Bizkaiko Foru Aldundia - Diputación Foral de Bizkaia

The XV "Pedro Mª Unanue" Bilbao-Bizkaia International Singing Competition will be governed by the following terms and conditions:

1. One:

   The "Pedro Mª Unanue" Bilbao-Bizkaia International Singing Competition is open, without distinction of nationality, to:

   1. Female singers between the ages of 18 and 35, reaching either age in 2014.
   2. Male singers between the ages of 20 and 35, reaching either age in 2014.

   There will be no exceptions regarding age limits.

   (Applicants must comply with the provisions of article 12 of Provincial Law 5/2005, of May 31, (OGB no. 114, 16/6/ 2005) which regulates the general legal framework for subsidies granted by the Provincial Administration).

2. Two:

   No applicant who has obtained a first prize in a previous Bilbao International Singing Competition or at the current "Pedro Mª Unanue" Bilbao-Bizkaia International Singing Competition in competitions prior to this convening of the 2014 edition will be admitted.

3. Three.- Entry fee

   • The entry fee is set at €60.00 (sixty euros), with any bank fees or other expenses to be paid by the contestant.

1. Three.- Entry fee

   The entry fee will be paid by bank transfer to the following account:

   1. Bank: KUTXABANK
   2. Account holder: Diputación Foral de Bizkaia. Departamento Foral de Cultura. Difusión Cultural. Gastos varios
   3. Account number: 2095 0611 07 2016029399
   4. IBAN: ES40 2095 0611 07 2016029399
   5. BIC: BASKES2BXXX

   Payment will not be accepted by cheque or banker's draft and, once the entry fee has been paid and accepted, under no circumstances will the amount of the entry fee be returned.

   Likewise, no application form will be accepted if the amount for the entry fee shown on the bank receipt provided by the applicant does not correspond to the correct amount i.e. €60, transfer charges apart.

2. Four.- Entry

   • 1.- This will be carried out by filling out, using block letters and characters from Western languages, the "Entry Form" which appears in the Entry section of these terms and conditions and, at the same time, in the Regional Decree which regulates this convening, which is accessible on the web:

     1. www.bizkaia.eus/concursocantobilbao
     2. www.bizkaia.eus/kulturadirulaguntzak

1. Four.- Entry

   The following documentation should accompany the Entry Form:

   1. Copy of the identity document or passport of the contestant or official document showing his/her age and nationality.

   2. Brief curriculum vitae of the contestant which should cover: their musical studies stating centre and teachers, awards obtained, professional activities and any other information considered of interest.

   3. A recent photograph in 8.00 x 12.00 cm format. (300 dpi resolution).

   4. Documentary proof of having duly paid the entry fee (€60.00) into the regional bank account opened for these purposes (charges apart).

   5. Programme of works to be performed, which cannot be changed once accepted by the Competition Organising Committee:

      1. GROUP A: Six compositions from the Oratory, Cantata, Lied or concert song genre (you can mix works from different styles).
      2. GROUP B: Six arias from opera, zarzuela and operetta.

   6. Candidates should specify their voice type on the entry form: Soprano, mezzo-soprano, contralto, tenor, baritone or bass.

   7. Candidates from Spain will present certificates issued by the Inland Revenue and Social Security showing that the applicant is up to date with their tax and social security obligations.
   8. Participants from foreign countries will submit a sworn statement that they do not have a tax debt with the Inland Revenue and or with any institutions in their country of origin that are equivalent to the Spanish Social Security system.

1. Four.- Entry

   • 2.- Entry can be made as follows:

     1. By presenting the official form attached here as Annex I - K1, accompanied by the required documentation and signed by the person concerned, at the Servicio de Acción Cultural del Departamento de Cultura de la Diputación Foral de Bizkaia (Cultural Action Department of the Department of Culture of the Provincial Council of Biscay), Alda. Rekalde, 30-2º, Bilbao (from Monday to Friday, 8.30 a.m. to 1.30 p.m.), or in the manner determined by article 38.4 of Law 30/1992, of November 26, on the Legal Framework of Public Administrations and Common Administrative Procedure.

