Information for participants

Schedule of the competition

Note: A more accurate schedule for the preliminary rounds can only be made after the arrival of all participants, because the actual number of candidates is known only then.

If you are going to be late, please let us know by email 1 – 2 days before the start of the competition!

Cello

Violin

Piano

 

Spectators are allowed in all rounds.

 

Locations

The first two rounds for violin will be held at the Protestant Church in Poertschach. The first two rounds for piano will be held at the Congress Center in Poertschach.

The first two rounds of the cello category will be held the Schlosshotel Velden, a Renaissance castle from the 16th century, which we have been allowed to use for our competition for a few years now.
Velden is 7 km away from Pörtschach and can be reached by train and also by bus within a few minutes.

All final rounds, i.e. violin, cello and piano will be held with orchestra at the Congress Center Poertschach on Friday, September 8th, 2023.

Timetable of public transport between Pörtschach and Velden

Practice possibilities and pianists

  • Pörtschach is a small town with short distances. All practice facilities are within easy walking distance. Despite the large number of participants, we try to ensure fair and equal conditions for all. However, this also means that – especially during the first round – practice opportunities are limited. Therefore, each participant will have only 2 hours of practice time per day during the first round.
  • Strings are asked to practice in your accommodations if possible. Please check with your landlord to see if it is allowed.
  • Participants arriving earlier can rehearse at the Music School/Volksschule Pörtschach in all non-reserved practice rooms without registration. Practice pianos are available.
  • For participants with low starting numbers, practice rooms will be reserved for the evening before the performance.
  • All other participants will have the opportunity to enter their names on the practice schedules after their starting number is drawn. They will be posted anew each day between 8 and 9 p.m. for the following day.
  • There is also a practice room available at the Schloßhotel Velden.
  • The pianists for violin and cello will wait for the participants after the first round to arrange joint practice times. The correpetetitors are free of charge! You will have time to practice with the pianists on Tuesday, 5th (including your own).
  • A warmup / practice room is available at each competition site.
  • All other pieces of information about practice and rehearsal opportunities will be provided at the information session after registration and the drawing of the starting order.

Prizewinners’ concert

The prizewinners’ concert will take place on Sunday, September 10th at 5 p.m. in the Casineum Velden, with an audience prize also up for grabs.

No prize will be awarded without participation in the final concert.

Please prepare a short attractive piece (max. 4 to 5 minutes in length) for the prize winners’ concert:

The theme of the prize-winners’ concert is folk music (dance music) in the broadest and best sense, if possible with reference to your homeland. We are an international competition, which in this way offers the audience the opportunity to get to know folk songs from “all over the world”. The types of compositions and composers listed below are in no way intended to be prescriptive or restrictive, only to provide ideas, because we are frequently asked what we consider to be a folk song / piece:
F. Chopin (Mazurkas), A. Dvorak (Slavonic Dances), G. Kreisler, P. de Sarasate, A. Borodin, M. Ravel, A. Glazunov, H. Wieniawski, S. Rachmaninow, P. de Sarasate, E. Zimbalist, Brahms Folk Songs or Brahms Hungarian Dances (ideal, of course, if you are of Hungarian nationality).
We are happy about any other good choice, especially if they are songs/musical gems from the people – i.e. did not come from the pen of a composer; think of hunting songs, love songs, hiking songs, children’s songs, ……