International Competition Piano Neuchâtel - Val de Travers

The new edition is coming soon

European elite piano competition with rules based on different age categories

Member of European Union of Music Competitions for Youth (EMCY), supported by local government and music conservatory

Winners from China National Round can participate in the Global Round, winners of the Global Round

will be invited to perform and compete at the Final Round at Neuchâtel, Switzerland for free

Fair, open and transparent, all participating videos will be presented online

Invitation

Dear young pianists,
Welcome to the world of music and piano! On behalf of International Competition “Piano Neuchâtel-Val de Travers” 2023, I hereby sincerely welcome you all to join the fantastic competition and explore the joy of music altogether!

Being a member of European Union of Music Competitions for Youth, the International Competition Piano Val de Travers is open to pianists of any nationality from 5 to 25 years old in three different categories. We hope to motive young musicians, discover new talents and help them with their studies and career in the future.

We are now very excited to start the strategic cooperation with ASDAN China and work together to hold and promote the pre-selection round of the competition in China, in order to provide a wonderful opportunity for the young pianists with stage experience and high-level skills. We look forward to working with ASDAN China and hope to see you soon in the beautiful city of Neuchâtel, Switzerland!

Competition director dunhao

Piano professor

International Competition Piano Neuchâtel -Val de Travers

Founded in 2017, the International Competition Piano Neuchâtel -Val de Travers is a professional piano festival for young pianists from all over the world up to the age of 25, with participants divided into three age categories, A, B and C. As a memeber of the European Union of Music Competitions for Youth (EMCY), it was officially supported by local government and music conservory in Neuchâtel.

Since 2022, ASDAN China started a strategic partnership with International Competition Piano Neuchâtel - Val de Travers, and will act as the exclusive partner to organize and promote the China National Round of this prestigious piano festival from Switzerland. Winners from the China National Round could participate in the Global Round. The winners of the Global Round will be invited to perform and compete at the Final Round at Neuchâtel, Switzerland for free.

Artistic Director Katja Avdeeva

Artistic Director of International Competition Piano Neuchâtel -Val de Travers & WE Piano Festival, Professor in Neuchâtel Conservatory

Russian music is a constant feature of the work of this pianist who started to play piano at the age four. Later she studied piano at the St. Petersbourg Conservatory with Marina Wolf and Pavel Egorov in the best tradition of the Russian piano school. She is a laureate of national and international piano competitions in Switzerland, Italy, France and Spain. After receiving her soloist diploma from the Basel Conservatory, the recording of her final recital of Rachmaninoff' s Études -Tableaux was bought and produced by Sony BMG. Her fascination for contemporary music led her to work with musicians. Currently, Ms. Avdeeva is active as a concert pianist.

Jaque Rouvier

President of Global Round, Professor of Salzburg Mozarteum

As a famous French pianist, Jaque is a guest professor in Berlin UDK and teaching in Salzburg Mozarteum since 2012 and Musica Mundi Belgium since 2018. He was born in a music family, later studied piano, harmony and conducting in Paris CNSM with Vlado Perlemuter, Pierre Sancan, Jean Hubeau and among others. After receiving some International Prizes, Jaque was invited as a jury member in many prestigious piano competitions. He established Rouvier-Kantorow-Muller trio in 1970 and held many concerts and workshops during past 35 years.

William Fong

Professor at the Royal Academy of Music, British Pianist, Piano Educator

William' s international career was launched in 1984 when he won the rst prize, gold medal and Rosa Sabater prize at the Concurso Internacional de Piano in Jaén, Spain. His performances have drawn critical acclaim and enthusiastic audiences. William maintains a busy schedule of recitals, master classes, teaching and lecturing both in the UK and abroad. He has also collaborated with singers Steve Davislim and James Rutherford and has recorded some fascinating and little known repertoire in the chamber music eld.

Justas Dvarionas

Vice President of EMCY, Associated Professor at Vytautas Magnus University

Justas's extraordinary and growing abilities lead him to the Moscow P. Tchaikovsky Conservatoire for graduate and post-graduate studies, both of which he completed with highest honours (CUM LAUDE). He received many prizes and special awards from some International Piano Competitions in his early career. Justas also has performed in solo, chamber music or with orchestras and held many Master Classes. His dedicated on developing and supervising quality standards for EMCY competitions since he is Vice-President of EMCY.

