Vivaldi Competition
2021 Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition
Revised Plans in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic
Meg Quigley will receive preliminary entries as planned, due October 15, 2020, with the one change that all recordings must be unaccompanied. There will no longer be a semifinal round, just a final round which will be evaluated based on video submissions. Due to the changed nature of the competition, the prize structure has also changed.
Eligibility
Womxn bassoon players residing the Americas (North America, Central America, South America), or who are enrolled in school in the Americas during the year prior to the competition and who will not have reached their 26th birthday by January 10, 2021.
Judging
Judging will occur in two rounds: preliminary and final.
Preliminary Round Guidelines
The preliminary round occurs via recording. Applicants must submit audio recordings of the Vivaldi Concerto (unaccompanied), Siqueira (unaccompanied), and one of the solo pieces listed below, with a separate file for each movement of each piece. Applications and recordings will be submitted electronically (applications open soon). For suggestions on making an excellent recording, click here. All submissions must be received by midnight PST on October 15, 2020.
The $75 application fee is required of all applicants unless you are approved by Meg Quigley for a fee waiver. Fee waivers are available to competition applicants if you can say yes to any of these conditions (proof required).
Applications are now closed.
Preliminary Round Repertoire
Antonio Vivaldi: Concerto in a minor, RV 498 (any edition)
Record this without accompaniment for the preliminary round.José Siqueira: Three Etudes for Bassoon and Piano (Preliminary Round only).
Record this without accompaniment.Applicant's choice of one of the following unaccompanied pieces:
Ghost Dance by Ann Gebuhr
Bassoon Set by Adolphus Hailstork
For the Vivaldi and Siqueira, rests longer than two measures may be shortened.
The works by Vivaldi, Siqueira, Gebuhr, and Hailstork are available at TrevCo-Varner Music and Forrests Music. Ann Gebuhr's Ghost Dance is also available as a digital download from the publisher, Imagine Music. The works by Nicole DeMaio, Reena Esmail, and Natalie Moller are available as digital downloads from the composers' websites.
Final Round
Up to ten applicants will be chosen to compete in the final round which will take place in multimedia video format, and will incorporate audience engagement and other creative elements of each finalist’s choice. Just as Meg Quigley was the first music competition worldwide to incorporate speaking from the stage, we are now cutting-edge in incorporating a multimedia format into the final round. In addition to artistic bassoon playing, finalists are encouraged to pursue other creative mediums to present the music in ways that will appeal to a wide general audience on social media by incorporating elements from other art forms such as poetry, photography, drama, dance, visual art, and videography, or other—whatever comes to your imagination! Think outside the box! Get creative! Have fun with this process, and produce a video that you love!
Meg Quigley will provide each finalist with a new bassoon quartet arrangement of the orchestral accompaniment to the Vivaldi Concerto so that she can record the parts separately and edit them together. Starting in November, Meg Quigley will provide the finalists with workshops on effective audience engagement and creating an artistic concept for the videos, as well as education on managing the technological aspect of this project in order to optimize the audio and video quality. Finalists must be available for full participation in the virtual symposium January 3 to 10.
Final Round Repertoire
Antonio Vivaldi: Concerto in a minor, RV 498 as soloist and orchestra, using the bassoon quartet arrangement provided by Meg Quigley (this item will require recording all of the parts separately and editing them together, as described above)
Movement 3 of Natalie Moller's Translations (unaccompanied)
One piece chosen from the following list:
Ghost Dance by Ann Gebuhr
Bassoon Set by Adolphus Hailstork
Final Round Video Guidelines
Due to Meg Quigley by 11:59 p.m. PST on January 2, 2021
Must remain unpublished until Meg Quigley releases them on the Meg Quigley YouTube channel at the Symposium
23-27 minutes in length
Finalist will speak for at least 3 minutes which may be broken into several segments throughout the video
The finalist will serve as the producer of the video, and be the only featured performer (although public domain photos and videos may be used)
For the Vivaldi, the video must show the finalist performing the solo part, by memory, for the duration of the piece
Editing within movements is not allowed on solo lines, but may occur on the quartet accompaniment parts
For the unaccompanied pieces, the video must show the performer playing for a minimum of one minute during each piece, but may show other material for the remainder
Finalists will receive addition instructions upon invitation to participate
Prize Structure
Free recording equipment will be supplied to each finalist by Fox Products for use on making the final video.
$1000 to up to 10 finalists who submit successful final round videos that contain all of the required components.
Additional Prizes:
$2500 Vivaldi Prize
$2500 New Music Prize
$2500 Media Prize
$2500 Engagement Prize
Questions
Do you have a question about the competition or the submission process? Please contact Darrell Hale at submissions@mqvc.org