International Institute for Young Musicians Piano Festival

IIYM Introduction

The International Institute for Young Musicians is an American organization dedicated to creating worldclass opportunities for young musicians from around the globe. Since 2013, the annual IIYM International Piano Competition has been one of the largest and most prestigious piano festivals in the United States, with the candidates from all over the world such as USA, China, Korea, Japan etc., judged by the IIYM Faculty, who are selected based on their expertise and interest in teaching on the highest level.

2022-2023, ASDAN China started a long-term strategic partnership with International Institute for Young Musicians, and act as the exclusive partner to promote the freestyle category of the International Institute for Young Musicians Piano Festival in China.

During the Online Piano Festival, the performance video submitted by all the candidates will be broadcast live on the online platform one by one and the international jury will give their review at the end of the performance of each category, facilitating all contestants to show their skills and learn together. After the Online Piano Festival, top candidates will be invited to participate in the IIYM Alumni Online Gala Concert and the IIYM International Music Academy in the United States in July 2023. Top 3 winners aged between 12 and 18 will receive a recommendation letter from a renowned music professor from the IIYM Faculty.

Dr.Scott Mcbride Smith

Dr. Scott Mcbride Smith

Kuanwen Wang

Kuanwen Wang

Public Category

Freestyle Category

Public Category
No.	Group	Age	Program length	Repertoire
1	Public 1	Age 17 and above (Born on or before December 31, 2006)	Within 15 minutes （(no less than 13 minutes）	1. One étude； 2. One other program
2	Public 2	Age 14 to 16 （(Born between Dec. 31, 2006 and Dec. 30, 2008）	Within 15 minutes （(no less than 13 minutes）	1. One étude； 2. one or more other program
3	Public 3	Age 12 to 14 （(Born between Dec. 31, 2008 and Dec. 30, 2010）	Within 15 minutes （(no less than 13 minutes）	1. One étude； 2. one or two other program

Freestyle Category
No.	Group	Repertoire	Program length	Special Comments
4	Grade 1	Perform a piece of your own choice （No restrictions on genre or style, Chinese or western classical work both ok）	Within 4 minutes	Piano majors students from the Primary and Secondary Schools of Music Conservatory can not participate in this category
5	Grade 2
6	Grade 3
7	Grade 4
8	Grade 5
9	Grade 6
10	Grade 7		Within 5 minutes
11	Grade 8
12	Grade 9
13	Grade 10
14	Grade 11
15	Grade 12

Judging Criteria

1. Each contestant will receive scores from 2 professional judges, and comment from one judge.
2. Each program must be played and recorded complete.
3. The competition results will not be changed once announced. The organizing committee reserves the right of nal interpretation of the results.
4. The total score of each contestant's performance is 100, the jury will evaluate the contestants' performances in terms of general Impression, musical expression, and technique.
5. All program must be played from memory.

● Online Piano Festival (January 14 & 15, 2023)

During the festival, videos of all contestants will be broadcast online by different group one by one. An international jury will give their review after all the performance videos have been played.

Each contestant can watch all the videos and the reviews through online platform during the live broadcasting, so ensure an open, fair and transparent competition. In this way, the festival would provide all the participants with an opportunity to learn from and communicate with each other, helping every young pianist who loves music to improve their skills.

● IIYM Alumni Online Gala Concert (January 29, 2023)

IIYM Piano Festival and IIYM International Music Academy have cultivated a number of outstanding alumni, among them are those who have been accomplished in both piano and academic areas, and who have entered top universities and music conservatories such as Harvard, Yale, Stanford University, Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School.

To shorten the distance through music, and to learn from each other by exchanging musical ideas with outstanding players across the world, IIYM Alumni Online Gala Concert will invite the elite alumni of IIYM to perform with the champion of each category together at the concert.

● IIYM International Music Academy (July, 2023)

Organized by International Institute for Young Musicians and supported by the music conservatory of University of Kansas, IIYM International Music Academy has been held annually since 2003. It is designed for young musicians who are determined to pursue a career in music. The students will be taught by faculty from top music conservatories such as The Juilliard School, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, New England Conservatory of Music, University of Kansas, University of Houston etc. The students will not only attend concert performance and master classes, but also receive private lessons, experience the charm of music during the two-week camp.

【Awards】

Award: Participate Prize 40%, Third Prize 30%, Second Prize 20%, First Prize 10%
Online Gala Concert：The champion of each group will perform at the Online Gala Concert
Letter of Recommendation：Honorable Mention Winners (top 3 contestants in each category from Grade 7-12 with a score above 90) will receive a letter of recommendation from a leading music professor from MTNA
Music Academy：Winners of First Prize and Second Prize in each category of the Freestyle Category will be invited to participate in the International Music Academy in July, 2023 in the USA

【Certificates】

All participants will receive an award certicate for the Online Piano Festival

【Video Submitting Requirements】

The camara should stay in a fxed position to maintain the same posture and orientation, and do not walk and shake the camera while recording.
The video should be recorded in landscape direction, and the upper body of the player should be in the lens frame, with his/her hands and piano keyboard clearly visible.
No editing, no filtering, no cutting, and the video must be in good quality.
The size of the video file should not exceed 500M, and the video's audio and video should be synchronized, the video should be named after Participant's Category + Name.
Please fill in the program information (Composer and program name in both Chinese and English) during registration. The submitted video must be identical with the program information in the registration form (possible to change 2 weeks before the registration deadline).
The contestant should send the video recording together with program information (Composer and program name in both Chinese and English) to our email iiym@seedasdan.org before December 1, 2022. The email title shall be named after the contestant's category and name.

1. Do I have to submit program information when I register?

This is not mandatory and you can change the program information any time after you have completed your registration. Please note that the program information must include the title of the work and the name of the composer in both English and Chinese, and must match the program in the final uploaded video.

2. I am currently in Grade 6 and will be in Grade 7 when the new semester starts in September, how should I choose my age group?

Please choose your age group according to the grade you will be in when new semester starts in September, so you should choose Grade 7.

3. How do I submit my performance video?

Participants should send the performance video and the program information (name of composer + title of program in both English and Chinese) together to the organizing committee: iiym@seedasdan.org before 1 December, 2022. The email title should be named after "category + participant's name".

4. What is award setting and will all the participants receive the certificates?

Award setting: Participate Prize 40%, Third Prize 30%, Second Prize 20%, First Prize 10%. Each participant will receive an award certificate. Honorable Mention Winners (top 3 contestants in each category from Grade 7-12 with a score above 90) will receive a letter of recommendation from a leading music professor from MTNA

5. If I participated in the freestyle category, can I still apply for the public category?

Yes. Applications for the public category are open from October 2022 to January 2023，the competition rules and regulations will be announced before applications open. With higher repertoire requirements, more detailed scoring rules and different advanced statements, the public category is designed to those students who wish to persue a career in music and piano performance.

6. What are the prizes and advance rules for the public category?

First, Second, Third Prizes and Honorable Mention set for Public Category, Group 1 to 3. There will be one first, second and third prize of each group, the number of Honorable Mention Awards is set in proportion to the number of results and entries. The champion of each category will be invited to participate in the final round of IIYM Piano Festival and the International Music Academy in July, 2023 in the USA.