Welcome to the official site of the 22nd International Festival of Advent and Christmas Music with Petr Eben Prize which takes place for 22 years traditionally on the first Advent weekend in Prague : November 29 - December 02, 2012, organized by Millennium Agency Prague and OR-FEA Prague in co-operation with Czech Choral Union.

The competition is open for female, male, youth, mixed and children´s choirs in following categories:

1) chamber choirs (up to 24 members incl. the conductor)
2) big choirs (youth and adults from at least 25 singers) divided into
a) mixed choirs
b) homogeneous choirs (male or female)

3) homophonic children´s choirs SA (up to 16 years incl.)

COMPETITION PROGRAMME

The competition programme is to be aimed mainly at Advent and Christmas music and it is supposed to last in the category of children´s choirs 12 - 14 minutes, in other categories 14 – 16 minutes. Instrumental accompaniment is allowed, a piano will be available. There are max. 5 pieces allowed in the competition repertoire. At least one of the competitions of the contest repertoire must be performed a capella. The contest repertoire must include at least one composition composed after the year 1950. Each choir is supposed to bring 3 copies of the repertoire scores for the jury members. Those choirs that will include a composition by Petr Eben in their repertoire will be appraised also in the Petr Eben´s Prize competition. The composition needn´t be religious, it can be e.g. a vocal-instrumental piece. Each choir or his part can participate in max. 2 categories.

ADJUDICATION SYSTEM

The competition performance will be evaluated by an expert jury selected by organisers from acknowledged figures of Czech as well as international choral music, according to the following criteria:

a) technical level – voice culture and singing technique, intonation, rhythm

b) criteria of interpretation – correct usage of musical means of expression (dynamics, time - tempo, agogics, colour), construction and phrase making, style of interpretation, dramaturgy of the contest repertoire, level of difficulty)

c) overall artistic impression – expressive influence on listeners, contact of the choir with the conductor, singing from memory

Every jury member will evaluate the contest performance of each choir by a marking system in the scale of 0 – 30 points. The final result achieved by a choir will be worked out on the basis of the total points given by each of the jurors. Every choir will receive a written evaluation of their contest performance given by each juror together with the total number of points. No appeals against the decisions of the jury will be allowed. On the basis of these criteria and received points participating choirs will be assigned in accordance with the international rules:

gold diploma 25 – 30 points

silver diploma 20 – 24,9 points

bronze diploma 15 – 19,9 points

Those choirs which won´t reach at least 15 points for their competition performance will be awarded a certificate for participation in the festival only. Apart from diplomas awarding a winner of each category and the absolute winner of the festival will be announced. Special prices of the jury can be awarded (e.g. for the best conductor´s performance, for the best dramaturgy of the performance, for the best performance of the piece composed after the year 1950 etc.) The winners will get gift prizes.

At the end of the competition there is a common singing at the Old Town Square, where Christmas and Advent songs will be sung and also the composition of Petr Eben, composed specially for this occassion.

Many choirs are confused as a number of cloned, smaller, purely commercial festivals have cropped up in Prague and Bratislava - some having even stolen our festival´s name and idea- we are taking legal steps to protect our festival and reputation and prevent them from their unlawful activities.

The festival is also open for choirs that do not wish to participate in competition but would like to perform in the centre of Prague - in the famous Christmas market and in a church.

The International Festival of Advent and Christmas Music belongs to the most prestigious festival in our region - it is the oldest and biggest festival guaranteeing fair and objective competition and top conditions for all participating choirs.

Millennium Agency Prague
Zahradníckova 20c
150 00 Praha 5
Tel: +420 / 257 219 999
Fax: +420 / 257 219 999
e-mail: info@praguefestival.cz