Rules - France Music Competition

The France Music Competition is organized by Les Musicales du Centre, a non-profit association of general interest under the French law of 1901. It is a multidisciplinary competition for talented musicians, singers, and chamber musicians. The competition takes place four times a year. It consists of a video round, according to the schedule available on the Competition's official website.

Article 2: Excellence and Integrity

The France Music Competition is committed to being at the forefront of innovation in the classical music competition industry, seeking to revolutionize online competitions. Our approach aims to provide our participants with a professional and serious evaluation, leading to personalized advice from the jury and, in some cases, scholarships, music prizes, and concert offers.

Registration fees are required to cover the costs associated with organizing the Competition, such as jury fees, various association expenses, employee compensation, and the distribution of prizes to the winners. We are transparent about the use of these fees and ensure they are used responsibly to ensure the excellence and integrity of the Competition.

Our competition takes the time to carefully examine each application with the expertise of a qualified jury. We dissociate ourselves from the questionable practices of certain competitions that do not fulfill their duty to carefully review applications and award diplomas to all candidates simply to satisfy participants, without truly assessing their skills, and do so in such a short timeframe that it raises questions. In contrast to these practices, our organization is firmly committed to ensuring a rigorous and fair evaluation process, by involving a competent jury and taking the time to analyze applications seriously.

Article 3: Eligibility conditions

The Competition is open to musicians, classical music singers and chamber music groups of all nationalities according to the ages defined in Article 5.

Article 4: Eligible disciplines

Musicians

The disciplines for musicians are as follows:

Keyboards: Piano, Harpsichord, Organ, Accordion
Strings: Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass, Harp, Guitar, Lute, Theorbo
Woodwind: Flute, Recorder, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Saxophone
Brass: Trumpet, French Horn, Trombone, Tuba, Euphonium
Percussion: All instruments

singers

The disciplines for singers are as follows:

Vocals: Soprano, Mezzo-soprano, Contralto, Countertenor, Tenor, Baritone, Bass-Baritone, Bass

Chamber music

All ensembles formed by the association of the disciplines mentioned above are accepted, with a maximum limit of 8 musicians.

Article 5: Age categories

The age to be indicated is the age reached at the time of registration. Candidates are assessed according to their discipline and age. The age categories are as follows:

Musicians and chamber music

4-5 years / 6-8 years / 9-11 years / 12-14 years / 15-17 years / 18-20 years / 21-23 years / 24-27 years / 28-31 years / 32-35 years / 36-40 years / 41-45 years / 46-50 years

Singing and vocal chamber music

18-20 years old / 21-23 years old / 24-27 years old / 28-31 years old / 32-35 years old / 36-40 years old / 41-45 years old / 46-50 years old

*For chamber music disciplines, an average age is taken for all members of the group.

Article 6: Conduct of the test

The international classical music competition “France Music Competition” takes place in one round.

The program is optional, may include several works, and has no time limit. The jury decides to stop listening when it has enough elements to establish a score.

Article 7: Musical program

The program, with no time limit, is left to the candidate's choice, thus offering an opportunity to showcase their personality and their musical and technical skills. Authorized musical genres include early and/or classical music, such as medieval, renaissance, baroque, classical, romantic, modern, and contemporary. Genres such as jazz, rock, rap, pop, etc. are not permitted.

It is permitted to play a single movement from a sonata or concerto. Excerpts from a movement are not permitted; however, the accompanying pianist is permitted to cut the orchestral tutti parts from a concerto. Chamber music groups should prioritize works originally written for their ensemble. Instrumentalists and singers may choose solo pieces or pieces with accompaniment of their choice, with the exception of CD accompaniment.

The retakes are left to the discretion of the candidates.

Candidates have the option of playing with a score, as the Competition does not consider this to be a negative assessment criterion. We believe it is counterproductive to exclude a candidate who may have excellent skills but some memorization difficulties. The jury therefore has no right to judge candidates based on this criterion.

Article 8: Prizes and rewards

Seven scholarships will be awarded at the Honor Awards (in addition to diplomas). Scholarships will be awarded to the most deserving candidates across all categories.

€2.000
€1.000
€500
€200
€110
€110
€110

First, second, and third prizes will also be awarded unanimously or not. Winners will receive a diploma by email. These prizes may be awarded ex-aequo. Diplomas are not automatically awarded.

The total prize money awarded is €4.030. However, the Competition reserves the right not to award the full amount.

Article 9: Publication of results

The results will be published on the official website of the France Music Competition. In addition, an email notification will be sent to candidates on the date specified in the Competition calendar.

Article 10: Video Regulations

It is requested to include in the video or in the video description the program, the location and the date of the recording. The video must be recent.

Please submit a URL link to your video. All platforms are accepted as long as the video is publicly accessible. Once the competition submission deadline has passed, the video link cannot be changed. No audio or video editing is permitted during the duration of each entry, as each entry must be recorded in a single take.

If multiple pieces of music were recorded at different times, they may be submitted on the same video link, but the timing of each piece must be indicated in the description. The video may have already been submitted to another competition.

It is required to use a single camera, placed at human height, allowing a clear view of the candidate's face, hands and instrument. It is recommended to have a sound recording made by a professional, although this is not mandatory. A video whose image and/or sound quality does not allow the jury to evaluate the candidate's skills will be refused. Candidates must ensure that their video recording remains accessible at all times until the results are announced, otherwise they will be disqualified from the "France Music Competition".

