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RULES

of the “Constantin Silvestri” International Competition, the second edition, Bucharest

§ 1.
  1. These Rules specify the terms and conditions of the second edition of the “Constantin Silvestri” International Conducting Competition, hereinafter referred to as the
  2. The Competition shall be held in the period May 27 – June 2, 2024.
§ 2
  1. The Competition is addressed to conductors of all nationalities, hereinafter referred to as Candidates, who were born after January 01, 1980, and who simultaneously satisfy all the other conditions defined in these Rules.
  2. The condition for participating in the Competition is sending an application consistent with the provisions of §2 Section 3 in one of the following ways:
    1. Registration by March 25, 2024, by means of the registration PDF available on the website silvestricompetition.eu and providing all the required appendices (§ 2 Section 3).
    2. Downloading the registration form from silvestricompetition.eu and signing and posting it together with all the required appendices (§ 2 Section 3) to the following address: Constantin Silvestri Foundation, Joseph Lister Street, nr. 64, Bucharest, Postal Code 050544, Romania, bearing the note: “For the “Constantin Silvestri” International Competition, second edition” (date as postmarked).
    3. The participation fee is EUR 150 or RON 750. The fee must be paid by April 25, 2024 into the account 14411124100, IBAN: RO96 BRDE 410S V144 1112 4100, SWIFT BRDEROBU opened with the bank BRD, Groupe Societe Generale, AG. Cotroceni, and the payment instruction should specify in the details section “The  Constantin Silvestri International Conducting Competition, 2024 edition”.
  3. The application drawn up in Romanian or English should contain:
    1. A short biographical note (not exceeding 1,000 characters with spaces).
    2. A photocopy of an official document confirming the Candidate’s date of birth.
    3. The GDPR form, available on www.
    4. An up-to-date portrait photograph in a digital version 600 dpi in the *.tif or *.jpg formats (if the application is sent by regular post, the photograph is to be saved on an appropriately identified data carrier).
    5. Photocopies of documents confirming the fact of conducting artistic activities covering a period of not more than the last four years (e.g., participation in international conducting competitions, copies of diplomas, awards and distinctions, programmes of concerts and performances at festivals, etc.) (optional).
    6. Confirmation of payment of the participation fee into the bank account 14411124100, IBAN: RO96 BRDE 410S V144 1112 4100, SWIFT BRDEROBU opened with the bank BRD, in the amount of EUR 150 or RON 750.
    7. A 30-minute video-listing comprising fragments of your choosing from an opera or vocal-symphonic performance, a rehearsal with 2 to 4 soloists, or a “sitztprobe” with an orchestra, chorus, soloists.
    8. The documents and the video sample must be sent by email at within 48 hours after the payment of the fee. The documents and the video sample cannot be returned.
  4. The fact of sending the application is equivalent with the approval of these Rules.
  5. Incomplete applications, as well as applications which do not satisfy the conditions specified above, shall not be examined. In particular:
  6. The Bucharest National Opera House is not obliged to send an additional request for missing details.
    1. In such cases the registration fee shall not be refunded.
    2. The applicant is not entitled to any claim in this respect.
  7. The Bucharest National Opera House shall not return the documents and recordings sent with the applications. Nevertheless, within 14 days after the completion of the qualifications to the Competition, the candidates who have not been qualified have a right to apply to The Bucharest National Opera House for the return of the application documents. After this time limit the documents shall be destroyed.
§ 3
  1. The applications shall be evaluated by the Qualification Committee, which consists of internationally recognized conductors and musicians. The Qualification Committee shall qualify not more than 12 contestants (hereinafter referred to as the Contestants) from amongst the applications sent to the Competition.
  2. The Qualification Committee’s decisions shall be final and unappealable.
  3. The registration fee paid by Contestants who are not qualified to take part in the Competition shall not be refunded.
  4. The list of Contestants qualified to the Competition shall be communicated on May 03, 2024, on the Competition’s website, SilvestriCompetition.eu, as well as on the website of The Bucharest National Opera House, OperaNB.ro.
