Competition Rules

XX CAMPILLOS INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION

The 20th Campillos International Piano Competition will be held at the IES “Camilo José Cela” Event Hall and the Iglesia Santa María del Reposo in Campillos, Málaga (Spain), from December 4 to 8, 2026.

GENERAL CONDITIONS

The Competition is open to pianists of all nationalities without age restriction. The Campillos IPC 1st Prize Winners of past editions and official or private students of Jury members currently or during the two previous years, are not allowed to take part in the competition. Sporadic masterclasses are permitted.

The On-line Application Form, with all required documents enclosed, must be received at the Competition Secretariat no later than October 15th, 2026.

The accepted contestants will perform in alphabetical order according to the family name, determined by a public draw, which will be valid for the First Stage and Semi-final. The performance order of the Final Stage might be modified by the Organizing Committee based on the repertoire. The draw will take place in Campillos IES Event Hall, on December 4, 2026, at 9.00 A.M. All contestants must be present. The resulting order can only be modified under exceptional circumstances, in which case the contestant must provide a valid justification and the Organization will make the final decision.

The contestants may try out the Shigeru Kawai Grand Piano at the Event Hall exclusively on December 4 from 9:30 A.M. to 2:30 P.M. Each contestant will be allocated 5 minutes to try the instrument. No further trials will be allowed.

Pianos provided by Royal Pianos will be at the contestants’ disposal for practicing during the Competition. The Organizing Committee will make every effort to ensure that all participants have a reasonable amount of practice time.

The Competition reserves the right to record, broadcast, and authorize the recording and broadcasting of all competition rounds, as well as to take photographs and conduct interviews for use on its official social media channels and by the media. Contestants shall not be entitled to any remuneration or compensation in connection with such recordings, broadcasts, photographs, or interviews, nor may they object to their use.

The Organizing Committee shall solve all those situations not specified in these regulations.

In case of any difference between the Spanish and English versions of these rules, the Official Spanish text will prevail.

By sending the application form, the applicant agrees to accept and to comply with all the regulations of the contest.

APPLICATIONS

The online registration form (http://concursointernacionalpiano.es/application/) in Spanish or English must be sent before October 15th, 2026, with the following enclosed documents:

• Photocopy of Passport.
• 1 artistic photograph in .jpg format.
• A Curriculum Vitae in Spanish or English in .doc, .docx or .pdf format.

Only JPG, Word and PDF formats will be accepted as enclosed files.

The Secretary will send an e-mail confirming the reception of the application within 5 days. In case the contestant does not receive the confirmation from our secretariat he or she should contact our secretary as soon as possible by writing an e-mail to secretaria@concursointernacionalpiano.es

Only correct and complete applications as specified in these rules will be taken into consideration. Subsequently competitors will be informed that their applications have been successfully received. If any of the requirements for the application happen to be false, incomplete or incorrect, the competitor’s application will not be valid.

In case of too many applications, the committee will select a maximum of 60 pianists based on the submitted materials and will communicate to each applicant the result of the Pre-selection by October 20. After this communication ONLY selected contestants should pay a 125 Euro entry fee by bank transfer, free of any charge for the beneficiary, before October 25. Bank transfer details will be sent to selected contestants together with the Notification of Acceptance. On the Bank receipt, it should be written “Campillos IPC” next to the name of the competitor.

Selected contestants must send a copy of the payment Bank receipt by e-mail to the Competition Secretariat by October 25.

No competitor will be accepted until the Bank receipt copy and full competition fee are received. This fee cannot be refunded under any circumstances. If the fee is not received by October 25 selected contestants will be excluded.

The Organizing Committee will establish a waiting list from the non-selected competitors who might be invited to participate in case selected contestants cancel or are excluded by the Secretariat.

COMPETITION STAGES AND REPERTOIRE

The Competition consists of a Pre-selection, First Stage, Semi-Final and Final rounds. The last three rounds are open to the public.

PRESELECTION STAGE:
Only one YouTube video recording link by the contestant, or similar system, containing one or more pieces of free choice from 10 to 15 minutes total length. You can do this recording for this occasion but you can also use one or several existing recordings of different pieces and put them together in only one YouTube link. Quality of video and audio should be as good as possible showing always clearly hands and face of each applicant.

A maximum of 60 pianists will be selected to take part in the First Stage.

FIRST STAGE:
A performance lasting no longer than 15 minutes containing a program of free choice.

The number of candidates admitted to the Semi-Final will not be more than 18.

SEMIFINAL STAGE:
A performance lasting no longer than 25 minutes containing a program of free choice.

The number of candidates admitted to the Final will not be more than 3.

FINAL STAGE
A performance with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Málaga of one piano concerto included in the following list:

• L. van Beethoven: No. 5 in E-flat major Op. 73
• F. Chopin: No. 2 in F minor Op. 21
• F. Liszt: No. 1 in E-flat major
• E. Grieg: in A minor, Op. 16
• P. I. Tchaikovsky: No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23
• S. Rachmaninov: No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18

The Artistic Committee and Jury members will take into consideration the variety and difficulty of the whole program of the competition. All works must be published and it is not allowed to perform own works by the contestants.

The same work may not be performed in more than one round of the competition. The only exception is that works included in the Pre-selection recording may be performed again in one of the live rounds.

No changes to the repertoire submitted in the online application form will be accepted. Any unauthorised change of repertoire may lead to disqualification.

All the works must be performed from memory, including contemporary works.

The Jury may interrupt the performance if the maximum timing for each round is exceeded.

PRIZES

Several Special Prizes in the form of €250 travel grants will be awarded. Members of the Málaga Symphony Orchestra, as well as the audience attending the Final Round, will each award their own Special Prize to their preferred finalists.

The First Prize is indivisible, but the other prizes may be shared.

The jury is not obliged to award all the prizes. Their decision is final.

Prizes and cash awards shall be subject of statutory Spanish taxes.

The award-winning pianists must collect their prizes personally in the Closing Act. A refusal entails the cancellation of the award.

CALENDAR