classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

, a concerto competition is a competition whereby contestants perform

concerto A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typi ...

s or movements of concertos in a qualifying round, in order to be selected to play their concerto with an

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

. Typically, the final round is a public concert featuring the finalists performing with orchestra. After the final round, a winner is decided, who may receive an opportunity to perform the complete concerto with the orchestra in their next season. Concerto competitions are a common classical music event. They are often organised by the orchestra that accompanies the competitors as a way to attract audiences, but sometimes they are hosted by a university or conservatory, for the purpose of encouraging a higher standard of playing among its students, and for publicity. Concerto competitions are distinguished from general classical music competitions, even though their final rounds may have an identical format. For example, the

Tchaikovsky competition The International Tchaikovsky Competition is a classical music competition held every four years in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Russia, for pianists, violinists, and cellists between 16 and 32 years of age and singers between 19 and 32 years of ...

has a final round in which competitors perform movements of concertos with orchestra, but previous rounds test the competitors on different repertoire; therefore it is not a concerto competition. Since concerto competitions are meant to be entered with only a single piece, a concerto or movement of a concerto, they are not ideal designs for international competitions, which aim to test their candidates on a wide variety of skills and playing styles. However, the average playing difficulty of a concerto is reasonably high; this, coupled with the fact that opportunities to play as a soloist with an orchestra are limited, make concerto competitions a local but advanced form of music competition.

References

* {{Classical-music-stub