1. About

The International Competition Piano Val de Travers will be held from 7 to 9 February in Neuchâtel, Switzerland 2025.

The competition was created for promotion of young talents in Switzerland. They are organizing concerts for their winners  in the way to motivate them in their music studies and helping them with their future carrier.

The competition is open to pianists of any nationality, born after 9 February 1999. The competitors are divided in three age categories:

• "A"- participants born on or after February 9, 2013  (up to 12 years old) only online competition !!!
• "B" - participants born on or after February 9, 2009 ( up to 15 years old)
• "C" - participants born on or after February 9, 1999  (up to 25 years old)

The competition will be held after online preselection on 7th,8th and 9th February 2025 in Conservatory and Temple du Bas in Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

2. Competition Process:

Category A-only online competition

Category B- after online preselection, competition on  8th February 2025 in Neuchâtel Conservatory (final concert on 9th February)

Category C-after online preselection: 

• 7th February 2025 semi-final, 
• 8th February rehearsals with orchestra ,
• 9th February final round in Temple du Bas with orchestra.

 The deadline for submitting all application materials and recordings is on 5th december 2024. No applications will be accepted after this date. 

5th december  2024  preselection round: Recording (watch repertoire for each category). This recording has to be send together with your application form.

From each category maximum 20 candidates will be invited in Neuchâtel after jury decision. 

They will receive family accommodation facilities for the week-end of the competition. 

All recordings will be available on our Youtube channel as well as each candidates will be able to contact jury members after performance. 

 

3. Application form:

To apply, please, send your application form and following documents hier :

• Application form
• A copy of your passport or ID card (to prove your date of birth)
• Photo
• Short biography
• Receipt of the entrance fee payment
• Link on Youtube or Vimeo with recording of first round for all categories: A, B and C.

Video must be recent, recorded  during last 12 months in one take, with no cuts, shell keep a fixed short on participants face and hands. Any kind of corrections of audio and video are forbidden under penalty of disqualification.

In the title of your recording you shell indicate :

Name of the competition :« Piano Neuchâtel-Val de Travers » 2025 / Name and surname of participant with date of birth and category.

 

4. Application Fee:

• Category A 75 CHF or 75 Euro
• Category B 110 CHF or 110 Euro
• Category C 130 CHF or 130 Euro

Application Fee is non refundable!

Important:
You can do your entrance fee payment after your registration will be complited.
First make online registration and after you can add your video link. You can join your recording to your application profile till 5 December 2024. Your registration page will be allways open for changings till the application deadline.

5. Recordings:

Don't forget about quality of your recording! Your hands and face should be visible, and you have to give preference to the sound quality. You can send us a link to your recording via Youtube or Vimeo. All recordings will be published!!!

Applicants will be admitted to participate in the competition only after the application fee is entirely paid. Any application bank charges or commissions are payable by the applicant. The participant’s full name should be indicated in the payment reference. 

The competition organizers reserve the rights to all audio and video recordings, photos, Internet publications and broadcasts of the recordings, performances and concerts during the competition.

Winners will participate in the Final Concert and any other events arranged by the competition organizers.

All competition recordings will be published. Competition  will be open to the public and transmitted in continuous flow.

6. Programm:

  Category A:  Participants born on or after February 9, 2013  (under 12 years old) 

Only online competition !!!

RECORDING: program of free choice with minimum 3 pieces from contrasted periods (for example: baroque, contemporary, romantic). Maximum 10 minutes.All works must be played from memory.

Only online competition.

Category B:  Participants born on or after February 9, 2009

The competition in Category B will take place in two rounds (first round after recording, second final round in Neuchâtel the 8th  February 2025)

FIRST ROUND :

RECORDING: duration of program (from minimum  8 minutes  to maximum 12 minutes)

• One virtuoso study
• One piece of free choice
• If total duration is under 8 minutes you can add a piece of free choice

SECOND ROUND: (maximum 20 finalists will be invited in Neuchâtel the 8th-9th February 2025)

Free program max. 15 minutes must include a piece written after 1900. No repeats from online round.
All works must be played from memory. Only works written after 1960 can be performed with music scores.

Category C:  Participants born on or after February 9, 1999

The competition in Category C will take place in three rounds (first rounds after recordings, semi-final and final round  in Neuchâtel the 7th-9th February 2025)

FIRST ROUND :

RECORDING of the program must not exceed 13 minutes and must include :

• One Prelude and Fugue from the Well-Tempered Clavier, Books 1 or 2 by J. S. Bach
• One Chopin study
• One study by Liszt, Rachmaninov, Debussy, Scriabin, Ligeti, Chin or Rubinstein

SEMI-FINAL in Neuchâtel Conservatory the 7 th February  maximum (20 selected candidates will be invited to play recital)

RECITAL of 30-35 minutes must include:

• One or several pieces of free choice
• One piece written after 1960 

All works must be played from memory.

Only works written after 1960 can be performed with music scores.

FINAL ROUND in TEMPLE DU BAS 9th February 2025

(5 selected candidates) :

 with conservatory string orchestra  « La Stravaganza » under conducting Carole Hearing and Louis Pantillon.

• J.S. Bach, Concerto BWV 1052
• W.A. Mozart, Concerto No 12, KV 414
• F. Chopin, Concerto No 1, opus 11

7. Other:

The jury’s decision will be final and not subject to appeal. 

The jury reserves the right to stop the participant during the performance, if the performance exceeds the specified time limit or if the jury feels it is ready to make its decision without hearing the rest. 

By registering to participate in the competition, the applicant accepts the competition rules.

In case of dispute, only the french version is valid.

8. Official Competition  website: https://piano.international/en/