ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the mechanisms and dynamics of how classical music competitions operate. More broadly, classical music competitions serve every discipline and family, including conducting, composition, and ensembles. Chamber competitions such as the M-Prize respond to trends we now consider historical, for example, the proliferation of the Pierrot ensemble and the saxophone quartet, and take a broad perspective on interdisciplinary and cross-genre creativity. Many classical music competitions are dedicated to specific composers, for example, the International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition and the International Franz Liszt Piano Competition. The value of classical music competitions has changed as they have evolved and proliferated. The invasiveness-exploitation, some argue-is anathema to classical music competitions, whose musicians are typically young adults and still developing. The phenomenal breadth of competitions reflects the ways in which classical music has evolved since the turn of the twentieth century.
