The competition consists of 3 rounds:
16th of September 2024: Preliminary (online round)
19th to 22nd of March 2025: Semi-Final and Final (Live rounds)
23rd of March 2025: Concert with Award Ceremony
One of the French Suites BWV 812 – 817
+ one the works from this list:
Toccata in E minor BWV 914
or
Toccata in G major BWV 916
or
Transcription of the Concerto n° 3 in D minor BWV 974
(Allegro), Adagio, Presto (based on an oboe concerto by Alessandro Marcello)
or
Transcription of the Concerto n° 4 in G minor BWV 975
(Allegro), Largo, Giga: Presto (based on a violin concerto by Antonio Vivaldi, op. 4 n°. 6)
or
Transcription of the Concerto n° 7 in F major BWV 978
Allegro, Largo, Allegro (based on a violin concerto by Antonio Vivaldi op. 3 n° 3)
or
5 Sinfonias from BWV 787 – 801
or
6 „Little Preludes“ BWV 933 – 938
(with repeats)
or
1 Fugue from “Kunst der Fuge” BWV 1080
One of the Partitas BWV 825 – 830
+ Preludes & Fugues from the WTC book I and/or II using the following system:
Partita n° 1 B flat major BWV 825
+ 3 Preludes & Fugues
or
Partita n° 2 C minor BWV 826
+ 2 Preludes & Fugues
or
Partita n° 3 A minor BWV 827
+ 2 Preludes & Fugues
or
Partita n° 4 D major BWV 828
+ 1 Prelude & Fugue
or
Partita n° 5 G major BWV 829
+ 2 Preludes & Fugues
or
Partita n° 6 E minor BWV 830
+ 1 Prelude & Fugue
One of the English Suites BWV 806 – 811
+ one or more original works by J. S. Bach
or
French Overture in B minor BWV 831
+ one or more original works by J. S. Bach
or
A free selection of Preludes and Fugues
from the WTC I and/or II, BWV 846 – 893
(with the exception of works played in the
Semi-Final)
or
Goldberg Variations BWV 988
(without repeats)
All Repertoire of Preliminary, Semi-Final and Final rounds MUST be performed by memory.
Suite (French Suite, English Suite as well as Partita) movements must be performed with repeats.
The participant may decide to perform the Preludes of the Well-Tempered Clavier with or without repeats.
Sarabandes with “Doubles/Agréments” may be performed alternately.
The competitor may decide to play the repeats of single Sarabandes with figurations and ornaments.
If the 1st English Suite is chosen, the competitor is to play at least two of the four Courantes.
French Overture: Do not repeat the part in 6/8 time in the overture.
Please use original texts (“Urtext”); all alternate versions of Urtext will be accepted.
The competition is open to participants born after March 21, 1988, i.e. who are no older than 36 at the time of the contest.
The competition consists of 3 rounds:
16th of September 2024: Preliminary (online round)
19th to 22nd of March 2025: Semi-Final and Final (Live rounds)
23rd of March 2025: Concert with Award Ceremony
The videos of the Preliminary will be published on our YouTube channel.
The semi-finals and final will be held in the concert hall of Saarbrücken Castle (Germany). These rounds will be recorded and also uploaded. The last two rounds and the concert with the award ceremony are open to the public.
Your registration for the competition (September 1 – 15, 2024):
The application form will be open on this website from September 1 – 15, 2024.
We kindly ask you to send the complete application (+ link(s) + application fee +
photo + curriculum) to us between September 1 and September 15, 2024.
The entry fee of € 150 is to be paid on submission of the Application Form.
The registration fee can be transferred by bank or paypal.
The application fee will not be refunded.
Please copy the link to your video into the registration form.
Only complete applications will be accepted and will receive a confirmation from the secretary of the Bach Competition!
Your video for the Preliminary:
Please make sure that your video recording is filmed as professional as possible.
The video recording or excerpts from a live concert from the last two years are permitted, as long as they match the recording requirements of the Bach Competition!
That means: any cuts or editing in the video recording is forbidden!
Pianists must be fully visible at all times, which means the video can be taken with ONE camera only!
Competitors are allowed to record each work from Preliminary round separately, eventually creating 2 links. An example from the Preliminary Round: the entire French Suite can be recorded first and the second required work on a later date. A whole set of work must be played and recorded without any interruptions!
The order of performance in the Semi-Final will be decided by the jury one week before its commencement and will be sent by email to each pianist. The basis of this decision is to create a diverse program for the public as well as pianists.
Participants admitted to the semi-final and final rounds are required to remain in contact with the Competition Committee.
Participants consent to any radio, video and television recordings, for which they waive all rights to financial remuneration. Any recordings made during the competition, remain the property of the International Piano Competition J. S. Bach in Memoriam Walter Blankenheim and can be used by the Competition in any way.
Our prizes will be awarded only to semi-finalists and finalists who are present at the ceremony. Please take note that special prizes can be generated from any round of the competition. If any competitors from the Preliminary round receive prizes, we will send these awards by E-Mail.
The decisions of the jury are final.
Participants are being evaluated on a high standard of performance. Thus, the jury is not obliged to award all the prizes. These regulations will be issued in German and English. However, in case of doubt, only the German text shall be considered legally binding.
On submission of their entry form, participants imply their agreement to these regulations.
Jury members must refrain from voting for the duration of the competition for any contestant that has at any point studied with them.
During the first-round jury members must refrain from voting (in Preliminary) for any contestant they have taught in a Masterclass in the two years preceding the competition.
Due to the independent international teaching activities of the Jury members, and in spite of the competition’s attempts to diversify the jury by inviting guest jurors to the core jury, it is theoretically possible that a contestant may have participated in courses given by several jury members.
To ensure that the outcome of the final rounds is not effectively decided on by only one or two jurors, all jurors are allowed to vote in the last two rounds (Semi-final and Final) even for participants they have taught in masterclasses.
(This applies only to participants that have participated in masterclasses. For current or former students see paragraph 1).
All rounds of the competition are judged on the same scale, with the final result being a total sum of results of all preceding rounds.
The decision of the jury is final. In the evaluation of performances, the jury is required to maintain the highest standard, and is not required to award all prizes. The voting process works in this way: In the intervals, between performances, jury members award only points to the participants anonymously. These points are then tabulated by the jury directors. After the points are added, there is a discussion about the participants that have fallen just short of the required score to pass into the next round. This discussion aims to ensure that the maximum possible number of participants proceed to the next round and to prepare a reserve list in case of any cancellation of participants for the next round (e.g. due to injury or personal problems). After the end of every round, there is a discussion (and vote if required) on all borderline cases.
Renewed votes DO NOT include any juror that has taught or is currently a teacher of a candidate. The results will be sent to the candidates by Email.
After the preliminary round the jury provides an opportunity to the participants who did not proceed to the next round, to have a 15-minute conversation with one of the jurors via skype or zoom. If you would like to take up this offer, please contact us within 8 days of the announcement of results of the preliminary round, and we will arrange a date and time: when this can take place.
*Special prizes can be awarded
for a performance
from any round of the competition.
