Competition Rules

19th CAMPILLOS INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION

The 19th Campillos International Piano Competition will take place at the IES “Camilo José Cela” Event Hall and the “Santa María del Reposo” Church in Campillos, Málaga, from December 4th to 8th, 2025.

GENERAL CONDITIONS

The competition is open to pianists of any nationality and without age limit.
Previous First Prize winners of past editions, as well as current or past students (within the last two years) of the competition’s jury members, whether official or private, will not be eligible to participate. Participation in occasional masterclasses is permitted.

The online registration form, properly filled out with the required documents, must be submitted to the competition’s secretariat before October 15, 2025.

The accepted contestants will perform in alphabetical order based on their last name, starting from the number drawn in the draw, which will take place on December 4, 2025, at 9:00 AM at the IES Event Hall in Campillos.
Contestants must be present at the draw. This order may only be modified in cases of force majeure, duly justified and approved by the management. The resulting order will remain the same for the semifinal stage.
The order for the final stage may be changed at the discretion of the Organizing Committee, depending on the repertoire.

Contestants will have the opportunity to try the Shigeru Kawai Grand Piano at the Event Hall exclusively on December 4, from 9:30 AM to 2:30 PM, after the draw. Try-outs outside of this schedule will not be possible. Each contestant will have a 5-minute trial time.
Royal Pianos will provide study pianos for contestants during the competition.

The competition reserves the right to authorize the recording and broadcasting of the stages, and contestants cannot claim compensation or oppose the dissemination of these recordings.

The Organizing Committee will resolve any situations not covered by these regulations.
In case of discrepancies between different language versions, the Spanish text will prevail.
Submitting the registration form implies full acceptance of these rules.

REGISTRATION

The online registration form (http://concursointernacionalpiano.es/application/) properly filled out in Spanish or English, must be submitted before October 15, 2025, along with the following documents:

• Copy of ID or Passport.
• 1 artistic photograph in .jpg format.
• Curriculum Vitae in Spanish or English (in DOC, DOCX, or PDF format)

Only documents in JPG, Word, or PDF formats will be accepted.

The competition’s secretariat will send a confirmation email within 5 days after receiving the form. If the contestant does not receive this confirmation, they must contact the secretariat as soon as possible at secretaria@concursointernacionalpiano.es

Only complete and correctly submitted applications, accompanied by the confirmation email, will be valid. Applications with incomplete, falsified, or incorrect documents will be invalid.

If there are too many applications, the Organizing Committee will select up to 80 pianists based on the submitted materials and will communicate the preselection results before October 20, 2025.

After this communication, only the selected contestants will be required to pay the registration fee of 115 euros, free of charge for the recipient, before October 25, 2025, via bank transfer. The bank details will be sent along with the admission notice. The receipt must include the contestant’s name followed by “Campillos International Piano Competition.”

The bank receipt must be sent by email before October 25, 2025.
No contestant will be accepted until the receipt and full payment are received. This fee is non-refundable under any circumstances. If payment is not received by the deadline, the contestant will be excluded.

A waiting list will be established for contestants not selected, who could be invited if there are cancellations or disqualifications.

COMPETITION STAGES AND REPERTOIRE

The competition will consist of the following stages:

• Preselection Stage (by video)
• First Stage (public)
• Semifinal Stage (public)
• Final Stage (public, with orchestra)

PRESELECTION STAGE:
Contestants must submit a single link (via YouTube or similar platform) containing one or more freely chosen works, with a total duration of 10 to 15 minutes.
The recording can be a recent performance or an archival recording, as long as the video clearly shows the pianist’s face and hands.
A maximum of 80 pianists will be selected to participate in the First Stage.

FIRST STAGE:
Maximum duration: 15 minutes.
Repertoire: Freely chosen works.
Up to 18 contestants will proceed to the Semifinal Stage.

SEMIFINAL STAGE:
Maximum duration: 25 minutes.
Repertoire: Freely chosen works.
Up to 3 contestants will proceed to the Final Stage.

FINAL STAGE
Performance with the Malaga Symphony Orchestra of one of the following piano concertos:

• W. A. Mozart: No. 20 in D minor K 466 / No. 21 in C major K 467
• L. van Beethoven: No. 3 in C minor Op. 37 / No. 5 in E-flat major Op. 73
• R. Schumann: in A minor Op. 54
• F. Chopin: No 2 in F minor Op. 21

The jury will evaluate the variety of styles and periods, as well as the difficulty of the repertoire in all stages.

• All works must be published (original compositions are not allowed, except for cadenzas in Mozart concertos).
• Repertoire cannot be repeated between stages, except for what was performed in the Preselection Stage.
• No repertoire changes will be accepted after October 31, 2025.
• All works must be performed from memory.
• The jury may interrupt a performance if the maximum time limit for the stage is exceeded.

PRIZES

The jury may award the following prizes:

Additionally, Special Prizes valued at 250 euros will be awarded in the form of travel grants. Members of the Malaga Symphony Orchestra and the public attending the Final will grant special prizes to their favorite finalists.

The First Prize is indivisible. Other prizes may be shared (dividing the amount).
The jury may leave some prizes vacant if deemed appropriate.
The jury’s decisions are final and non-appealable.

Prizes are subject to current tax withholdings.
During the Closing Ceremony, the winners must personally collect their prize. Failure to do so will result in the forfeiture of the prize.

CALENDAR