The 1st International competition of harp performers “Golden Harp” named after I.V. Shipulina

1. BASIC REGULATIONS

1.1 International competition of harp performers “Golden Harp” named after I.V. Shipulina is conducted in the specialty “The Art of Concert Performance on Orchestral String Instruments” and is aimed at supporting, developing performing skills and popularizing the art of harp.
“Golden Harp” competition continues the traditions created and held for the first time in 2009 at the St. Petersburg State Academic Philharmonic named after D.D. Shostakovich musical project of the same name. This year the competition was named after Irina Viktorovna Shipulina (1925 – 1986), an outstanding teacher of the harp class at the Secondary Special Music School at the Leningrad (St. Petersburg) Conservatory. The artistic director of the competition is Shipulina’s student, Honored artist of the Russian Federation, professor of the St. Petersburg State Conservatory named after Rimsky-Korsakov - Anna Makarova.
1.2 Founder of the 1st International harp competition “Golden Harp” named after I.V. Shipulina is the St. Petersburg State Conservatory named after N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov.

1.3 The composition of the organizing committee and directorate of the competition is formed by the founder.

1.4 The jury of the competition is formed and approved by the organizing committee of the competition.

1.5 Goals and objectives of the Competition:
• Preservation and development of the best traditions of the national school of harp performance;
• Identification, support and encouragement of gifted and promising young musicians;
• Increasing professional skills, improving the performing culture of harpists;
• Attracting attention and increasing the prestige of harpists performance;
• Exchange of creative and professional experience.

2. NOMINATIONS, DEADLINES AND ORDER OF THE COMPETITION

2.1 Competitive auditions are held in the specialty “Harp”.

2.2 Competitive auditions are held in three rounds: the 1st qualifying round is held in absentia format (from video recordings), the 2nd and 3rd rounds are held in person from October 11 to October 16, 2024 in St. Petersburg.

2.3 Competitive auditions of the 3rd round are conducted accompanied by a chamber orchestra.

2.4 At the end of the competitive auditions, a final gala concert will take place, accompanied by a chamber orchestra, in which the winners of the competition will take part.

2.5 Schedule of the 2nd and 3rd rounds of the competition:

3. CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION IN THE COMPETITION

3.1 All participants in the Competition are required to comply with the terms of this provision.

3.2 Professional musicians-performers (students and graduates of secondary and higher professional music educational institutions) from Russia and other countries can take part in the competition.

3.3 Age restrictions for participants – up to 35 years inclusive. The age of the participant is determined at the opening of the face-to-face part (2nd round) of the competition - October 11, 2024.

3.4 The entry fee is 5,000 rubles. Payment of the entry fee is made before submitting documents for participation in the Competition. The entry fee is non-refundable. If you have a problem with paying the fee, then you can pay the fee upon arrival in St. Petersburg.

3.5 Payment of contributions by foreign participants is made in Chinese Yuan at the rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation on the day of transfer of funds to the account or in rubles upon arrival in the Russian Federation through branches of Sberbank of Russia.

3.6 The entry fee does not include bank commissions. Applicants for participation in the competition must independently pay for banking services for transferring the entry fee.

3.7 All expenses related to the organization of video recording, travel, food and accommodation of competitors and accompanying persons are borne by the competitors themselves or at the expense of the sending organization.

3.8 Instruments for all competitive auditions and the laureates’ concert will be provided by the general sponsor of the competition, Salvi Music.

4. SUBMISSION AND DATES FOR CONSIDERATION OF APPLICATIONS

4.1 To participate in the competition, you must send a package of documents (application) to the competition email address: konkurs2024harp@conservatory.ru

4.2 The package of documents (application) sent to the competition includes:
1) creative biography (resume) of the performer in Word format;
2) concert photographs (2 pcs.) in high resolution;
3) link to the competition video (see clause 5 of these Regulations);

4.3 The deadline for submitting a package of documents (applications) for participation in the competition is from January 1 to May 31, 2024 inclusive.

4.4 Applications submitted after the deadline will not be considered.

4.5 By sending photo and video materials to the Organizing Committee of the Competition, the participant automatically confirms his consent to the use of materials by third parties (organizers, jury members, other participants of the Competition).

4.6 Applications are processed by the Organizing Committee of the competition, and competition videos are evaluated by the jury from June 1 to June 15, 2024.

4.7 The results of the 1st correspondence round will be published no later than June 20, 2024 on the website of the St. Petersburg Conservatory (https://conservatory.ru).

4.8 The Organizing Committee undertakes to send out notifications about the results of absentee auditions to all participants in the 1st round and official invitations to those who passed the 2nd round within 3 days from the date of the official announcement of the results on the Conservatory website, i.e. no later than June 23, 2024.

5. REQUIREMENTS FOR COMPETITION VIDEO MATERIALS

5.1 Video materials should be easily opened via links from the computer or other device of each jury member, and should not require registration on the platform or downloading the video to view.

5.2 Availability of access to links is the responsibility of the competition participant.

5.3 Video recording must ensure identification of the performer: the competitor must be clearly visible in full height. 

5.4 Recordings of works must be made in a concert hall or in a large classroom wearing concert clothes.

5.5 All works, including the recording of the 1st round, are performed by heart.

5.6 Video recordings of the live performance of the qualifying program are allowed to participate in the Competition. All three works of the 1st round can be recorded in different files. Gluing and installation inside the works is prohibited. 