     2. In the event of submitting the entry by mail or courier, the documentation mentioned above should be sent to:

        • REGIONAL GOVERNMENT OF BIZKAIA

        • DEPARTMENT OF CULTURE

        • CULTURAL ACTION SERVICE

        • "PEDRO Mª UNANUE" BILBAO-BIZKAIA INTERNATIONAL SINGING COMPETITION

        • Rekalde avenue 30, 2. floor

        • 48009 BILBO (Spain)

     3. If for reasons of force majeure the applicant sends the entry documentation online from the "Pedro Mª Unanue" Bilbao-Bizkaia International Singing Competition website (www.bizkaia.eus/concursocantobilbao), the applicant must sign the Entry Form "in situ" at the offices of the competition organisers on the day of their arrival in Bilbao to take part in the competition.

1. Four.- Entry

   • 3.- The maximum number of entries will be 140, as a result of which the date shown for sending the entry will be strictly adhered to (both for postal and on-line entries), to which the corresponding entry number will be allocated for the documentation submitted by the contestant.
   • 4.- The deadline for entry is June 6, 2014 at 2.00 pm. (GMT: Greenwich Mean Time).
   • 5.- Those entries that are submitted but where some of the documents listed in point 1 above are missing, will be given ten working days to take the necessary steps to rectify the situation.
   • At the end of that period, any entries that are not accompanied by the necessary documentation will not be considered and the applicant will be duly notified that his/her entry has been rejected.
   • 6.- After the deadline for submission of the application forms for participation and prior to June 20, 2014, the provisional list of those who have been accepted and rejected will be published in the Official Gazette of Biscay and a communication on the website of the BILBAO BIZKAIA "PEDRO Mª UNANUE" INTERNATIONAL SINGING COMPETITION: www.bizkaia.eus/concursocantobilbao as well as a list of those with documentation missing, if any, setting a deadline of ten (10) working days to rectify the situation, making it clear that, if no action is taken, their application to participate will, as a result, be deemed to have been withdrawn.
   • Likewise, the name of the piano accompanist will be made public to those candidates who requested one.
   • The admission places provisionally awarded to people adjudged to have withdrawn their entries will provisionally be awarded to persons whose names appear at the top of the rejected list on the basis of the entry number awarded to the application form based on the date of registration of the entry.

1. Four.- Entry

   • If there is more than one case of this nature, the same procedure will be followed until completing the maximum number of entries set out in section 5 above.

   • Subsequently, by the deadline of July 11, 2014 and also by publication in the Official Gazette of Biscay and a communication on the website of the BILBAO BIZKAIA "PEDRO Mª UNANUE" INTERNATIONAL: www.bizkaia.eus/concursocantobilbao the final list of those accepted and rejected will be published.

2. Five:

   The competition will consist of the following rounds:

   • Elimination

   • Semifinal

   • Final

   The order in which the competitors will participate in each round will be established by means of a draw held in the presence of a notary at the Department of Culture of the Provincial Council of Biscay, and that order may not be altered in any way.

1. The performances of the contestants in each of the rounds will be organised as follows:

   Elimination:

   Contestants will perform 2 (two) works chosen by the Jury, one from Group A and one from Group B, from those that have been accepted by the competition jury.

   The maximum duration of this round will be 10 minutes per contestant.

   The jury of the International Singing Competition reserves the right to remove and/or reduce the performance of the works to be performed if it believes that the duration exceeds the set time.

   Semifinal:

   Contestants will perform 2 (two) works from their programme chosen by the jury, from among those listed in the programme submitted by the contestant and which have been accepted by the competition jury.

   The first will come from Group A and the second from Group B. The jury of the International Singing Competition reserves the right to delete and/or reduce the performance of the works to be performed if it believes that the duration exceeds the set time.

   The maximum duration of this round will be 20 minutes per contestant.

   Final:

   The participants will perform two arias from Group B of the programme of works accepted by the competition jury. These works, which will be designated by the jury, will not have been selected in any of the previous rounds.The jury reserves the right to request the contestant to modify the programme chosen for this round, within their repertoire, as well as to remove and/or reduce the performance of the works to be performed if it considers that their duration exceeds the set time.

   The arias from the works to be performed will be accompanied by the Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonikoa (BOS), which will be led by the conductor designated by the competition organisers

   Contestants should be in possession of the sheet music for singing and piano, corresponding to the programme of works to be performed that they have submitted on their entry application form and that have been accepted by the competition jury. Also, where required, they should have the relevant authorisation from the composer or companies or individuals that own the copyright of the works that they want to perform.

   The orchestral material for the opera aria that contestants will perform in the Final will be supplied by the competition organisers.