  • § 4
    1. Auditions to the “Constantin Silvestri” International Conducting Competition, the second edition, in Bucharest shall consist of three stages:
      1. 1st stage:  May 27-28 2024, between 09:00-15:00
      2. 2nd stage:  May 29-30 2024, between 09:00-15:00
      3. 3rd stage: June 01, 2024, between 10:00-15:00
    2. The Concert of the Laureates shall be held on June 02, 2024, 6:30 p.m, at the Bucharest National Opera House.
    3. No more than 12 Contestants will be admitted for the 1st stage, no more than 6 Contestants for the 2nd stage, and no more than 3 Contestants to the 3rd
    4. Entry into the contest will be done by drawing lots, in the presence of all candidates, one hour before the start of the first stage of the competition.
    5. In case of confirmed fortuitous events (such as traffic delays rendering it impossible for a Contestant to arrive on time, or an illness confirmed by the medical service of the Competition), the Contestant can obtain a permission – as an exception – to postpone their performance beyond the specified order of performances to the end of the auditions at a specific stage. The new order of performances defined in this way will be valid until the end of the Competition. The final decision on the changed order shall be made by the Competition Director.
    6. Competitors accommodation and travel: Accommodation will be the sole responsibility of the candidates. The organisers can only make recommendations to the participants for special condition bookings. The organisers shall not cover the costs of the Contestants’ travel.
    7. The Bucharest National Opera House shall not mediate in the procedure of obtaining visas by the Contestants. However, upon the request by individual Contestants, the National Opera in Bucharest shall issue and send a certificate confirming the respective Contestant’s qualification to take part in the Competition.
    § 5
    1. The Contestants will conduct the Orchestra of the Bucharest National Opera House.
    2. The Orchestra of the Bucharest National Opera House shall not provide the Contestants with sheet music (music scores).
    3. The Orchestra of the Bucharest National Opera House shall provide the Contestants with orchestral materials; however, the Contestants are allowed to use their own materials.
    4. The Orchestra of the Bucharest National Opera House shall not be held responsible for any violation of any copyrights of any third parties by any Contestant who uses their own sheet music.
    § 6
    1. The Jury includes internationally recognized personalities of the music world.
    2. The composition of the Jury will be made public prior to the commencement of the Competition.
    3. Internal rules governing the work of the Jury will be defined at the first meeting of the Jurors, prior to the commencement of the auditions.
    4. The evaluations of the Jurors are confidential.
    5. The Jury’s verdicts are irrevocable and unappealable.
    § 7
    1. The following awards and distinctions shall be distributed to the Finalists, i.e. the contestants taking part in the third stage of the Competition:
      1. 1st prize – Eur 5,000
      2. 2nd prize – Eur 3,000
      3. 3rd prize – Eur 2,000
    2. From the sums stated above the income tax from natural persons shall be deducted, using the applicable rate.
    3. On the basis of the final scores, the Jury of the Competition can change the distribution of the prizes and distinctions by a majority of the votes, with the reservation that the total amount allocated to the prizes and distinctions cannot be increased.
    4. The prize winners are entitled to the title of Laureate of the “Constantin Silvestri” International Conducting Competition, second edition.
    5. The Jury’s decisions are irrevocable and unappealable.
    § 8
    1. Each Contestant allows the National Bucharest Opera House to make audio-visual recordings of their:
      1. renditions of the oeuvres at each stage of the Competition (and during the Concert of the Laureates);
      2. their image.
      3. statements and interviews given during the Competition and the Laureates’ Concert.
    2. The Contestant shall transfer to the Bucharest National Opera House all the proprietary and related rights to recorded (audio-visual recordings) renditions of the works presented during the Competition (and during the Concerts of the Laureates) and to the statements and interviews they give. At the same time, the Contestant shall permit the Bucharest National Opera House to disseminate their image recorded in connection with their participation in the Competition and in the Laureates’ Concert.
    3. The Contestant shall permit the Bucharest National Opera House to use their performances in the Competition, interviews, statements, and image both in their entirety, and in any parts thereof, to adapt, shorten, remake and translate such materials, without authorisation, and represents that such way of using them will not be deemed a violation of the Contestant’s reputation.
    4. The Contestant shall transfer to the Bucharest National Opera House the right to grant exclusive permissions, unlimited in terms of time and territory, to exercise derivative copyrights towards the works referred to in § 8 items 1 and 2. In particular, the Contestant shall allow the Philharmonic to dispose of and use compilations of the works, including translations thereof into other languages. The Contestant shall further commit not to undertake any actions to limit this right in the future.
    5. The Contestant shall allow the Bucharest National Opera House to exercise their personal rights connected with the renditions of the works presented during the Competition (and the Concerts of the Laureates).
