Transilvania International Guitar Festival

August 28th - September 1st, 2024, 22nd Edition

Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Festival Regulation

The 2024 edition of the festival will take place in Cluj-Napoca and will consist of two main components:

• Recitals by guest masters of the festival
• Masterclasses held by festival guests

SHORT VERSION

Registration Deadline: August 27th, 2024

Masterclasses: Packages of two to five courses with festival guests, guaranteed options of at least 50%, scheduled courses of 40 minutes each, fees ranging from 45 to 75 Euros.

1. Competitions

2. Evaluation

3. Masterclasses

4. Registration for the competition and masterclasses

5. Participation fees

6. Administrative aspects

1. COMPETITIONS

In order to accommodate all classical guitar students regardless of their performance level, the festival will host two competitions, namely 'Dumitru Capoianu' and 'Mihai Babii', each designed with distinct levels of virtuosity and organized into age categories.

1.1. The classical guitar competition 'Dumitru Capoianu' is intended for highly skilled guitarists and consists of two sections: one for solo classical guitar and another for chamber music with guitar.

1.1.1. The solo guitar section includes seven age categories with corresponding repertoire durations:

'Junior' category for participants born on or after January 1, 2014: between 3 and 6 minutes

Category I for participants born on or after January 1, 2012: between 5 and 8 minutes

Category II for participants born on or after January 1, 2010: between 7 and 10 minutes

Category III for participants born on or after January 1, 2008: between 9 and 12 minutes

Category IV for participants born on or after January 1, 2006: between 11 and 14 minutes

Category V for participants born on or after January 1, 2004: between 13 and 16 minutes

Category VI without age limit. The competition consists of two stages as follows:  

- In the First Stage, between 12 and 15 minutes

- In the Final Stage, between 15 and 22 minutes. The Final Stage program may include a minimum of two stylistically different pieces (including pieces presented in the First Stage).

1.1.2. The Chamber Music section of the competition is intended for ensembles of up to ten members (which may include instruments other than the guitar, excluding the piano) and comprises two age categories as follows:

Category I-mc for participants whose average date of birth is on or after January 1, 2009 (the average age of the ensemble members is considered to be 14 years).
For Category I-mc, competing ensembles will present a free program consisting of a maximum of three works with a total duration of up to 8 minutes.

Category II-mc without age limit.
For Category II-mc, competing ensembles will present a free program with a duration ranging from 13 to 22 minutes.

1.2. The 'Mihai Babii' solo classical guitar competition is open to all classical guitar enthusiasts, regardless of their level of virtuosity. The repertoire will have a maximum duration of 10 minutes. This competition includes six age categories as follows:

Category A for competitors born on or after 1 January 2012;

Category B for competitors born on or after 1 January 2010;

Category C for competitors born on or after 1 January 2008;

Category D for competitors born on or after 1 January 2006;

Category E for competitors born on or after 1 January 2004;

Category F without age limit

1.3. The program presented in the competition will be free choice, with the participants being advised that one of the evaluation criteria is the diversity of repertoire and stylistic interpretation. The performed pieces in the competition may be played with or without repetitions.

1.4. Participants can take part in both the 'Dumitru Capoianu' competition and the 'Mihai Babii' competition; in such cases, participants are required to pay the participation fees for each competition, with a 10% discount applied to the total amount.

1.5. For the 'Dumitru Capoianu' Competition, the competitors may participate both in the competition of their age category and in the competition of the next age category; in this case, the contestants will pay the participation fee for both Categories, with a 10% discount for the total amount. 

1.6. Within the 'Mihai Babii' competition, participants can only compete in the competition of their corresponding age category.

1.7. By "program duration," we understand the actual time used for performing the program, including the pauses between works.

1.8. Competitors may be interrupted at the jury's request if they exceed the program duration specified in the regulations by more than 119 seconds.

1.9. By entering the competition, participants agree to comply with these regulations and grant the Transilvania Guitar Association the rights to broadcast the audio and video materials.

1.10. The order of entry into the competition will be determined by the alphabetical order of the participants' names.

2. EVALUATION

2.1. For the evaluation of contestants, the members of the international juries will use the specific application on the festival's platform. The evaluation results will be published shortly after the conclusion of the competition, and contestants will receive detailed evaluation results in their dedicated accounts on the festival's website.

2.2. The criteria for assessing contestants' performance sum up to 100 points, awarded as follows:

- Observance of the score: 15 points

- Diversity of repertoire and stylistic realization: 20 points

- Quality of sound and technical accuracy: 20 points

- Difficulty and duration of the repertoire: 20 points

- Artistic contribution, overall performance, and stage presence of the performer: 25 points

2.3. The evaluation result is expressed in points ranging from 1 to 100, determined by the arithmetic mean with two decimal places of the scores given by the jury members, after excluding the highest and lowest scores.

2.3. The scoring of the juries and the public vote will determine several of the awarded prizes, as follows:

2.4. The ranking and awarding of prizes shall be determined by the order of scores assigned by the jury, as follows:

2.4.1. With the exception of categories VI and MC-2 of the "Dumitru Capoianu" competition, awards for meeting the standards will be given in all age categories of the competitions, as follows: 

- for the categories 'Junior', I, and MC-1 ('Dumitru Capoianu' competition), as well as for the categories of the 'Mihai Babii” competition:

- First Prize: 90 points or more

- Second Prize: between 80 and 89,99 points

- Third Prize: between 70 and 79.99 points

- Successful participation: score below 70 points

- for the categories II and III ('Dumitru Capoianu' competition):

- First Prize: 93 points or more

- Second Prize: between 86 and 92,99 points

- Third Prize: between 80 and 85,99

- Successful participation: score below 80 points

- for the categories IV and V ('Dumitru Capoianu' competition):

- First Prize: 95 points or more

- Second Prize: between 90 and 94,99 points

- Third Prize: between 85 and 89,99

- Successful participation: score below 85 points

2.4.2. In the competitions of the 'Dumitru Capoianu' contest, in addition to the awards, First Place, Second Place, and Third Place will be awarded to the top three ranked contestants regardless of the prize obtained.

