MKagel

The 6th International Mauricio Kagel Composition Competition launches its call for entries For the 6th time, the Ludwig van Beethoven Department of Piano in Music Education at the mdw - University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna is inviting to the Mauricio Kagel Composition Competition. In the previous five editions, young composers from over 65 countries submitted around 960 compositions. Since its first edition in 2010, the competition has been committed to promoting contemporary piano literature for children and young people. The task is to write a piano work in a contemporary tonal language that is easily realizable for piano lessons and thus provides young players with adequate artistic access to the music of the present. The Mauricio Kagel Composition Competition is distinguished by its particularly transparent and fair selection process. From the multitude of submissions, a selection of anonymized pieces will be presented in a multi-day judging process by students from the Ludwig van Beethoven Department of the mdw and will be publicly discussed by a renowned, international jury. The upcoming edition gladly welcomes Michael Jarrell, Elena Mendoza, Isabel Mundry, Miroslav Srnka and Marco Stroppa as jury members. The competition prizes are €6,500, €4,500 and €3,500. The award-winning pieces will be published in cooperation with Universal Edition. Audio recordings of these works will also be published on the mdw media library. Composers up to the age of 40 are invited to submit pieces digitally. The deadline for submissions is 20 September 2024. The performances, the public judging process and the decision will take place from 4-7 February 2025 in English in the Fanny Hensel Hall of the mdw and online via live stream. Information about the modalities and procedure of the competition as well as the possibility of submitting can be found at: https://mauricio-kagel-composition-competition.com/ A video of the live stream of the last public final in February 2022 can be found at: https://mediathek.mdw.ac.at/mauriciokagel2022. 6th International Mauricio Kagel Composition Competition Submission period: 20 September 2023 to 20 September 2024 Finale & judging process: 4-7 February 2025 Endowment: €6,500, €4,500 and €3,500 as well as the publication of the work in cooperation with Universal Edition Submission: https://mauricio-kagel-composition-competition.com/ Contact for questions and press mauricio-kagel-kompositionswettbewerb@mdw.ac.at

For the 5th International Mauricio Kagel Composition Competition, composers worldwide can now submit their works until September 3, 2021. The competition, which has been dedicated to the creation of new piano literature for children and young people since 2010, is based at the Ludwig van Beethoven Department for Piano in Music Education at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. In the course of the past four competitions, almost 800 compositions from over 60 countries from all continents were submitted. The task is to write a piano work in a contemporary tonal language that is easily realizable for piano lessons and thus provides young players with adequate artistic access to the music of the present. What is special about this competition is its high standard of fairness and transparency as well as its unusual format. The submission takes place digitally and the identities of the winners are presented to the international jury (this time consisting of: Michael Jarrell, Elena Mendoza, Isabel Mundry, Miroslav Srnka and Marco Stroppa) only after their decision is revealed. The presentation of the compositions and the final round will take place from February 1-4, 2022 at the University of Music and Performing Arts and will be streamed live on the Internet. The public discussion of the jury members will be conducted in English. The competition prizes are 3000, 4000 and 6000 euros, and the winning pieces will be published in cooperation with Universal Edition. In 1995 Mauricio Kagel was a guest of the Vienna Days of Contemporary Piano Music. A second visit was planned, but did not materialize due to his passing in 2008. The competition was subsequently named in memory of Mauricio Kagel.