5.7 Video recordings are sent as a link to YouTube, or to cloud services: Yandex.Disk, Google.Disk, Mail.Ru Cloud (publication of the number on social networks is not allowed).

6. JURY AND SUMMING UP THE RESULTS OF THE COMPETITION

6.1 The Competition jury is formed from leading Russian and foreign harp soloists and leading musicians of other specialties.

6.2 Based on the results of the absentee auditions of the 1st round, no more than 25 participants are allowed to participate in the 2nd round of the competition.

6.3 Based on the results of the in-person auditions of the 2nd round, no more than 8 participants are allowed to participate in the 3rd round of the competition.

6.4 The decision of the jury is final and is not subject to review or appeal. Judicial intervention is excluded. The occurrence of controversial scores is resolved by voting between all members of the jury.

6.5 The jury has the right:
1) not all prizes are awarded;
2) share places between participants who have scored an equal number of points (except for first prize);
3) award special and additional diplomas and prizes.

6.6 Based on the results of competitive auditions, participants in the competition are awarded the following titles:

• Participant of the Competition (all competitors who make it to the 2nd round are awarded a certificate)
• Diploma winner of the Competition (a diploma is awarded to all competitors who make it to the 3rd round)
• Laureate of the Competition (three degrees)

6.7 Cash prizes are awarded to laureates in the amount of:

1st place laureate:
- 200,000 rubles from sponsor SALVIMUSIC
- Concert performance of C. Debussy “Dances for harp and strings” in the Great Hall of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic with the Youth Symphony Orchestra of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra.
- A memorable gift from the sponsor.

2nd place laureate:
- 150,000 rubles
- Performance of the Concerto for Harp and Orchestra by G. Handel - M. Grangiani in the Small Hall of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic by the String Quartet named after S. Taneyev
- A memorable gift from the sponsor.

3nd place laureate:
- Cash prize 100,000 rubles
- A memorable gift from the sponsor
                                      
Special prize - for the best performance of a P.I. Tchaikovsky’s piece in the 1st round.

Special prize - for the best performance of a I.S. Bach’s piece in the 1st round.

6.8 At the end of the competitive auditions, the final gala concert of the Competition Laureates with a chamber orchestra will take place, which will be held in the Small Hall of the St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonic named after D.D. Shostakovich.

7. COMPETITION PROGRAM

Competition pieces from all rounds must be performed by heart.
Works from rounds 1st and 2nd not be repeated.

The 1st round
(qualifying by video recordings)

1)    J.S.Bach  ore  G.F. Handel. Any work or different parts of a work (without repetitions in any edition). 
Examples:
J.S. Bach. Suite N1 es-moll, BWV 996; French Parts from Suite No.1 in D Minor, BWV 812; No.2 in C Minor, BWV 813; No.6 in E Major
G.F. Handel. Prelude and Toccata; Theme with variations.
Perhaps any other work or two works by I.S. Bach (for example, Bach-Granjani etudes) or works by G. F. Handel (except for the B-Dur concerto, which is a mandatory piece in the 3rd round).

2)    P. I. Tchaikovsky. Any piece of the participant's choice. 
Examples:
Piece from “The Seasons”; Nata-Waltz; Sentimental waltz                                                   

3)    Any piece, fantasy, variations of the participant’s choice.
Examples:
L. Spohr. Fantasy.
K. Saint-Saens. Fantasy.
B. Smetana-G. Trneček - Fantasia on the themes of the symphonic poem “Vltava” for solo harp op. 45
G. Fore. Impromptu; "The Princess in the Castle"
A. Kaple. Two divertissements for harp.
N.Rota. Sarabande and toccata.
S. Prokofiev. Prelude, etc

The 2nd round

1) Work of the participant’s choice:
J. Peschetti. Sonata;
J. Dussek. Sonata;
J-B. Cordon. Sonata;
A. Rosetti. Sonata;
W. Mozart. Fantasy dmoll
Two different Sonatas by D. Scarlatti.
                                     
2) Virtuoso piece (fantasy, variations) by composers of the 19th-20th centuries.
Examples:
B. Smetana, G. Fauré, E. Walter-Kühne, A. Zabel, A. Renier, M. Tournier, E. Perisch-Alvars,
M. Granzhani, M. Mchedelov, C. Salcedo, G. Rossini – N. Boksa, V. Kikta,  etc.

3) Works of the participant’s choice:
P. Hindemith. Sonata
B. Britten. Suite for harp
J. Taillefer. Sonata 
S. Natra. Sonatina 
N. Rota. Sarabande and toccata.

The 3rd round

1)    G. Handel – M. Granzhani. Concerto for harp and orchestra in B major.
It is possible to perform the main version of the concert.
The cadenza can be composed by the participant himself or performed in any other version, including a version of M. Granzhani’s cadenza.
Sheet music for one of the cadence options will be provided on the conservatory’s website (link)

2)    K. Debussy. Dances for harp and strings.

Группа конкурса Вконтакте: https://vk.com/goldenharp2024
Группа конкурса в Телеграмм: https://t.me/+OFDjp_03iW45MTAy