Rules of the Competition Jury
Sixteenth International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition
Warsaw, 2-23 October 2010
Rules of the Competition Jury
General provisions
I
The Jury comprises pianists from various countries, invited by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute, whose musical achievements have gained them a position of authority.
II
The Jury acts on the basis of the Competition Rules and the provisions of the present Rules of the Competition Jury.
III
The Jury's task is to assess the interpretational skills of each of the participants in the Competition-taking particular account of the demands made on pianists by the music of Fryderyk Chopin-and to award prizes and distinctions to the best competitors.
IV
The Chair and Vice-Chair of the Jury are proposed by the Director of the Fryderyk Chopin Institute and appointed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage.
V
It is the Chair's responsibility to lead the deliberations of the Jury and to represent the Jury in public.
Unless otherwise stipulated by the present Rules, the Chair has the casting vote in the event of a tied vote among the Jury.
When the Chair is absent, his/her functions are discharged by the Vice-Chair of the Jury.
VI
The Director of the Competition appoints the Secretary of the Jury, who coordinates the judging on behalf of the Fryderyk Chopin Institute.
VII
While the Competition is in progress, the Jurors are obliged to refrain from expressing their opinions in public about the competitors and the results of particular stages.
VIII
The deliberations of the Jury are confidential and minuted. They are attended by the Secretary of the Jury and the Director of the Competition.
The assessments of the Jurors will be treated as confidential until the conclusion of the Competition.
IX
Every member of the Jury is obliged to listen to and assess all participants at each stage of the Competition and to take part in the Jury's deliberations.
The Director of the Competition may sanction a Juror's absence in exceptional circumstances. In such a situation, the absence will be noted on the marksheets, and the number of 'YES' votes required, as specified in article XVI, will be proportionally reduced, according to the number of listened-to performances.
Marking system
X
During the sitting of the Jury following stage I, each Juror is obliged to submit a declaration as to whether any of the participants in the Competition meets the criteria of a 'student', as described in article XI of the Rules of the Competition Jury, and to give their name(s) where applicable.
XI
The term 'student' refers to a participant in the Competition who fulfils one or more of the following criteria:
- he/she is currently a student of the Juror,
- he/she has been a regular school or private student of the Juror for a period of more than one year since the conclusion of the fifteenth edition of the Competition,
- he/she has had private lessons with the Juror since 30 July 2009,
- he/she is related to the Juror.
The term 'student' does not apply to a participant's relationship with the Juror during a masterclass course.
XII
In principle, the Jury will admit to stage II no more than 40 competitors, and to stage III no more than 20.
To the final, the Jury will admit no more than 10 competitors.
XIII
At stages I, II and III, the competitors' playing will be assessed according to two systems: points and 'yes/no'. The assessment in the final will be based on points alone. In both systems, a Juror does not assess the performance of his/her 'student', entering only the symbol 'S' on the marksheet.
XIV
The points system involves the assessment of a performance on a scale from 1 to 100 (no fractions allowed), with 1 as the lowest mark and 100 as the highest.
The arithmetic mean of the points awarded to a pianist, as referred to below, will be obtained by dividing the sum of the points awarded to him/her by the number of assessing Jurors (accordingly reduced in the case of a 'student'), with an accuracy of two decimal points, following the application of the correction procedure described in article XV.
The points system is of secondary importance in stages I, II and III. However, in the final the points obtained over the successive stages will provide the basis on which the decisions will be taken concerning the awarding of prizes.
XV
If the number of points awarded by one of the Jurors deviates from the arithmetic mean of the total points obtained by a pianist in a given stage by more than the following:
- 10 points in stage I,
- 8 points in stage II,
- 6 points in stage III,
- 5 points in the final,
then a second, auxiliary arithmetic mean of the total points obtained by that pianist will be calculated, excluding the deviant marks. All the marks falling outside the above-specified norm of deviation from the auxiliary mean obtained in this way will then be corrected to the nearest whole number within this norm. The final, determinant mean will be that obtained from the marks corrected in this way; it will also provide the basis for the assessment proceedings described in the articles below.
XVI
In the 'yes/no' system, the Juror expresses his/her opinion regarding a competitor's admission to the next stage.
