News of the Bartók World Competition and Festival covered by global media

The application deadline for the 2017 Bartók World Competition and Festival – International Violin Competition is fast approaching: over the past few weeks, as part of the global promotional campaign for the contest, advertisements and a promotional clip for the 2017 international violin competition have appeared in such opinion-shaping media giants as The New York Times, Le Monde, Euronews and Der Spiegel. Furthermore, the announcement has also featured on the platforms of the most prestigious music journals and specialist websites (The Strad, Gramophone, Classical Music Magazine, theviolinchannel.com etc.). Thanks to the extensive system of contacts nurtured by the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, a brochure outlining the key information of the competition being staged for the first time has been channelled directly (in both printed and electronic formats) to several hundred conservatories of music. As part of the international campaign arranged under the aegis of the Liszt Academy, competition ads have a constant presence in several Chinese media and on the most popular social platforms and search sites. There is huge interest in the competition organized by the Liszt Academy and sponsored by the Ministry of Human Capacities, which is well exemplified by the fact that in the period since its announcement in December 2016, more than 13,000 people have viewed the campaign video on YouTube, with 25,000 checking it out on Facebook. We have summarized media reaction in Hungary to the 6 December 2016 press conference in this article and international features appear in the following gallery.

The application deadline for the 2017 Bartók World Competition and Festival – International Violin Competition expires in two months, on 26 March 2017, although it is important to note that those submitting their application material – including the three introductory videos – at the competition website latest by 15 February are entitled to a 50% discount on the registration fee, assuming that they are successful in going through to the live rounds in the autumn.

It has also been possible to apply for the scientific symposium announced as part of the Bartók World Competition and Festival since early January 2017. This symposium is being organized by the Bartók Archive operating within the Institute of Musicology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Applications for the conference (in English) are welcome from Bartók researchers as well as MA and PhD students of musicology. An international committee selects those considered suitable for audition on the basis of their submitted abstracts; these 20-minute lectures will be preceded by opening seminars inviting debate held by specialists of international repute in their given fields. Following the series of lectures, the organizers will publish selected papers in a publication and in Studia musicologica, the internationally-recognized periodical of Hungarian musicology.

Further information on the application procedure and all the latest news on the Bartók World Competition and Festival can be found at bartokworldcompetition.hu and on the competition Facebook page.