End of the 1st part of the preselections

The first part of the preliminary rounds of the Young Conductors Competition has just been completed in Paris and Besançon.
Out of the 143 candidates initially registered in these two cities, 104 candidates presented themselves with the hope of joining the selection of twenty candidates for the final tests in September.

The preliminary rounds are scheduled to continue in Beijing from 21 to 23 June and in Montreal from 27 to 29 June 2021.
Due to the health context and the mandatory quarantine to travel to the venue, it has been decided that these two international stages will most likely be conducted by video-conference:

• The registered candidates will be asked to come at their pre-selection venue from where they will conduct, in front of a camera, two locally engaged pianists of a level equivalent to the French pianists, with an identical programme and the same length of time to perform, i.e. 12 minutes
• Catherine Larsen-Maguire and Jacques Mercier, the two members of the jury, will view the videos of the candidates’ performances live from France.

We hope to offer selection conditions as close as possible to those practiced in Europe.
Candidates who do not wish to take part under these conditions will be reimbursed for their registration fees.

To complete the selections, the Institut Français of Berlin will welcome the last candidates from 1 to 4 July 2021.
Unless traffic restrictions change, this last stage will take place in person, with the jury and the usual pianists.