The Singapore Chinese Orchestra has announced a rebranded biennial Singapore Chinese Music Competition slated to take place in 2020.
Previously known as the National Chinese Music Competition, the competition will seek to develop the performing skills of young musicians, raise musical standards, discover new talents and support the pursuit of Chinese music in Singapore.
Also announced, were the addition of new categories: Orchestra and Solo Grand, while the existing Solo and Ensemble categories will remain, albeit with changes to its age limits.
No age limit will be implemented for the Solo Grand category and participants can pick any type of Chinese musical instruments to perform with. The winner of this category will receive a $10,000 cash prize.
There will be three age categories for the Solo section: Junior, 12 years and below; Intermediate, 18 years and below; and Senior, 35 years and below - for dizi, erhu, guzheng, pipa, sheng, suona, yangqin and zhongruan.
The Orchestra category will entail group competition, and should have between 30 and 80 members playing a combination of Chinese musical instruments from the strings, plucked-strings, wind and percussion sections. There will be no age limit.
Each ensemble, in the Ensemble category should consist of between three and 20 members, with any combination of Chinese musical instruments from the same instrument family or type. There is no age limit.
Below, we list the current slate of competition rounds slated for 2020:
18 June to 28 June – Solo (Preliminary, Semi-Final & Final)
30 June to 5 July – Ensemble/Orchestra (Preliminary)
8 July to 9 July – Ensemble/Orchestra (Final)
11 July – Winners’ Concert
12 July – Finals for Grand Category & Prize Presentation Ceremony
Registration for the contest is now open. Registration closes on 2 December 2019. For registration details, more information and competition rules, click here.
