such cases. 
24. All organizational decisions concerning the Competition remain the responsibility of the Competition Managers. The Competition Management reserves the right to make all final decisions in the event of any misunderstanding.  
25. By sending the application to Aarhus International Piano Competition the applicant declare that he/she approves the terms and conditions mentioned in this set of rules. 
26. In the case of cancellation of the competition due to force majeure, AIPC will to the greatest extent possible pay back the application fee minus a bank transfer fee. AIPC cannot be held responsible for other expenses or loses in the event of cancellation.

Jury Rules 

The Jury´s adjudication of competitors in Aarhus International Piano Competition 2025

I: General rules and aims

• When adjudicating the candidates and awarding Prizes the individual Juror must consider artistic as well as instrumental aspects of the performances. After assessment of the candidates' artistic and instrumental standard as demonstrated through the varied repertoire of the rounds, the individual Juror must vote for the candidates who, up to the time of voting, in his or her opinion are the best qualified.
• The Jury acts on the basis of the Competition Rules and the specified Jury Rules.
• During the first jury meeting at the start of the competition the Jury will go through the rules of the competition and select a Vice-Chairman. The Vice-Chairman will take over the duties of the Chairman in his absence.
• The work of the Chairman include presiding over the Jury’s work. 
• The Competition Managers appoint and dismiss the members of the Jury.
• Voting is done by secret ballot in the presence of the Competition Managers, who also count the votes.
• The Jurors must vote independently and may not discuss any active competitor during the competition.
• The Jurors are not allowed to communicate with any active competitor during the competition.
• All votes of every Juror will be published unanonymized shortly after the competition has ended.
• Students of Jurors are allowed take part in the competition. But any Juror who has, on a regular basis during the last two years preceding the competition, taught one or more of the candidates may not judge his or her student(s). A Juror is not allowed to inform the other Jurors about having a student(s) in the competition. When voting a Juror who has one or more students among the competitors – or who are otherwise disqualified – will mark a “0” beside the name(s) of this or these candidate(s). Thereafter votes are cast so as to make the total of “0’s” and “+’s” the number of votes required for the round in question. Should the competitor obtain at least 4 votes cast by the other jurors, a “+” will be added to the “0”. Should a candidate not obtain at least 4 votes cast by the other Jurors, the Juror in question must nominate another (other) candidate(s).
• If a Juror does not inform the Management of Aarhus International Piano Competition about any disqualifying relationship between him/her and a competitor, this Juror can immediately be excluded from the jury.
• The aim of Aarhus International Piano Competition is to award all the advertised Prizes. Only a unanimous Jury can decide not to award one or more Prizes on the grounds that the standard of the candidates does not live up to the demands that ought to be made by an international competition of this kind.

II: Assessment 

1) First Round and Carl Nielsen Prize, Category A:
There are no more than 20 competitors in the first round af Category A. After the first round each Juror places a “+” beside the names of the 10 candidates whom the Juror deems best qualified. The 10 candidates who obtain most votes will qualify for the second round. A competitor can only qualify for the next round with a majority of the Jury´s vote. 

After the first round in Category A the Carl Nielsen Prize will also be decided by voting. First each Juror places a “+” beside the names of the 10 competitors whom the Juror deems best qualified. The 10 candidates who obtain most votes will qualify for a second voting. In the second voting each member of the Jury places a “+” beside the names of the 4 competitors who the Juror deems best qualified. The 4 competitors who obtain most votes will qualify for the possibility to have the prize. Each Juror is then issued with a ballot on which he or she writes the name of the competitor to whom the Juror wishes to award the Carl Nielsen Prize. In the last step of this voting procedure the same rules apply as when voting for the main prizes. This is specified below in point 3 and 5.

If a vote proves inconclusive, the following procedures will be observed: 

1. Should two or more competitors receive the same number of qualifying votes; a separate ballot will be held. 
2. Should the votes be inconclusively distributed (minority votes) on both sides of the qualifying line, the competitors enjoying the support of the clear majority will be chosen first and those with not more than one vote will be rejected. A new ballot will then be undertaken among the remaining competitors to allocate the vacancies.
    

2) First Round and Carl Nielsen Prize, Category B:
There are no more than 22 competitors in the first round of Category B. After the first round each Juror places a “+” beside the names of the 12 candidates whom the Juror deems best qualified. The 12 candidates who obtain most votes will qualify for the second round. A competitor can only qualify for the next round with a majority of the Jury´s vote. 

After the first round in Category B the Carl Nielsen Prize will also be decided by voting. First each Juror places a “+” beside the names of the 10 competitors whom the Juror deems best qualified. The 10 candidates who obtain most votes will qualify for a second voting. In the second voting each member of the Jury places a “+” beside the names of the 4 competitors whom the Juror deems best qualified. The 4 competitors who obtain most votes will qualify for the possibility to have the prize. Each Juror is then issued with a ballot on which he or she writes the name of the competitor to whom the Juror wishes to award the Carl Nielsen Prize. In the last step of this voting procedure the same rules apply as when voting for the main prizes. This is specified below in point 3 and 5.