1. Six:

   The rounds will be held on the following dates:

   Elimination:

   November 22 (Saturday), 23 (Sunday), 24 (Monday) and 25, 2014 from 4.00 p.m. in the Auditorio del Conservatorio Profesional de Música "Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga", c/. Plaza Ibarrekolanda, nº1, Bilbao

   Semifinal:

   November 26, 2014 (Wednesday), from 4.00 pm in the Auditorio del Conservatorio Profesional de Música "Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga", c/. Plaza Ibarrekolanda, nº1, Bilbao

   Final:

   November 29, 2014 (Saturday), at 7:30 p.m. in the Auditorium of the Palacio Euskalduna (Euskalduna Conference Centre) in Bilbao.

2. Seven:

   All participants who have obtained a first prize in any International Singing Competition affiliated to the World Federation of International Music Competitions, provided that they indicate this and provide documentary proof, will go directly into the Semifinal.

3. Eight:

   The draw for the order of performance of the contestants in the various rounds will be held on the following dates:

   • September 19, 2014 at 12.00 p.m. (noon), to determine the order of performance in the elimination round.

   • November 26, 2014 at 10.00 a.m., to participate in the Semifinal (it is compulsory for the contestants who have been selected to participate in the Semifinal of the competition to attend).

   • November 27, 2014 at 10:00 a.m., to determine the order of participation in the Final and rehearsals with the piano accompanist and the conductor who will lead the Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonikoa (it is compulsory for contestants who have reached the Final to attend).

   In the draws to determine the order of participation in the SEMIFINAL and FINAL rounds, all of the participants concerned must be present.

1. Nine:

   Immediately after each draw, the competition organisers will make an official piano accompanist available for each of the contestants, who will have the right to a rehearsal before each round. The contestants will rehearse based on their order of performance in front of the jury.

   However, any contestant who so wishes may be accompanied by their own pianist. The rehearsals for the elimination round will have a maximum duration of 20 minutes.

   The rehearsals for the elimination round will have a maximum duration of 20 minutes.

2. Ten:

   The works will be sung in their original language and by heart, and no tonal transpositions will be allowed. Those opera arias that include recitative and cabaletta sections should be performed in full. However, the jury reserves the right to limit the performance.

   Monolingual programmes will not be accepted. All contestants will sing in at least two living languages, included in the programme that they should send together with their entry for the competition.

3. Eleven:

   The organisers of the Bilbao-Bizkaia International Singing Competition will appoint a jury entrusted with assessing and judging the performances of the contestants, which will consist of leading international figures in the world of opera, whose decisions will be final.

4. Twelve:

   The attendance of the prizewinners at the prize-giving ceremony for the different awards will be compulsory. Failure to attend the prize-giving ceremony will mean that the contestant waives their prize.

5. Thirteen:

   A Committee of Music Critics will be set up in order to choose the winner of the Critics' Special Award.

1. Fourteen:

   The contestants authorise the Provincial Council of Biscay to make any sound or audiovisual recordings of the performances. The Provincial Council, as the producer of these recordings, will exclusively hold all exploitation, reproduction, public communication, distribution and transformation rights that may exist, with no limitations on term or territory and by any means currently known and in existence, without prejudice to any statutory equitable remuneration and moral rights that the competitors-performers may hold, without the latter being entitled to any other remuneration or equity compensation. The authorisation will be deemed to have been given by signing the entry form.

2. Fifteen.- Hotel Subsidies

   The competition organisers will provide accommodation and breakfast for the contestants that have made it through the elimination rounds to the Semifinal, from the day on which the list of the successful participants in the elimination rounds is published until the day they are eliminated.

3. Sixteen.- Incidents and other aspects

   Any incidents that may occur during the competition will be resolved by the Jury, if it has been set up, or by the competition organisers if they occur before the jury has been set up.

   The competition organisers may invite representatives from opera houses, agents or leading figures from the world of opera to the Final of the competition, so that the finalists can be heard by these professionals.

4. Seventeen:

   The entry by the contestant in the "Pedro Mª Unanue" Bilbao-Bizkaia International Singing Competition implies their acceptance of these terms and conditions, as well as the decisions of the jury.

5. Eighteen:

   The regulatory bases and call of the XV International Singing Competition Bilbao-Bizkaia "Pedro Mª Unanue" are approved by Regional Government of Bizkaia 22/2014 Decree, March 11. Any question, dispute or claim shall be settled by the said Decree.