Alberto Firrincieli

Italian pianist, Harpsichord Player, Composer and Scholar，Lecturer of the Department of Music Entrepreneurship at the Assumption University of Thailand

Alberto Firrincieli is the artistic director of IKA - International Keyboard Academy, and Bangkok International Piano Festival. He is regularly invited as guest speaker, scholar and performer from international institutions. He is the winner of the second prize in the International Contest “SIMM 2018 – New Music for Harpsichord” with the composition 13 New Variation upon Folia theme, and he recently published the Opera Omnia of the composer Carlo Marino in nine books.

Alexey Sokolov

President of the China National Round Jury, Member of Chopin International Society, Honorary Professor of Tianjin Conservatory

Russian Pianist, educator, the bearer of the "Award of Merit" of the Government of China for a major contribution to cultural achievements. He is jury chairman of several competitions in Asia, cochairman of the IBLA Grand Prize International Competition, juror of Chopin International Piano competition in Russia and China and a number of other international competitions, as well as one of the founders of the «Step to Mastery» International piano competition, St. Petersburg, a member of EPTA.

China National Round：1-2 pieces of free choice, total duration maximum 7 minutes, must include one study composed by the following composers: Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninov, Debussy, Scriabin, Ligeti, Rubinstein or Chin.
Global Round： One Prelude and Fugue from the Well-Tempered Clavier, Books 1 or 2 by J. S. Bach, One Chopin study, One study composed by Liszt, Rachmaninov, Debussy, Scriabin, Ligeti, Chin or Rubinstein, maximum total duration 13 minutes
Global Semi-final Concert：RECITAL of 30-35 minutes must include: One or several pieces of free choice, One piece written after 1960 or« Toccata » or « Petite invention » of J-Ph Bauermeister (Sheet music is available by emailing the organising committee). All works must be played from memory, only works written
after 1960 can be performed with music.
Final Round：Perform concerto given below with conservatory string orchestra：
J-S Bach: Concerto BWV 1056，W.-A. Mozart: Concerto No 12, KV 414，W.-A. Mozart: Concerto No 13, KV 415，F. Chopin: Concerto No 1, opus 11

【Evaluation Criteria】

1. The total score of each contestant's performance is 100, the judges will mark the contestant's performance based on program selection, fluency, completeness, rhythm and tone accuracy, style interpretation, musical expression, sound articulation etc.
2. Each program must be played and recorded complete.
3. All works must be performed from memory except contemporary pieces written after 1960.
4. The jury's decision will be final. The organizing committee reserves the right of final interpretation of the results.

【Advance】

Global Round：Maximum 20 candidates from Category B & C will be invited to Neuchâtel, Switzerland to participate in the Final Round for free.

Final Round：The top 5 winners of Global Semi-final（Category C）will proceed to the Final Round

【Certificates】

All participants in China National Round will receive a Certificate of Participation.

Winners of the China National Round will receive a Certificate of Award.

Participants of the Global Round will receive the Participation Diplômé.

【Final Round】

Neuchâtel - Val de Travers, Switzerland

Neuchâtel is the capital of the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel, situated on the French-speaking part of western Switzerland.
The city was established in 1214 as a transportation hub. It is now a centre of the Swiss watch industry, and an important
producing area of wine. Neuchâtel locates in Val de Travers, which spans from Lake Neuchâtel, the largest lake in Switzerland
to Jura valley, and is rich in tourism and natural resources, suitable for outdoor hiking in summer and a cross-country skiing
in winter. The famous philosopher JeanJacques Rousseauonce lived in Môtiers, the administrative district of Val de Travers nowdays,
between 1762 and 1765, and his residence is now a museum that welcomes visitors from all over the world.

【Video Submitting Requirements】

The video should be recorded in landscape, and the upper half of the player's body should be fully filmed in the frame, with the hands and piano keyboard clearly visible.

The camara should stay in a fixed position to maintain the same posture and orientation, please do not walk and shake the camera while recording.

No editing, no filtering, no cutting, the video must be in good quality.

Video must be recorded within 6 months, and the program must be complete.

All works must be performed from memory except contemporary pieces written after 1960.

All recordings will be published online.

The contestant should send the video recording named after "category + name" to our email neuchatel@seedasdan.org before November 20, 2022.