Wettbewerb "Das Lied"

Yes, a chosen pianist may accompany a participating singer in all rounds of the competition. Accompanying pianists do not have to meet the age requirements that apply to singers. Only if the pianists want to participate in the awarding of the special prize for pianists, they have to be born in 1991 or later.

When registering for the competition, please indicate whether you are participating with or without your own pianist. If you participate without a chosen pianist, we will refer you to our competition pianist.

Yes, the pianist may accompany several participants. It is to be ensured that all singers provide the complete data of the pianist in the application.

No, please use only the online form to apply, which will be available from June 1 to August 31, 2022. Unfortunately, we cannot consider applications by e-mail or mail.

Feel free to contact us at liedzentrum@heidelberger-fruehling.de. If necessary, we can offer support with the technical preparation of your application videos or give you hints.

Please upload your videos to a video platform, for example Youtube or Vimeo, and insert the link to the video in the appropriate place in the online application form. The video does not necessarily have to be public. You can also include a link to a non-listed video.

No, when selecting the video recordings, you only have to fulfill the requirement according to the conditions of participation: Send at least one song each by Robert Schumann and Franz Schubert, as well as one song by composers of German-language modernism composed no earlier than 1960. The songs submitted may also be the competition repertoire, but they do not have to be.
Also, please do not send more than five video recordings.

Select German-language songs by composers who composed or published after 1960. Regarding the composers, we do not set any requirements, you can choose freely. Examples include: Aribert Reimann, Wolfgang Rihm, Moritz Eggert, Wolfgang Fortner, Wilhelm Killmayer or Siegfried Matthus. Feel free to contact us with any further questions.

As part of your registration, you must bindingly specify a total of 30 songs that you will prepare for the competition. In 2023, the focus will be on the composers Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Aribert Reimann and Viktor Ullmann. Here you may make a selection from the entire song repertoire of Aribert Reimann and Viktor Ullmann. When selecting songs by Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann, only those that are not part of their song cycles may be chosen. Select 11 songs each by Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann and 8 songs by Aribert Reimann and/or Viktor Ullmann and enter them into the repertoire template provided on our website. You can then upload these as part of your application in the registration form. A detailed repertoire overview with the allowed competition repertoire can be found here. Please contact us if you are unsure about the selection or want to choose pieces that you think are incorrectly not noted in the overview.

Yes, with Schumann, Schubert and Ullmann it is allowed to adapt the songs to the respective preferred voice pitch. The songs can be performed in any vocal range. Reimann songs may not be performed in any key other than the composed key. Only the voice category may be freely chosen.

The pre-selection committee will consider all applications that have been submitted completely and on time up to and including August 31, 2022, will be reviewed during the month of September and a selection of participants will be made for the competition. You will find out whether you are one of the participants by September 30, 2022 at the latest.

As things stand, we firmly expect the 2023 competition to take place as planned. Nevertheless, we would like to make the decision to apply easier for interested applicants with the following measure:

If, contrary to expectations, the competition cannot take place at short notice due to official requirements, all applicants will be refunded the participation fee of €100.00.

If participants who have their home or place of study abroad and are traveling from there are unable to enter Germany due to official travel bans and are therefore unable to participate in the competition, we will also refund the participation fee in the amount of €100.00. However, this does not apply to mandatory quarantine or testing measures that must take place in the course of entry into Germany, but only to explicit travel bans.

You are free to choose the songs for the first round of the contest according to the requirements set forth in the terms and conditions of participation. Before the beginning of the competition, admitted participants will be asked to submit their repertoire for the first round of the competition. This selection is considered binding from the moment it is sent to the contest project office.

In case of forwarding to the following competition rounds, the repertoire will be determined during the competition on the day before the respective competition round. A part of the repertoire will be chosen by the jury from the contestant's repertoire, the rest will be chosen by the contestant. For detailed information regarding the length of the performance periods and the number of songs per composer in the individual rounds of the competition, please refer to the conditions of participation.

No, the song competition is a singing competition explicitly aimed at singers. There will be no category in which the participants will be judged as a duo. The jury will only evaluate the participating singers. The exception is the special prize for pianists, which the jury will award to one of the pianists who participate together with the singers and meet the requirements for the award.

It is mandatory for participants of the competition to arrive in Heidelberg on February 28, 2023, i.e. the day before the first round of the competition. On this day the accreditation of the participants will take place, information about the general course of the competition will be given and the order of the first round of the competition will be drawn. Selected participants will be informed in detail about the concrete course of the competition days (order of participants, repertoire selection, etc.) after the application phase has been completed.

No, travel to and from the competition in Heidelberg is at the participants' own expense, as is accommodation in Heidelberg. The organization of travel and accommodation is also the responsibility of the participants themselves.

Please take care of all the necessary formalities for entering Germany on your own. If required, we will send you a written invitation to the competition, which you can use to apply for entry visas or similar.

We will provide sufficient rehearsal opportunities for all participants before each round of the competition. Those participants who will compete with our competition pianist will, of course, have the opportunity to rehearse immediately before the competition. We will get in touch with you as soon as possible after the announcement of the participants.

Yes, a livestream of the competition is planned, available via the homepage of the Heidelberger Frühling, the Facebook channel and Youtube channel of the Liedzentrum.

Yes, the jury is generally available for feedback discussions. Admitted participants will be informed when and where these interviews can take place as part of the preparation for the competition.