The Juror should write the word 'YES' by the names of those competitors whom he/she considers the best: 40 competitors in stage I, 20 competitors in stage II and 10 competitors in stage III. These quotas apply regardless of the Juror's assessment of the standard of competition.
The word 'NO' (or 'S') should be written by the names of all the other competitors to whom the Juror has listened.
The 'yes/no' assessments are of primary importance in the first three stages of the Competition.
NB: Competitors recommended by the Juror for the next stage (marked 'YES')-and only those competitors-should be assigned at least 75 points. This figure will thus constitute the reference point for all the assessments awarded by the Juror in the successive stages.
XVII
After the auditions of each stage, the Jurors will enter on the marksheets their assessments of the competitors in that stage and submit their marksheets to the Secretary of the Jury.
The marksheets must be signed, and all alterations initialled by the Juror.
XVIII
After the auditions of stage I are completed and the necessary calculations made, the Secretary of the Jury will present to the Jurors the overall results of the auditions in the form of a list of the number of 'YES' votes obtained, ordered from the highest number to the lowest, together with any 'S' entries (and any indicated absences) and the arithmetic means of the points awarded-but without the competitors' names. On this basis, the Jury will, after any discussion that may ensue, decide by open ballot which competitors to admit to stage II.
XIX
After the auditions of stage II are completed and the necessary calculations made, the Secretary of the Jury will present to the Jurors the overall results of the auditions in the form of a list of the number of 'YES' votes obtained, ordered from the highest number to the lowest, together with any 'S' entries (and any indicated absences) and the sum of the arithmetic means of the points awarded in stages I and II-but without the competitors' names. On this basis, the Jury will, after any discussion that may ensue, decide by open ballot which competitors to admit to stage III.
XX
After the auditions of stage III are completed and the necessary calculations made, the Secretary of the Jury will present to the Jurors the overall results of the auditions in the form of a list of the number of 'YES' votes obtained, ordered from the highest number to the lowest, together with any ‘S' entries (and any indicated absences) and the sum of the arithmetic means of the points awarded in stages I, II and III-but without the competitors' names. On this basis, the Jury will, after any discussion that may ensue, decide by open ballot which competitors to admit to the final.
XXI
After the auditions of the final, the Jurors will complete their marksheets, entering by the pianists' names the number of points awarded, within the range 75-100 (75 being the lowest mark, 100 the highest). As in the previous stages, the letter 'S', and not a number of points, should be entered by the name of a 'student'.
Only the performance in the final is assessed.
XXII
After all the necessary calculations have been made, the Secretary of the Jury will present to a sitting of the Jury the values of the final results achieved by the competitors in the final, in the form of the sums of the arithmetic means of the points obtained in all four stages of the Competition, ordered from the highest to the lowest; but without the competitors' names. On this basis, the Jury will decide on the awarding of the various prizes.
The names of the prize-winners will not be disclosed to the Jury until after the decisions as to the awarding of prizes have been taken.
XXIII
The Jury has the right-by a two-thirds majority-to make changes to the scheme of prizes specified in §XII of the Competition Rules, with the proviso that the overall sum of money allocated to the prizes and distinctions cannot be increased, and the sums for particular prizes and distinctions cannot be lower than provided for in the Competition Rules.
XXIV
For each of the special prizes specified in article XII paragraph 3 of the Competition Rules, each of the Jurors may put forward in writing the name of one candidate. In this case, the restrictions concerning the status of 'student' do not apply. The prize will be awarded to the candidate who receives the most votes, on condition that he/she was designated by more than half of the Jurors present.
If the first ballot fails to produce such an outcome, the disclosure of the result will be followed by further written ballots, in which the candidates with the least number of votes will be eliminated until the above-mentioned outcome is obtained. If only two candidates remain and neither receives the majority of votes of the members of the Jury, the prize will not be awarded.
In each of the ballots for a special prize, the Jurors have the right to abstain.
Final provisions
XXV
The decisions of the Jury are final and not subject to appeal.
XXVI
The Rules of the Competition Jury have been approved by the Director of the Competition.
XXVII
The Rules of the Competition Jury have been prepared in Polish, English and French. Any queries regarding the provisions of the present Rules will be considered on the basis of the Polish text, as the only authentic text.