The competition is held in two rounds.

Round 1 (10 to 13 years)

• Polyphonic composition
• Etude

Total duration: up to 10 minutes.

6 participants are allowed to the second round.

Round 2 (10 to 13 years)

• Two essays of the participant's choice
• One must be written in the 19th–20th centuries

Total duration: up to 15 minutes.

The competition is held in two rounds.

Round 1 (14 to 17 years)

• One of J.S. Bach's preludes and fugues from the Well-Tempered Clavier
• Virtuoso etude

Total duration: up to 15 minutes (14 to 17 years)

6 participants are allowed to the second round.

Round 2

• Two significant works* of participant's choice:
  • One from the 19th century
  • One from late 19th–20th centuries

Total duration: up to 25 minutes.

The competition is held in two rounds.

Round 1 (18 to 25 years)

• Prelude and Fugue by:
  • I.S. Bach
  • D. Shostakovich
  • R. Shchedrin
• One étude by:
  • F. Chopin
  • F. Liszt

Total duration: up to 15 minutes.

6 participants will be admitted to Round 2.

Round 2 (18 to 25 years)

• Two significant works* of participant's choice:
  • One from the 19th century
  • One from late 19th–20th centuries
• *One significant work may be replaced by several works by one author from the same opus or genre (e.g., mazurkas by Chopin, preludes by Rachmaninoff).

Total duration: up to 30 minutes.

Main evaluation criteria: level of performance skills, creative potential.