The time frame of the Competition

• 1 March – 12 June 2022 – call for applications
• 12 June  – 27 June 2022 – the first round, evaluation of the sent-in compositions by the jury.
• 28 June 2022 – the list of the participants with password-identifiers will be published on the official site of the Competition
• 24 – 26 November 2022 – the second round of the Competition, creative meetings, master classes, lecture of the jury members, the academic conference “From Alfred Shnittke to nowadays”, concert of contemporary music and the final gala-concert of the winner of the Competition.

Age of participants

• Composers from 18 to 40  years by the day of the beginning of the Competition who are students or graduates of professional musical institutions of higher and secondary education  are entitled to participate.

Categories

• Composition for a percussion ensemble
• Composition for a young pianist.

Every participant may take part in one or both categories.

Requirements

For the category “Composition for a percussion ensemble” participants present a composition for a percussion ensemble, 5 to 10 minutes long. It can engage no more than 6 performers. Possible instruments include kettledrums (no more than 5), a xylophone, a vibraphone, a marimba, crotales, a glockenspiel, big drums (no more than 3), side drums (no more than 3), triangles (no more than 3), cymbals, a tambourine, finger-cymbals,  a tam-tam,  tom drums (no more than 6), bongo (no more than 2), a woodblock.

For the category “Composition for a young pianist” participants present a composition for piano for two hands, 3 to 5 minutes long. The difficulty level must suit the senior classes of children music school.

Compositions must be written after 1 January 2021 and not be published, publically performed or awarded at other competitions.

The composition must use one or several themes from “Suite in The Old Style” by A.G. Shnittke.

A cyclus can be presented only if it fits the duration limit

Single parts of a cyclic works, co-author works, records and full scores with any signatures that make it possible to identify their author are not allowed into the Competition.

Regulations

• The Competition is held in two rounds: the first round is distance. It includes studying, evaluation and selection of the sent-in compositions. The second round is an in-person finale and consists of public hearings.
• The Competition is anonymous. One participant can send only one composition for each category.
• Compositions for the category “Composition for a chamber ensemble” will be performed in the finale by the ensemble “Crash Band” (artistic director E.V. Tolochkova).
• Compositions for the category “Composition for a young pianist” will be performed in the finale by pupils of the Children music school for gifted children named after L.I. Shugom by the Saratov State Conservatory.
• As part of the Competition, master classes, creative meetings and lecture of the members of the jury, practical lessons in composition for percussion ensemble and for young pianists will be held, alongside with the academic conference “From Alfred Shnitke to nowadays”.
• For participation the application form from the official site of the Competition must be filled in: https://schnittkecompetition.totnm.org/en/registration. One need to put on one’s name and surname, the date, the city and the state of birth, the name of teacher (if applicable), the name of composition, password-identifier (may include letters and numbers), links to the full scores  in pdf-format and a demo video in mp3-format. The full scores and audio file may be loaded into any cloud drive. The full scores must be signed only with a password-identifier.
• An application is approved only after a confirmation by the Organizing Committee.
• If participating in both categories, one must fill in two separate applications and use different password-identifiers.
• Participants of the finale of the Competition must send in musical parties and a colourful photo within 5 days from the appearance of the results of the first round.