Article 11: Jury

Process and composition of the jury

The evaluation of video material submitted for the Competition is carried out by a jury composed of classical music professionals. The jury's decisions are final, cannot be discussed, and are not subject to appeal. The jury reserves the right to interrupt a candidate's performance if it deems it necessary.

The Competition's principle is to appeal to the personal and individual judgment of each member of the jury, and they therefore prohibit any consultation.

Jury Announcement

The jury is announced on the Competition website on average 7 days before the closing date for registrations, in order to avoid any candidate/jury corruption and to meet the specific needs of the edition (if there are a lot of candidates in a discipline for example and usually not).

Video viewing time

Each member of the jury assigns their rating as soon as they have sufficient information to formulate their assessment, based on each video submitted. The Competition organizer places great importance on the rigor of each member of the jury and reserves the right to take action, including exclusion, against a member of the jury if the organization believes that the member is negligent in the evaluation of a candidate.

Voting procedure

The jury votes between 50 and 100, and the average of the scores establishes the ranking according to the following criteria:

50-65: No price
66-70: Honorable mention
71-75: 3rd Prize
76-80: 3rd Prize unanimously
81-85: 2rd Prize
86-90: 2rd Prize unanimously
91-94: 1st Prize
95-99: 1st Prize unanimously
100: Honorary Award and Scholarship

The total number of candidates is not limited.

Jury Comments

All candidates will receive personalized feedback from the jury. This feedback will be made available as soon as the results are announced.

Article 12: Registration

Registration is exclusively via an online form. If there is an error on the registration form, it cannot be amended, so please review it carefully. Once the £99 application fee has been submitted, it cannot be refunded, except in the following case: the Competition organizers reserve the right to postpone or cancel the Competition in the event of an insufficient number of applicants. In the event of cancellation, the registration fee will be refunded, with the exception of commission fees from banking intermediaries such as PayPal, Stripe, distance selling contracts, etc.

Article 13: Validation of application

It is important to note that application validation is automatic once the application file is complete. Candidates will receive confirmation of the validation of their application by email. It is the candidate's responsibility to ensure that their application is validated within the deadline and to keep a copy of their application file. The Competition cannot be held responsible for non-receipt of an application due to an error in the candidate's email address or other technical issues.

If a candidate encounters technical issues during their online application, it is important to report them to the competition organization as soon as possible so that their application can still be validated. It is also recommended to begin registration no later than 48 hours before the application deadline to avoid technical issues as much as possible.

It is also important to note that no ideological, linguistic, political, religious, or racial grounds can justify the rejection of an application. All applications are treated fairly and objectively, without discrimination based on these criteria.

Article 14: Management of documents for candidates

Once registration is validated, candidates can view and download their invoice and certificate of participation sent by email. If successful, diplomas and certificates of teaching recognition for teachers (if requested at registration) will be sent by email after the competition results are announced.

Article 15: Extraordinary conditions of disqualification

Submitting a video that includes multiple disciplines is prohibited, and any such submission will result in disqualification. Applicants wishing to compete in multiple disciplines must submit separate applications for each discipline. Applicants whose musical repertoire is not suited to the so-called "classical" music context will also be disqualified.
Any false declaration of a candidate's age will result in disqualification.
Video or audio editing will result in disqualification.
Any use of written or oral insults against a member or the jury of the Competition will result in disqualification.
Any other behavior deemed inappropriate, not in accordance with the rules of the Competition, or detrimental to its smooth running.

Article 16: Media

Applicants expressly authorize the use of their professional photos for promotional purposes on the website and social media. For any use of video media, the association Les Musicales du Centre undertakes to obtain the musician's prior consent.

Article 17: Rights to broadcast videos to the jury

Candidates certify that they hold all the rights necessary for the distribution to the jury of the videos submitted as part of the “France Music Competition”.

Article 18: Regulations and appeals

The Competition reserves the right to modify these rules in the event of circumstances beyond its control.demanding. In the event of a significant change, all registered participants will be informed by email or other appropriate means of communication.
The jury's decisions are final, cannot be discussed and cannot be appealed.
Any dispute or claim concerning theinterpretation, theexecution or termination du prThis regulation will, in the first instance, be subject to an attempt at settlement atamicable between the parties. If the parties fail to resolve the disputeamicably within 90 days of the first notification du dispute, this will be submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the city of Nice, notwithstanding plurality of defendants or third-party claims.

Article 19: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Our association is growing steadily and has a modestly sized team. To effectively answer your frequently asked questions, we've created a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section that covers 80% of the questions we receive regularly. It's available on our website.

Article 20: Contact in case of missing information

Please contact us only if you cannot find the information you are looking for.
Click here to access the contact form.

Article 21: Data management

The information collected on the registration forms is stored in a computer file for the sole purpose of processing competition registrations. The data collected will not be shared with third parties. The deletion of data and the candidate profile is scheduled after 36 months of inactivity.

Applicants have the right to request erasure or to exercise their right to limit the processing of their data. To exercise these rights or for any questions about data processing in this system, it is possible to send an email.

Article 22: Agreement with the Competition rules

Registration for the "France Music Competition" constitutes full acceptance of these rules by the candidates. This agreement is an essential condition for admission to the Competition.

Last updated: May 1, 2024