Festival Rules 2025

A. General

CantaRode will take place from Thursday, May 29 – Sunday, June 1, 2025 in the city of Kerkrade, the Netherlands.
This choral festival includes the following events (compulsory for all participating choirs):

- An opening concert.
- A competition of 2 rounds.
- A regional concert in Kerkrade or its surrounding area, including the neighboring countries of Germany and Belgium.
- The CantaKerkrade Sing Along on Saturday afternoon in the city center of Kerkrade
- The meeting ‘Conductors meet the Jury’.
- The official Award Ceremony and Winners’ Concert.
- Attendance at the Closing Concert is optional and will be decided upon by the CantaRode Foundation board in a timely manner.

There are two categories:

Chamber choirs:

- Mixed choirs consisting of 12-32 singers.
- Choirs with equal voices consisting of 12-32 singers.
  Both women’s choirs and men’s choirs are permitted to compete.

Large choirs:

- Mixed choirs consisting of 33 singers or more.
- Choirs with equal voices consisting of 33 singers or more.
  Both women’s choirs and men’s choirs are permitted to compete.

For the final results both categories will be combined into one ranking.

Only amateur choirs are welcome to register.
Choirs of universities, conservatories and ‘Musikhochschulen’ are welcome to participate.
The performing choirs cannot claim any compensation when being recorded and/or broadcasted by radio or television, photographed or recorded on CD’s and DVD’s.
All rights of recordings, shots or broadcasts are reserved to CantaRode.
The organization cannot be held responsible in case of accidents, thefts, or other unwanted incidents during the festival.
All contact and correspondence will take place via the secretarial office of CantaRode.
All copyright of the compositions to performed must be handled by the choirs themselves.
Any arrangements to be performed during the festival must be judged in advance by the artistic committee of CantaRode.

B. Registration & correspondence

All registrations must be received by the secretarial office not later than December 15, 2024.
Registration can only be submitted by using the registration form that can be downloaded on the website www.cantarode.nl
Registration must formally be submitted by the board of the choir and sent by post or e-mail to the secretarial office of CantaRode:

Stichting CantaRode
c/o Verdipassage 2
6461 DS Kerkrade
The Netherlands
or info@cantarode.nl

The entrance fee of € 300, – per choir per category has to be transferred not later than February 1, 2025, to the bank account of CantaRode:

- IBAN: NL36 RABO 0302 6344 60
- BIC: RABONL2U

in the name of Stichting CantaRode

Any additional bank charges will be paid by the registered choir.

All e-mail correspondence must take place via: info@cantarode.nl
Choirs wishing to enter CantaRode International Choir Festival must send in the following documents/items by post or email:

a) A completed and signed registration form. The name of the choir must be entered in the language of the country of origin as well as in English.

b) A brief Curriculum Vitae of the choir and a brief Curriculum Vitae of the conductor in English and/or Dutch. Curriculum Vitae of choir and conductor combined should not exceed 250 words.

c) Two recent digital pictures of the choir and a recent digital picture of its conductor in one of the following formats: .JPG or .TIFF, high-resolution, no less than 330 dpi.

d) A recent recording in the form of a CD/DVD or MP3 of a live concert, not older than two years, including at least three a cappella compositions. (Recordings other than CD/DVD of MP3 will only be accepted on demand and after approval of the board of CantaRode.)

e) The program of competition rounds 1 and 2 plus a brief summary of each particular choral work in English and/or Dutch. The titles of the compositions must be entered in the original language and in English.

f) Five original scores of each composition to be performed during both competition rounds. On each score first name, surname, year of birth and, if applicable, year of death of the composer must be stated.

The scores will be sent along with the registration as a pdf. Upon arrival at the festival the original scores will be handed in at the festival secretarial office.

If dispatched through the post, the participating choir will take care of the costs.

g) A program proposal for a concert in Kerkrade or the surrounding area, including Belgium and Germany, with a duration of 30-40 minutes.

Registrations will only be accepted if all compulsory documents and scores have been entered completely and on time.
Choirs who wish to compete in more than one category will be treated as separate choirs and must register for each category separately.

C. Program of the competition

Each choir will take part in the opening concert where it will perform a composition from the country of origin, preferably dressed in the traditional costume of this country.

Each choir will practice the Festival Song (this will be sent to all participants in a timely manner).

Each choir will participate in two rounds of competition.

Competition Round 1: Friday, May 30, 2025

This performance:

- must have a duration of min. 17 and max. 20 minutes of accurate singing time, exclusively a cappella.
- must include at least one composition from the Renaissance/Baroque period.
- must include at least one composition from the Romantic Movement.
- must include at least one composition from the20^th/21^st
- must include a post 1985 composition by a composer from the country of origin of the choir. This composition counts as compulsory work.
- It is allowed to perform multiple compositions per style period.

NB: Each choir is free to decide in which order these compositions will be performed.

Competition Round 2: Saturday, May 31, 2025

During this performance:

- each choir is free to perform a program of its own choice. This program may however not include compositions that have been used during the first competition round!
- accompaniment of one or more instruments is permitted, with a maximum of five.
- the duration of the performance must be min. 17 and max. 20 minutes.
- each choir is free to determine the order of the compositions to be performed. The final order, however, must be sent to the secretarial office (info@cantarode.nl) not later than April 15, 2025.

NB: Solo performances should be limited and are not included in the jury results.

D. Selection

The selection of the registered choirs will be based on the application material. (See section B6).
By the end of January 2025, or sooner if possible, the registered choirs will be notified whether or not they have been admitted to the festival. This admission will, however, only be final after receiving the entrance fee. When a selected choir decides not to participate the entrance fee will not be refunded.

E. Jury

The international jury consists of five members.
The jury assesses all choirs and decides on the final rankings.
All participating choirs receive a written report of each member of the jury.
Each competition round counts for 50% of the final results.
The final results of the jury are binding.

F. Reception and overnight stay of the participating choirs

Location of registration upon arrival is the Festival secretarial office (the exact location will be published later).
During the whole festival each choir will be assigned a permanent guide.
All selected choirs are responsible for the organization and costs of the trip to Kerkrade, the Netherlands and back and their own accommodation arrangements. In order to obtain a grant from their country of origin, it is possible to request a written invitation from the secretarial office. CantaRode will provide a list of hotels in the region.