LPC Rules

Rules

Livornoclassica Music Association announces the 9th Edition of Livorno Piano Competition.
The competition will take place in Livorno from Wednesday 15th to Sunday 19 October 2025 and will be held in Teatro Goldoni, Livorno.
Livorno Piano Competition consists of a Preliminary round based on the invoice of a video together with the application and three rounds in Livorno in front of the Jury.
Livornoclassica reserves the right to make changes or additions to the rulement or cancel the Competition due to force majeure. In this case Livornoclassica will entirely refund the application fees.
Audience is allowed at all stages of the competition.

Eligibility

Livorno Piano Competition is opened to pianists of all nationalities up to 32 years old; they must still be under 33 at the beginning of the competition (Wednesday 15th October 2025).
Candidates who have family relationship or have had continuous teaching relationships with one or more jury members will not be admitted to the Competition. Occasional participation at masterclass will not be cause of exclusion.

Notifications

Each contestant will be informed by email about the application process, admission, rehearsal and audition schedule; absence at check-in without any justified reason will determine the exclusion from the competition.
Auditions will take place in alphabetic order, according to the drawing of the letter which will published together with the admitted contestant’s list.
Rooms with pianos to practice during the competition will be provided.

Travel and accomodation

Travel and accommodation expenses are borne by the competitors. Facilities and agreements with hotels, B&B, private apartments can be checked on this website in the News section by the end of July.

Musical program

PRELIMINARY ROUND

videos lasting between 15 and 20 minutes

Contestants will send a link to a video on You Tube or other platforms (either public or private videos are accepted); a fixed shooting angle and clear visibility of face and hands are required. The performed pieces can either be all in the same recording session or recorded separately; there must not be any cut inside a single piece or movement.

Multi camera videos are accepted only if they contain a professional recording made during piano competitions by the organization (specify the name of the competition).

The video will feature:
1) First movement of a Sonata by Beethoven, Clementi, Haydn or Mozart
2) One etude
3) repertoire at contestant’s choice. Other movements of the same sonata as 1) are accepted as well as movements from other sonatas or suites.

Any piece from the Preliminary round program can be repeated, at contestant’s choice, during the Competition in Livorno.
A maximum number of 45 contestants will be admitted to the First round in Livorno

FIRST ROUND

maximum duration 18 minutes

program of free contestant choice
A maximum number of 12 contestants will be admitted to the Semifinal round

SEMIFINAL ROUND

maximum duration 40 minutes

A Sonata chosen from the works of Beethoven, Clementi, Haydn or Mozart must be included. The rest of the program is at free choice*
Only exception regarding the total time can be made in case of Beethoven’s op.106.
A maximum number of 5 contestants will be admitted to the Final round

FINAL ROUND

maximum duration 40 minutes

free contestant’s choice*

Jury and voting system

The jury’s decision is irrevocable. The jury reserves the right to stop the performance in case the time limit be exceeded.
After first and second round the selection will be made according to the number of YES achieved by each contestant. In case of tie the jury will vote again in order to determine which contestants will get to the following round.
After the Finals the decision will be made upon a system based upon marks.
In the final judge the Jury will keep into consideration all three rounds.
After the end of the Competition the results with the choices made by each juror will be displayed on Livorno Piano Competition’s website.

Application and participation

Applications will be accepted starting from Sunday 1st June until Thursday July 17th, 2025 at 24:00 italian hour.
The application form, downloadable in the “application” section of this website, must be filled and sent by email at segreteria@livornopianocompetition.com together with all the required documents and the link to the video for the Preliminary round. Please specify in the “object” field of the email: “application to Livorno Piano Competition 2025”.
The receipt of payment of 70 euros, net of bank expenses, must be attached to the email as association fee at Livornoclassica.
By Saturday 9 August candidates will be notified by email about their admission to the competition; the admitted candidates will have time until Friday 15 to confirm their application with the payment of a participation fee of 55 euros. Candidates who will fail to complete the procedure will be excluded from participation.
Some candidates, not included in the lot of 45 admitted but positively judged during the preselection, can be placed in a waiting list and possibily invited to complete their application during the days following August 15th.
At the end of the application procedure the list of admitted contestants will be published on this website along with the result of extracting the letter from which the auditions will begin.
Registration implies unconditional compliance with every part of the rulement.

PRIZES

FIRST PRIZE

euro 6.000,00*
- First Prize Diploma and Plate
(4.500,00 euros will be payed within 30 days from the end of the competition, the remaining 1.500,00 to be payed after the recitals in Toscana)
- Concert tour in Toscana coordinated by Livornoclassica, for Museo Piaggio Pontedera, Livornoclassica and others to be specified later. The winner will receive from Livornoclassica the last part of the prize (1500 euros) and will be offered accomodation during the tour
- Recitals offered by Yamaha, Mediterranean Music Association in Trapani, Fondazione La Società dei Concerti di Milano in one of its seasons and possibly other institutions. For what concerns these recitals, agreements concerning fees / reimboursement of expenses will be taken directly between the winner and the Institutions
- Premio “ARTE”, offered by Galleria d’Arte Athena, consisting in a work of art made by the artist Laura Venturi

SECOND PRIZE

euro 2.500,00*
- Second Prize Diploma
(1.800,00 euros will be payed within 30 days from the end of the competition, the remaining 700,00 to be payed after the recital in Livorno)

THIRD PRIZE

euro 1.000,00*
- Third Prize Diploma

FOURTH PRIZE

euro 700,00*
- Fourth Prize Diploma

FIFTH PRIZE

euro 500,00*
- Fifth Prize Diploma

Special awards

"Antonio Bacchelli" Special award

euro 500,00*
Awarded by the Jury to a finalist for the best interpretation of repertoire of XX or XXI century performed during the semifinal or the final round.

Young Jury Special award

euro 200,00*
awarded to a finalist by a panel of students

* Money prizes will be awarded gross of the withholding tax.

It is not possible to share the 1st prize.
It is not possible to share the 1st prize.
A Finalist diploma will be awarded to non-prizewinner Finalists, should there be any
A Semifinalist diploma will be awarded to semifinalists.

Privacy

Candidates with the inscription authorize LIVORNOCLASSICA, pursuant to art.97 of the Law on copyright, to make audio-video recordings of their performance and feature it on any digital platform (YouTube or others) and to publish photos in promotional material of the Association. In relation to this candidates cannot advance any right or financial request towards Livornoclassica.
According to art. 13 and 14 of GDPR (UE 2016/679 About Privacy) all data provided at registration will be used only to send communications related to the contest excluding any other use.
The organization accepts no liability in respect of any injury to persons and / or property during the course of the competition.