AAF-2024

Various rounds

The table on pages 38-41 shows 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 , Honens , Cleveland, Hilton Head, New Orleans, Glasgow, Sydney, Pretoria, Finale Ligure, the Antonio Mormone competition and the Pianale , 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. The 2022 Liszt Utrecht Competition had the format of a festival, where all selected participants performed four times before the jury decide who will be the finalists. No elimination at all at the New York International Piano Competition.

One round only

A few other competitions consist of only one single round . For these competitions (and for those 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 Iturbi Competition in Valencia (Spain), where the contestants have to survive four eliminations . (The last two stages are called Final I and Grand Finale.) Many competitions are preceded by a preselection . More information about this is given on page 33. Some considerations regarding online competitions can be found on pages 34-36. 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. The major competitions require a piano concerto for the final stage. A few competitions require two concertos. The Antonio Mormone competition required even five piano concertos. From the tables on pages 38-43 it can be seen that in some competitions only one movement (  ) needs to be performed, sometimes with 2 nd piano accompaniment instead of an orchestra. (In the table, this has then been indicated by a brown dot  .) Which piano concertos may be played, is specified in the overviews on pages 48-53.  Piano Concertos 

Alink-Argerich Foundation 2024