If a vote proves inconclusive, the following procedures will be observed: 

1. Should two or more competitors receive the same number of qualifying votes; a separate ballot will be held. 
2. Should the votes be inconclusively distributed (minority votes) on both sides of the qualifying line, the contestants enjoying the support of the clear majority will be chosen first and those with not more than one vote will be rejected. A new ballot will then be undertaken among the remaining candidates to allocate the vacancies.

3) Second Round and Main Prizes, Category A:
There are 10 competitors in the second round of Category A. After the second round a preliminary ballot will be undertaken at first.  Each Juror places a “+” beside the names of the 6 competitors whom the Juror deems best qualified. The 6 competitors who obtain the most votes will qualify for a second voting. In the second voting each Juror places a “+” beside the names of the 3 candidates whom the Juror deems best qualified. The 3 candidates who obtain most votes will receive a Prize. A competitor can only qualify to be a prize winner with a majority of the Jury´s vote. 

If a vote proves inconclusive, the following procedures will be observed: 

1. Should two or more competitors receive the same number of qualifying votes; a separate ballot will be held. 
2. Should the votes be inconclusively distributed (minority votes) on both sides of the qualifying line, the contestants enjoying the support of the clear majority will be chosen first and those with not more than one vote will be rejected. A new ballot will then be undertaken among the remaining candidates to allocate the vacancies.

After deciding the three Prize Winners a separate vote is taken for each of the three main prizes – beginning with the 1st Prize. Prior to the vote, each Juror is issued with a ballot on which he or she writes the name of the competitor to whom the Juror wishes to award the prize in question. A prize can only be awarded with a majority of the Jury´s votes. If the voting results in a tie between two finalists, a vote is taken to decide whether the Prize should be divided between the two (in which case the subsequent Prize is not awarded, and the sum for the two Prizes is divided equally between the two winners). If there is not a majority in favour of dividing the Prize, a new ballot will then be undertaken between the two competitors in question. If the voting results in a tie between three finalists, a vote will be taken to select, finally, the two best qualified. Then the above procedure follows in the case of a tie between two finalists. A prize will not be awarded, only in the event of all voting papers for this Prize being blank. If a Juror has a student in the final, he will start by voting (0) for every prize as long as a Prize has not yet been awarded to his/her student. Then all votes are counted, and only if a majority of the other Jurors have voted for the student in question, the Juror in question is allowed to vote for his/her student. Otherwise he/she must nominate another candidate for the Prize.

4) Second Round, Category B:
There are 12 competitors in the second round of Category B. After the second round a preliminary ballot will be undertaken at first.  Each Juror places a “+” beside the names of the 8 candidates whom the Juror deems best qualified. The 8 competitors who obtain the most votes will qualify for a second voting. In the second voting each Juror places a “+” beside the names of the 4 candidates who the Juror deems best qualified. The 4 competitors who obtain most votes will qualify for the final round. A competitor can only qualify for the final with a majority of the Jury´s vote. 

If a vote proves inconclusive, the following procedures will be observed: 

1. Should two or more competitors receive the same number of qualifying votes; a separate ballot will be held. 
2. Should the votes be inconclusively distributed (minority votes) on both sides of the qualifying line, the competitors enjoying the support of the clear majority will be chosen first and those with not more than one vote will be rejected. A new ballot will then be undertaken among the remaining competitors to allocate the vacancies.

5) Final and Main Prizes, Category B:
There are 4 competitors in the final round. After the final a separate vote is taken for each of the four main prizes – beginning with the 1st Prize. Prior to the vote, each Juror is issued with a ballot on which he or she writes the name of the competitor to whom the Juror wishes to award the prize in question. A prize can only be awarded with a majority of the Juror´s votes.   If the voting results in a tie between two finalists, a vote is taken to decide whether the Prize should be divided between the two (in which case the subsequent Prize is not awarded, and the sum for the two Prizes is divided equally between the two winners). If there is not a majority in favour of dividing the Prize, a new ballot will then be undertaken between the two competitors in question. If the voting results in a tie between three finalists, a vote will be taken to select, finally, the two best qualified. Then the above procedure follows in the case of a tie between two finalists. A Prize will not be awarded, only in the event of all voting papers for this Prize being blank. If a Juror has a student in the final, he will start by voting (0) for every prize as long as a Prize has not yet been awarded to his/her student. Then all votes are counted, and only if a majority of the other Jurors have voted for the student in question, the Juror in question is allowed to vote for his/her student. Otherwise he/she must nominate another candidate for the Prize.