2.4.3. For categories VI and MC-2 of the "Dumitru Capoianu" competition, awards will be given exclusively based on the final ranking determined by the jury, in order of the scores obtained by the competitors.

2.4.4. The First Prize in the VI category of the 'Dumitru Capoianu' contest will consist of a guitar worth 5000 EURO specially crafted for this event by luthier Slavko Mrdalj. Additionally, cash prizes will be awarded for first, second, and third places in each age category, summing over 2000 EURO. Cash prizes are subject to taxation in accordance with the laws of Romania.

2.4.5. The winners of each category in the 'Mihai Babii' competition will be awarded participation scholarships for the 'Dumitru Capoianu' competition in TIGF 2024. Additionally, the title of 'Mihai Babii Competition Winner' will be awarded to the contestant who achieves the highest score regardless of the age category they competed in within the 'Mihai Babii' competition. 

2.4.6. In addition to the first, second, and third prizes, in the VI category of the 'Dumitru Capoianu' competition, the 'Dumitru Capoianu' Award for the interpretation of a contemporary work and the 'Mihai Babii' Award for the interpretation of a pre-Classical work will be granted. The organizers and sponsors of the festival reserve the right to award other special prizes as well.

2.5. The designated prizes will be announced as soon as possible, without displaying the competition scores. Contestants will be able to access their personal accounts on the festival's platform to view the evaluations and scores given by each jury member.

2.6. The competition juries will consist of classical guitar personalities and teachers of the participants. Participation in the festival's jury is honorary. Contestants' teachers are encouraged to inform the organizers of their availability to participate in the competition juries, and they will be notified of their admission to these panels.

2.7. Jury members are not allowed to evaluate their former or current own students, or relatives participating in the competition.

2.8. Any editions of the presented works are accepted, and contestants are required to submit the scores to the organizers upon the jury's request.

2.9. The jury's decisions are final, and no appeals are allowed.

3. MASTERCLASSES

3.1. The masterclasses will take place at the "Gheorghe Dima" National Music Academy in Cluj-Napoca, in individual sessions of 40 minutes each.

3.2. Participants in the masterclasses can choose packages ranging from two to five sessions, with the festival's invited professors.

3.3. Participants in the masterclasses will select from the list provided in the registration form the professors they prefer to work with. To avoid overcrowding, participants are kindly requested to select two additional options.

3.4. The organizers guarantee participants that at least half of the allocated courses will be conducted by the master teachers selected in the registration form.

4. REGISTRATION FOR THE COMPETITION AND MASTERCLASSES

4.1. The number of participants in the competition and masterclasses is limited. Admission to participation depends on the order of registration. In case the maximum number of participants is reached, the organizers will announce the closure of registrations on the website www.transilvaniaguitar.ro.

4.2. Registrations will be made between July 15th and August 20th by following the steps below:

- Participants should make the payment of the registration fees to the ACT account, clearly specifying the participant's name in the payment order. Recipients of scholarships for the Transylvania Guitar Festival, who are exempt from paying registration fees for the competition or masterclasses as per the scholarship granted, will only need to pay the remaining fee not covered by the scholarship.

- Participants are required to create a user account on the festival's platform. If participants already have an existing account, there is no need to create a new one.

- Completion of personal information in the online registration form.

- Participants are required to upload an electronic copy of the payment order in the online registration form. If applicable, recipients of scholarships for the Transylvania Guitar Festival should also upload a copy of their diploma or scholarship award decision.

- Participants should upload photocopies of their identification documents in the online registration form.

5. PARTICIPATION FEES

5.1 "Dumitru Capoianu" classical guitar competition - solo classical guitar section:

'Junior' Category: 30 Euro

I Category I: 35 Euro

II Category: 40 Euro

III Category: 45 Euro

IV Category: 50 Euro

V Category: 55 Euro

VI Category: 80 Euro

5.2. "Dumitru Capoianu" classical guitar competition - chamber music section:

- I-CM category: 50 Euro

- II-CM category: 60 Euro

5.3. "Mihai Babii" classical guitar competition:

- all categories: 30 Euro

5.4. Masterclasses:

- package M-2: 45 Euro - 2 meetings of 40 minutes each

- package M-3: 55 Euro - 3 meetings of 40 minutes each

- package M-4: 65 Euro - 4 meetings of 40 minutes each

- package M-5: 75 Euro - 5 meetings of 40 minutes each

5.5. The participation fee will be paid by bank transfer to one of TRANSILVANIA Guitar Association's accounts:

IBAN lei - Cod IBAN: RO12 BTRL 0130 1205 4334 05XX (Transilvania Bank)

IBAN Euro - Cod IBAN: RO58 BTRL 0130 4205 4334 05XX

SWIFT Code: BTRL RO 22 (Transilvania Bank)

C.I.F.: 18444715

5.6. The participation fees are not refundable.

6. ADMINISTRATIVE ASPECTS

6.1. Participants are expected to confirm their arrival and registration for the competition and collect their personal schedule on August 29th, between 16:00 and 19:00, in the foyer of the Studio Hall at the National Music Academy in Cluj-Napoca.

6.2. The schedule for the competitions and masterclasses, as well as other details, will be published on the festival's website and Facebook page.

6.3. Should differences of opinion arise, only the Romanian version of these Festival Regulations shall be relevant.