Guide to the Competition

About Shanghai Isaac Stern International
Violin Competition
The inaugural biennial Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition (SISIVC),
Shanghai’s first world-class violin competition, will be held from August 14th to September
2nd, 2016 in Shanghai, China. This Competition has taken its name from Isaac Stern to
commemorate the musical spirit of Maestro Stern by which a young generation of musicians
can be inspired and motivated.
Along with a grand prize of $100,000 USD, a jury of renowned artists and a unique
performance process, the Competition, leveraging the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra
platform with extensive resources around the world, will also provide promising contestants
with great opportunities including arranging performance contracts, concert tours, album
recording and introductions to world-class music agencies, enabling prosperous careers and
encouraging winners to embrace their artistic dreams.
Schedule
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Prizes
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Special Prize
Isaac Stern Award – Human Spirit Award: $10,000 USD
About Isaac Stern
Not long after the establishment of Sino-American relations, renowned violinist Isaac Stern
paid his first trip to China in 1979. That historic
visit came to be immortalised in the Oscar-winning documentary From Mao to Mozart, a
moving work that captured perfectly the
musical culture of China at that time. Concerts
aside, Stern also spent time during his visit at
China’s Central Conservatory of Music and the
Shanghai Conservatory of Music, imparting
with singular diligence his wisdom to Chinese students along the way. Throughout
the length of his exceptional career, he was just as at home cultivating talent off
the stage as he was showcasing his own upon it. Throughout the latter half of the
last century, his brilliance shone through the talents he helped to forge. This prize
has taken its name from Stern to commemorate the human spirit that infused
every single thread of his extraordinary career.
In solemn recognition of Isaac Stern’s musical illumination of humanity, the ‘Isaac
Stern Prize’ was created to award an individual — in any field and from any part of
the world — who is deemed to have made an outstanding contribution to our
understanding of humanity through the medium of music. This prize will be
awarded to the laureate selected by the chair of the competition’s organisation
committee Long Yu, Yo-Yo Ma by special invitation, and members of the Stern
family.
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General Rules
1. The competition is open to participants of all nationalities between the ages 18
and 32, born on or before 14 August 1998, and born on or after 14 August 1984.
2. Applicants must complete the online application by 31 January 2016, and the
application materials must be postmarked and mailed by registered post by 29
February 2016. The application materials must include the submitted online application form printed on single-sided A4 paper with signature and date, a pre-selection
recording on DVD and a copy of the bank proof of the application fee payment.
Detailed requirements can be found in ‘Rules’ at www.shcompetition.com.
3. Applicants who have been awarded the 1st, 2nd or 3rd prize in the following eight
competitions are entitled the right to apply for exempting from the submission of
pre-selection DVD in the application materials. A copy of the award certificate is
required in the application materials sent to the Administrative Office. The exemption
applies no more than 18 contestants and is applied on a ‘first come, first serve’
basis.
The Hannover International Violin Competition
The International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition
The International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition
The International Tchaikovsky Competition
The International Violin Competition of Indianapolis
The Montreal International Musical Competition
The Paganini International Violin Competition
The Queen Elisabeth Music Competition
4. The competition has three public rounds. Contestants perform at these in the
order established by the drawing of lots. The number of contestants who will be
admitted to each round:
DVD Pre-selection: No limit
First Round: Up to 36
Semi-Final Round: Up to 18
Final Round: 6
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5. The contestant should clarify if there is any immediate family (up to the fourth
degree of kinship) or pupil relationship with any jury member upon arrival. ‘Pupil’ is
defined as a contestant who has had three or more lessons with the jury member in
question in the 6 months prior to the on-site registration date.
6. Contestants are allowed to choose their own performance order preference for
each round. For the Semi-Final Round, the sessions are pre-scheduled in this order:
trio, Chinese work & sonata, and concerto (with chamber orchestra).
7. The Competition will provide travel reimbursement for airfare/train-ticket
(economy only) to each contestant admitted to the public rounds of the Competition
($1000 USD at most). Contestants must provide valid invoice and tickets to apply
for reimbursement. The Competition will not provide travel allowance for contestants
who live in Shanghai.
8. Complimentary accommodation will be provided to all contestants admitted to
the public rounds of the Competition.
9. The Competition will provide each contestant a designated piano accompanist.
Contestants are also allowed to bring personal accompanist and must indicate it in
the online application form. Complimentary accommodation will be provided to the
contestants’ personal pianists.
*Note: Please visit official website www.shcompetition.com for detailed rules.
Repertoire
DVD Pre-selection
A. W. A. Mozart Violin Sonata in E minor, K. 304.
B. Any TWO caprices from Niccolò Paganini’s 24 Caprices for Violin, Op. 1.
*Note: Contestants shall choose any two of the Caprices, and can repeat the caprices
performed in the First Round.
C. Any ONE violin concerto (with piano accompaniment) from the following list:
1. Samuel Barber: Violin Concerto, Op. 14;
2. Béla Bartók: Violin Concerto No. 2 in B minor, Sz. 112, BB 117;
3. L. v. Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61;
4. Leonard Bernstein: Serenade (after Plato’s ‘Symposium’);
5. Johannes Brahms: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77;
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6. Antonín Dvořák: Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53;
7. Edward Elgar: Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 61;
8. Felix Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64;
9. Sergei Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 19;
10. Sergei Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 63;
11. C. Saint-Saëns: Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor, Op. 61;
12. Dmitri Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 99;
13. Igor Stravinsky: Violin Concerto in D major;
14. P. I. Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35.
*Note: Contestants can repeat the concerto performed in the Final Round.