    6. The transfer of copyrights and proprietary rights referred to in § 8 sections 1-5 are unlimited in terms of time and territory, and shall comprise all fields of exploitation, in particular:
      1. Recording and reproduction of the work, copying the work by means of any technique, including printing, reprography, magnetic recording and digital technique, saving in computer memory.
      2. All types of distribution of the original work or copies thereof referred to in § 8 item 6 letter (a), in particular marketing, lending for use or leasing them.
      3. Each type of dissemination, in particular live broadcast and all other kinds of broadcasting, rebroadcasting, including wired and wireless audio and visual broadcasts, by terrestrial stations, with the mediation of a satellite, as well as publishing (including via streaming technology) on the Internet, in other IT, cable, telecommunication or multimedia networks.
      4. All kinds of rendering publicly accessible so as to allow any and all persons to have access to the subjects of the rights in the place and time selected by them.
      5. All kinds of public rebroadcasting, displaying, performing, staging.
    7. The transfer of the rights listed in § 8 covers the entire material recorded during the Competition and the Concerts of the Laureates and is gratuitous.
    8. The Bucharest Opera House has the rights to unlimitedly dispose of the rights referred to in § 8, in particular to transfer such rights onto other entities, and the Contestant has no right to receive any remuneration in this respect.
    § 9
    1. By participating in the Competition, the Contestants agree to have their personal data processed for the purposes of the organisation of the Competition.
    2. The personal data of the Contestants shall be processed in compliance with the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC.
    3. The Information Clause with the required approval of these Rules constitutes Appendix No. 1 to these Rules.
    § 10
    1. The term “force majeure” means an external unpredictable and unpreventable event, the occurrence of which precludes the Philharmonic or the Contestant from fulfilling their obligations, in particular events such as natural disasters, wars, terrorist attacks, strikes, epidemics, illness of the Jurors.
    2. The Bucharest National Opera House and the Contestant shall not be held liable for failure to perform or inappropriately perform their obligations relating to the Competition, if such failure to perform or inappropriate performance of their obligations relating to the Rules of the “Constantin Silvestri” International Conducting Competition results from force majeure.
    3. In the event of force majeure:
      1. The Bucharest National Opera House shall immediately notify the Contestant or Contestants on the occurrence of a force majeure event and causes thereof, electronically, by sending an e-mail to the Contestant’s address provided in the registration form.
      2. The Contestant shall immediately notify The Bucharest National Opera House on the occurrence of a force majeure event and causes thereof, electronically, by sending an e-mail to fundatiasilvestri [@] gmail.com.
    4. The Party affected by force majeure (the Bucharest National Opera House or a Contestant) shall make any and all efforts to immediately and, in any case, not later than 2 days after the date of notice, provide the other Party with a reasonable justification explaining the nature and causes of the force majeure occurrence. If after the notice the Parties do not agree otherwise, each of the Parties shall continue their best efforts to meet their obligations.
    5. To the extent that one of the Parties (the Bucharest National Opera House or a Contestant) is not able to meet their obligations resulting from these Rules due to them being affected by force majeure, the other Party shall not be held liable for failure to perform such obligations.
    6. If force majeure affects a Contestant and their justification is accepted by the Bucharest National Opera House, the Contestant will be able to get a refund of the Competition costs, fully or partially, depending on the time of the force majeure occurrence with a maximum of 30 days before the start of the competition.
    7. In a special case of force majeure affecting The Bucharest Opera House, such as a Juror’s illness or any other sudden indisposition, The Bucharest National Opera House reserves its right to first propose an adequate substitution.
    § 11
    1. In all matters connected with the development of the Competition and not related to the Jury’s competence, the final decisions shall be made by the Competition Director.
    2. All doubts relating to the terms and conditions of these Rules shall be settled on the basis of the Romanian version.
    3. All matters not regulated herein shall be governed by the relevant provisions of the Romanian laws.
    4. The Organizing Committee reserves its right to amend these Rules.
    5. The Organizing Committee reserves its right to cancel the Competition for objective reasons that it is not bound to communicate.
    6. All disputes resulting in connection with the Competition and these Rules shall be settled by a Romanian court of law whose jurisdiction covers the headquarters of the Bucharest National Opera House.
    7. All clarifications, additions or alterations, if any, introduced to these Competition Rules from time to time shall be obligatory for all the Contestants as of the time of their publishing on the website silvestricompetition