Mauricio Kagel Composition Competition http://www.mauricio-kagel-composition-competition.com Considering the relative overabundance of piano literature, it would be seemingly foolhardy to stage a composition competition promoting the creation of new pieces for piano. Everything appears to exist already, even pieces for children and young adults. Still, far too frequently it is precisely this contemporary „educational literature“ which proves lacking in artistic qualities; accompanying a reduction in technical difficulty, with an objectionable reduction in the notion of what children and young adults are capable of understanding – both intellectually and emotionally. We are looking for piano pieces written for children and young adults which, although limited in their technical difficulty, remain uncompromising in their artistic aim; pieces written with a contemporary compositional technique which offer the young student stimulus, insight and new experiences: experiences about oneself and the world in which we live. With the creation of this competition, the Ludwig van Beethoven Department of Piano and Harpsichord in Music Education would like to ensure that such quality pieces are more prevalent in the future and to this end we invite composers to accept the challenge by enrolling in the competition. In the course of a week’s time an audience comprised of students, teachers, and performing artists will be given the chance to listen as the jury evaluates the different ways this challenge has been addressed by the composers. The jury will assess not only the artistic quality of the pieces, but also the question: what does a piano student learn from these pieces? And in addition the discussion will cover what makes a piece exciting and what is future-oriented; while at the same time never loosing sight of the technical limits implied when composing for children and young adults. The decision of the Jury to award the prizes within the course of the Maurico Kagel composition competition is reached, therefore, in a very special way – not behind closed doors, but in open and public discussion. The winning pieces will be technically suitable for children/young adults but will not compromise their artistic aim in order to make a pedagogical impact. Instead, they will be convincing due to their compositional quality. General Conditions Conditions for Participation a) The competition is open to all composers born after August 15th, 1978. Participants who were awarded prizes in 2010, 2013 and 2016 are no longer eligible to enter. b) The submitted score should be composed for this competition. The composition must not be older than three years and should not have been performed privately or publicly, copied, distributed, broadcasted or made accessible on the internet. c) Each composer may submit only one score in its entirety and not in part. Details of the composition The composition should be written for one piano (solo or for more than one pianist), and can include all facets of the instrument. It is of great importance that the pieces be appropriate in their level of difficulty for children / young adults and be suitable for pedagogical use. Therefore the pianistic difficulties and musical challenges should be conceived with children / young adults in mind. The score is expected to be comprehensible and clear. Instructions for performance must be written in German or English. The piece or group of pieces is expected to have a total length of between 6 and 15 minutes. Applications a) The participants are to send an envelope marked on the outside with a freely chosen five-digit code which will secure the anonymity of the participant. The envelope should contain: 1. six copies of the piano score - each annotated with the same five-digit code. The composer's name should not appear on the score 2. an additional sealed envelope marked with the same code and containing the composer's personal data, a short curriculum vitae and two recent photos. b) All entries must be postmarked no later than August 15th, 2018 and should be addressed to: Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien Ludwig van Beethoven Institut für Klavier und Cembalo in der Musikpädagogik Rennweg 8 1030 Wien Österreich Jury Michael Jarrell Isabel Mundry Robert HP Platz Rebecca Saunders Marco Stroppa • From the entries received, each jury member will nominate several pieces to be included in the Vienna Days of Contemporary Piano Music 2019 (February 4th - 7th, 2019), openly discussed by the jurors and considered for a prize. • The presentation of the prizes will take place on the 7th of February, 2019 during the Vienna Days of Contemporary Piano Music 2019. • The organizers reserve the right to find replacement jury members as seen necessary. • The jury is free in its decision making. All decisions of the jury are final and indisputable. There can be no appeal against the jury’s judgement. Prizes 1st Prize € 5.000.- 2nd Prize € 3.000.- 3rd Prize € 2.000.- The jury may decide to divide the prizes or not to award a prize. Winning scores will be published together in a volume entitled K2019. Additionally, the jury may create a list of recommended pieces. The Ludwig van Beethoven Department of Piano and Harpsichord in Music Education will release digital recordings of the prize winning pieces and selected recommendations from the jury. Legal Information Scores received cannot be returned. The organizers of the competition cannot be held responsible for post which arrives damaged, goes astray or is delivered late. Registration for the competition and the submission of scores implies the unconditional acceptance of all conditions set forth herein. The composers of the submitted scores retain their rights as copyright holders. The Ludwig van Beethoven Department of Piano and Harpsichord in Music Education retains the right to visually and acoustically document, record and reproduce all concerts, performances and presentations held during the course of the competition and the subsequent Vienna Days of Contemporary Piano Music for the purpose of advertising the competition. The musical works enshrined in those sound and/or audiovisual recordings may be copied, distributed, performed, combined with other kinds of works, broadcasted and made available to the public free of charge without limitation to time, space or scope, as long as those recordings are used for non-commercial purposes. In case the author is represented by a collective management society, she or he has to see to the formalities according to the applicable rules of the respective societies in order to be able to grant a licence for non-commercial purposes prior to the recording. This licence is transmissible to third persons. In case of an intended use for commercial ends, the rightsholder has to grant the respective permission. Litigation is excluded as a possibility for settling disputes arising in connection with the competition. http://www.mauricio-kagel-composition-competition.com

We are looking for piano pieces written for children and young adults which, although limited in their technical difficulty, remain uncompromising in their artistic aim; pieces written with a contemporary compositional technique which offer the young student stimulus, insight and new experiences: experiences about oneself and the world in which we live. Composers younger than 40 years can submit pieces for piano that are suitable for children and young adults by 15 August 2015. The prize money totals 10,000 Euros. For further information please visit: www.mauricio-kagel-kompositionswettbewerb.com (German) www.mauricio-kagel-composition-competition.com (English) Mauricio Kagel Composition Competition 2015.pdf