First Round
A. Any ONE violin sonata by J. S. Bach from the following list:
1. Violin Sonata No. 1 in G minor, BWV 1001;
2. Violin Sonata No. 2 in A minor, BWV 1003;
3. Violin Sonata No. 3 in C major, BWV 1005.
B. Any TWO caprices from Niccolò Paganini’s 24 Caprices for Violin, Op. 1.
*Note: Contestants shall choose any two of the Caprices, and can repeat the Caprices
performed in the DVD Pre-selection.
C. W. A. Mozart: Violin Sonata in E minor, K. 304.
D. Any TWO sonatas from Eugène Ysaÿe’s 6 Sonatas for Solo Violin, Op. 27.
*Note: Contestants shall choose any two of the Sonatas, and jury will opt for one before the
round.
Semi-Final Round
A. ONE composition by Chinese composers and any ONE violin sonata (with piano
accompaniment) from the following list:
i. ONE composition by Chinese composers (compulsory)
He Zhanhao & Chen Gang: Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto.
*Note: The edition of Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto shall be published by SMPH
(Shanghai Music Publishing House). Contestants may inquire the Competition
Administrative Office for the score via adminoffice@shcompetition.com.
ii. Any ONE violin sonata from the following list:
1. L. v. Beethoven: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in D major, Op. 12, No. 1;
2. L. v. Beethoven: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 12, No. 3;
3. L. v. Beethoven: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 5 in F major, Op. 24 - ‘Spring’;
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4. L. v. Beethoven: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 7 in C minor, Op. 30, No. 2;
5. L. v. Beethoven: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 9 in A major, Op. 47 - ‘Kreutzer’;
6. Johannes Brahms: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in G major, Op. 78;
7. Johannes Brahms: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 in A major, Op. 100;
8. Johannes Brahms: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108;
9. Claude Debussy: Sonata for Violin and Piano in G minor, L. 140;
10. Gabriel Faure: Violin Sonata No. 1 in A major, Op. 13;
11. César Franck: Sonata for Violin and Piano in A major, FWV. 8;
12. Edvard Grieg: Violin Sonata No. 3 in C minor, Op. 45;
13. Sergei Prokofiev: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in F minor, Op. 80;
14. Sergei Prokofiev: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 in D major, Op. 94;
15. Maurice Ravel: Violin Sonata No. 1 in A minor, M. 12;
16. C. Saint-Saëns: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in D minor, Op. 75;
17. Robert Schumann: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in A minor, Op. 105;
18. Robert Schumann: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 in D minor, Op. 121.
B. Any ONE piano trio work from the following list:
1. Johannes Brahms: Piano Trio No. 1 in B major, Op. 8, 1st movement;
2. Franz Schubert: Piano Trio No. 1 in B flat major, Op. 99, 1st movement.
C. W. A. Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major, K. 216.
*Note: For Mozart Violin Concerto, K. 216, traditional cadenzas are not acceptable.
Contestants shall compose his/her own improvisational cadenza, no longer than 5 minutes.
Final Round
A. Any ONE virtuoso work (with orchestra accompaniment) from the following list:
1. L. v. Beethoven Romance;
i. Romance No. 1 in G major, Op. 40;
ii. Romance No. 2 in F major, Op. 50;
*Note: If Beethoven Romances are chosen, contestants shall perform both pieces as a
pair.
2. Ernest Chausson: Poeme, Op. 25;
3. Niccolò Paganini: La Campanella, Op. 7;
4. Maurice Ravel: Tzigane;
5. N. Rimsky-Korsakov: Suite from ‘Le Coq D’Or’ (The Golden Cockerel);
6. C. Saint-Saëns/Eugène Ysaÿe: Caprice after a study in form of a Waltz, Op. 52;
7. C. Saint-Saëns: Havanaise, Op. 83;
8. C. Saint-Saëns: Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, Op. 28;
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9. Pablo de Sarasate: Zigeunerweisen, Op. 20;
10. Christian Sinding: Suite for Violin and Orchestra in A minor, Op. 10;
11. Franz Waxman: Carmen Fantasie;
12. Henryk Wieniawski: Fantasie brillante on themes from Gounod’s ‘Faust’, Op. 20;
13. Henryk Wieniawski: Souvenir de Moscow, Op. 6.
B. Any ONE violin concerto (with orchestra accompaniment) from the following list:
1. Samuel Barber: Violin Concerto, Op. 14;
2. Béla Bartók: Violin Concerto No. 2 in B minor, Sz. 112, BB 117;
3. L. v. Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61;
4. Leonard Bernstein: Serenade (after Plato’s ‘Symposium’);
5. Johannes Brahms: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77;
6. Antonín Dvořák: Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53;
7. Edward Elgar: Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 61;
8. Felix Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64;
9. Sergei Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 19;
10. Sergei Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 63;
11. C. Saint-Saëns: Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor, Op. 61;
12. Dmitri Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 99;
13. Igor Stravinsky: Violin Concerto in D major;
14. P. I. Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35.
*Note: Contestants can repeat the concerto performed in the DVD Pre-selection.
*Note: The programme of all rounds must be played from memory except the piano trio
work and the sonata in the Semi-Final Round.
This is the latest version of repertoire for SISIVC 2016, subject to changes in the near future.
Please visit the official website www.shcompetition.com or follow us on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/shcompetition for any updates.
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