Awards


2024 Awards Competition Winners



2024 Judge Bios


The Awards Competition offers dedicated and highly advanced piano students the opportunity to perform and receive a monetary prize. Students have the ability to participate in a maximum of three out of the total four competition categories in his/her respective age group: 

  1. Baroque
  2. Romantic
  3. French Impressionist/21st Century
  4. Contemporary Idiom non-French

Students are expected to perform one piece for each category. Below is a list of recommended composers for each competition category:

  • Baroque: J. S. Bach, Scarlatti, Rameau, Soler, Telemann
  • Romantic: Brahms, Chopin, Grieg, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Tchaikovsky
  • French Impressionist/21st Century: Debussy, Ibert, Poulenc, Ravel
  • Contemporary Idiom non-French: Bernstein, Copland, Kabalevsky, Shostakovich

NOTE: Teachers who want to enter works by composers not on this list must contact Donald Charlamb at [email protected].

Students also have the ability to participate in the Schubert Club Achievement Award additional to the competition categories. Eligibility criteria can be found below.

The age groups (calculated as per the day of the performance) and time limits are listed below:

PRIMARY GROUP

11 years of age and under

6 minutes (maximum)

JUNIOR GROUP

12 - 14 years of age

8 minutes (maximum)

SENIOR GROUP

15 years and over

11 minutes (maximum)

SCHUBERT CLUB ACHIEVEMENT AWARD GROUP

High School Senior

30 minutes (maximum)

RULES

  1. Applications are to be completed ONLY by teachers who are current members of the Schubert Club of Fairfield County.
  2. Students may compete in a maximum of three of the four categories in their appropriate age group.
  3. Students who have previously won First Prize in an Awards competition may not compete in the same category (Baroque, Romantic, etc.) at the same age level in the current year.
  4. To be eligible to compete for the Schubert Club Achievement Award, a student must have participated in Schubert Club sponsored events (Schubert Club Juniors Recitals, Schubert Club Awards Competition and/or Young Musicians Festival) for three out of four high school years.

MUSIC 

  1. Each entrant must provide a copy of the score(s) for the judges at the time of their performance. Photocopies are not allowed. However, entrants may use computer-generated copies from reliable sources such as PianoStreet.com and IMSLP (International Music Score Library Project) or the Petrucci Music Library, (consent note included).  Entrants may use transcriptions that are considered standard repertoire (i.e., Bach’s transcriptions of Baroque concerti, transcriptions by other composers e.g. Busoni, Liszt, Rachmaninoff). Other arrangements and transcriptions are not allowed. 
  2. Repeats are permitted only at Primary level.
  3. Students should remain in the audition hall or the adjacent room for the entire event(s) that they are performing in.

RESULTS

  1. Winners will be announced immediately after each event.
  2. All judges’ decisions are final.
  3. The judges may award Honorable Mention at their discretion.
  4. The Schubert Club will scan and email Adjudication Sheets critiquing the performances to the teachers.
  5. All First Prize winners of Baroque, Romantic, French and Contemporary competition awards and the Schubert Club Achievement Award Recipient are expected to perform at the Winner's Concert, which will be held on Saturday, April 13, 2024 at 7:00 pm at the Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 285 Lyons Plain Road, Weston.  The concert is free and open to the public. Winners of all events, including Honorable Mention recipients, will be given their prizes and certificates at the concert.  A reception follows. 
  6. We urge teachers to stay within these limits in order that our events proceed smoothly and fairly.

PRIZES

LEVEL

Primary

Junior

Senior

Schubert Club Achievement Award

1st Place

$60

$80

$100

$500

2nd Place

$40

$60

$80



Any questions? Please contact Donald Charlamb at [email protected]


awards-comp-1
Grace Liu, winner of the Achievement Award,
with Seray Goktekin, President of The Schubert Club
awards-comp-5
awards-comp-4
Kaixin Zhong
First Place: Primary Contemporary Category
awards-comp-3
Katarina Palmer
First Place: Senior Romantic Category
awards-comp-2
Andrew Maskoff
First Place: Senior Baroque Category
Slide
Liam Cheng
First Place: Primary Baroque Category
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Giora Nadav
First Place: Junior Romantic Category
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Avigail Kohl
First Place: Junior Contemporary Category
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Hanna Hsu
First Place: Senior French Category
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Henry Zhou
First Place: Junior Baroque Category
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Emily Meng
First Place: Junior French Category
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NFMC JUNIOR
COMPOSERS CONTEST
The CT portion of this contest is sponsored by The Schubert Club.
All students living in CT through age 18 are eligible, they do not
have to be members of SC nor do their teachers.
There are monetary prizes for 1st and 2nd place winners in each
of the 4 age categories. Age is determined as of March 1
st
.
Class I Ages 9 and under, 1
st
prize $30, 2
nd
prize $25.
Class II Ages 10 to 12, 1
st
prize $40, 2
nd
prize $35.
Class III Ages 13 to 15, 1
st
prize $50, 2
nd
prize $45.
Class IV Ages 16 to 18, 1
st
prize $60, 2
nd
prize $55.
First and second prize winners go on to the Northeastern District
judging and those winners go on to National Federation of Music
Clubs judging.
First place winners will be expected to perform their piece or have
their piece performed at the Awards concert on Saturday, April 8,
2017, 6:30 to 9 p.m., at the Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 285
Lyons Plain Road, Weston, CT.
Compositions are due to the CT State Chairperson, Justine
Macurdy, by January 31 each year.
For more information, contact Justine Macurdy (203) 322-8848,
73 Tall Oaks Court, Stamford, CT 06903-1515, for rules and
application.
Or go online at www.NFMC-music.org and type into the search
box “Junior Composers Contest Rules” for # JR 7-1 or “Junior
Composers Contest Application” for # JR 7-2.

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