Concerto and Solo Competitions

Raymond Piano Solo Competition 2023 Finalists

Emily Dong, Mingzi (Esther) Hu, Owen Espinosa, Brian Zhou, Tristen Chen

Raymond Piano Solo Competition 2023

• Who is Eligible: any student who is participating for the full four-week 2023 MasterWorks Festival, and is entirely or partially enrolled in the piano program.
• Cost to Audition: no fee
• Application Deadline: July 1, 2023, 5:00 pm EDT.  No extensions will be granted.  Click the link to apply.  Raymond Piano Solo Competition Application – coming soon
• Approved Works: 
  • Solo works, excluding concerti. Students should prepare a completely memorized program with a minimum of 20 minutes and a maximum of 25 minutes.
  • Legal print copies of all scores must be provided for the judge.

• First Round: TBA
  • The judge will hear approximately 12 minutes of music.
  • Students will select the first piece to perform.  The judge will select all of the following works and will indicate when to stop and continue to the next piece.

• Finals Round: TBA
  • All five finalists will perform.
  • Students will select the performance order and play the entire 20-25 minute program.

First Prize: $2,500 scholarship to attend the 2024 MasterWorks Festival PLUS a solo recital performance at the 2024 MasterWorks Festival

Second Prize: $1,000 scholarship to attend the 2024 MasterWorks Festival

Third Prize: $500 scholarship to attend the 2024 MasterWorks Festival

Competition winners can claim their scholarship awards by participating in the 2024 MasterWorks Festival. The first prize winner must participate in the piano program for all four weeks in 2024. Second and third prize winners must participate in the piano program for at least two weeks in 2024. Prize winners must still complete and submit an application for the 2024 MasterWorks Festival.

Concerto Competition 2023

• Who is Eligible: any student who is participating for the entirety of their program
• Cost to Audition: $50 – collaborative artist fee (see below)
• Video Submission Deadline (pre-festival): with application form by 11:59 pm EDT, Monday, May 1
• Concertos: Select ONE movement from a concerto found in the public domain. All concertos must be approved prior to entry in the competition.  To confirm that a concerto will be approved, please email sharalynn@christianperformingart.org

• First Round: pre-festival
  • A high quality video/audio recording, with accompaniment, must be submitted no later than 11:59 pm EDT, Monday, May 1.  Recordings must be made in one take, beginning to end with no splicing. Recordings must be uploaded to YouTube and set to allow viewing by the selection committee without additional permission requests.
  • Complete the application. Concerto Competition Application. (Please have all links ready to submit with the form.  Incomplete submissions will not be considered for the pre-hearing round.)
• Finalist Selection:
  • After notification, finalists must submit a $50 registration fee to cover the collaborative artist fee by 11:59 pm EDT, Friday, June 2.
• Concerto Finals Concert: Thursday, June 22, 8:15 pm.

• Final Performance with Orchestra: Winners of the Concerto Finals Concert will perform with the Festival Orchestra on the final concert.

Solo Honors Recital 2023

• Eligibility: any student who is participating for the entirety of their program. (Semi-finalists and finalists for the Concerto Competition will not be eligible.  In the event that the Concerto Competition finalists have not been announced, students may enter the Solo Honors Recital with the understanding that they will withdraw if selected for the Concerto finals.)
• Cost: none
• Video Submission Deadline (pre-festival): 11:59 pm EDT, Monday, May 29.
• Submission Video: high-quality video recording, with accompaniment (if applicable).  Recording must be completed in one take, beginning to end, with no splicing and/or editing. Recordings must be uploaded to YouTube and set to allow viewing by the selection committee without additional permission requests.  Please note that the video must show the actual performance.
• Online Application: (see below)
• Piano accompaniment score (if applicable): must be received at the same time as the video recording.  Incomplete entries will be disqualified.
• Approved Works: 
  • solo (accompanied or unaccompanied) works, excluding concerti
  • single movement of multi-movement works
• Recital Date: third week of the Festival

Note: Repertoire may not be substituted for the recorded repertoire once the application has been submitted.   If selected to perform, the student must plan to play the work with which they auditioned by video submission.