Festival General Rules 2025
FESTIVAL GENERAL RULES
Please comply with General Rules as well as specific rules and directives that accompany each section and class in the Syllabus. Those entering Dance are asked to comply with Dance Rules.
FESTIVAL GOVERNANCE
1) The Festival is the signature project of the Kiwanis Club of Stratford, which incorporated the Kiwanis Music Festival Charitable Trust in 1967. The Festival is managed by a Festival Organizing Committee, hereinafter called the "Committee", whose executive members are Kiwanis Club members designated as Festival Trustees by the Club.
2) The Committee is empowered to hire an Executive Director to manage the festival and its programs.
3) Decisions of the Committee in any matters not specified within the rules shall be final and binding.
NON-PROFESSIONAL STATUS
4) All classes are for non-professionals only.
5) Non-professionals are persons whose principal means of livelihood is not obtained from performance in the particular discipline in which he or she is competing. A person may be a professional in one discipline but still participate as an amateur in another discipline. For example, a professional actor may perform in a music class.
6) Participants who only receive occasional remuneration for musical, theatrical or dance services performed are considered non-professional.
7) For the purpose of this Festival, a professional is any person with a demonstrable career in performance, teaching, or adjudication, with current or prior membership in a professional organization such as ORMTA, or with a current or former full membership in a professional union such ACTRA or Equity.
8) Final determination of a participant's non-professional or professional status, considered as a whole or with respect to a single discipline, rests with the Executive Director.
9) Participants uncertain as to their non-professional or professional status should contact the Festival Office for clarification before registering in the Festival.
REGISTRATION
10) All 2025 registration must be done online at www.kiwanisfestivalstratford.com. Teachers, coaches and parents may register participants but please ensure that mailing addresses and emails are provided for each participant.
11) Live entries must be completed including payment by February 3, 2025. Early bird pricing for those who complete entries by January 13, 2025. Virtual entries must include scans of music, links to recorded performance(s), and payment and be completed by March 3, 2025.
12) All registrations must be accompanied by the specified fee(s).
13) In duets, trios, and ensemble classes, only one entry registration is required for the group. The name, age, email address and city of residence of each member of a small ensemble must be included on the registration. Large ensembles such as choirs, bands and orchestras are not required to list every member.
14) Participants may only register competitively once in the same class. i.e. in a duet class, a singer may not perform in two separate duet entries.
15) Any class can be entered non-competitively. Please contact the office to register as a non-competitive participant.
16) Due to planning and expenses, once entries have been processed entry fees cannot be refunded.
17) By submitting an entry, the participant, parent/guardian and teacher agree to abide by all festival rules.
ELIGIBILITY
18) In classes where an age limit is specified, participants must be of the stated age as of December 31, 2024.
19) Duets, trios, ensembles and groups are asked to average their ages, then round down to the nearest age class.
20) Participants in choirs, orchestras or bands must be bona fide members of their organizations.
21) Conductors may be professional, and may conduct any number of organizations in the same class, but must not sing with their choir, or play with their band. (Jazz ensembles are the exception to this rule.)
22) Participants studying with an adjudicator during the current Festival year (Sept 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025) will not be eligible to compete in solo classes adjudicated by their teacher.
23) The Festival defines two categories of ensemble: a small (or chamber) ensemble is any ensemble with two, three, four, five or six members; a large ensemble is any ensemble with seven or more members.
TEST PIECES AND PERFORMANCE
24) Unless otherwise indicated, participants must have access to a digital copy of the sheet music for the adjudicator. The festival expects all participants, teachers and coaches to respect copyright; we ask that the material you provide be from purchased, not photocopied, sources. If you purchase and download music online, please have proof of purchase available. It is understood that these PDFs are for the convenience of the adjudicator during their assessment and will only be made available to them for that purpose.
25) If the participant neglects to provide their music or text, they will receive adjudication but no mark or placement. In Pop Voice or other cases where published music may not exist, we ask participants to provide confirmation that a published version is unavailable (ie. letter from Long & McQuade). Participants are asked to write out the music or create a chord chart (with applicable lyrics) for the adjudicator.
26) Please include measure numbers at the beginning of each line of your score if requested by adjudicator.
27) Selections for solo competitive classes must be memorized, unless otherwise stated. Disciplines where memorization is not required include all Pop classes, Percussion, Brass/Woodwinds, String Sonatas, Unaccompanied Strings, and all Non-Competitive classes. If a participant uses music in a solo competitive class, they will be considered non-competitive, receiving adjudication but no mark or placement.
28) RCM refers to the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto; CC refers to Conservatory Canada in London. If neither Conservatory is referenced, RCM or CC is assumed.
29) When RCM and CC are specified, participants must use the appropriate syllabi criteria (i.e. number of movements required).
30) Participants must perform at their current level of study or higher, but not lower. Participants may only perform one piece above their level of study. Participants must perform at their current level in Tri-County classes.
31) Unless otherwise stated, selections must be performed in the prescribed key. Transpositions are allowed for Choral, Junior Voice, Pop Voice and Musical Theatre classes.
32) The time limit for open classes is seven minutes, with the exception of sonatas and concertos.
33) Repeats in instrumental solos and duets may be played if the piece still fits within the time limit. A da capo must be observed; please take the second ending.
34) We are a family-friendly Festival, please choose material appropriate for all audiences.
35) With the exception of Encore concerts, a piece of music or dramatization cannot be used competitively by a participant in more than one class or in more than one year.
36) For video submissions: No editing. Recordings must be one single, continuous take. Any submissions with edits will be disqualified. Please do not submit your video; instead, upload to YouTube classified as UNLISTED and NOT MADE FOR KIDS and submit a link to that recording.
PROGRAM PROCEDURE
37) The Festival reserves the right to shift a participant from a class in which he or she is the sole participant to an appropriate class with more participants.
38) Notifications and correspondence will primarily be done via email. It is the participant's responsibility to provide an active email address. Please ensure that the active email address recognizes info@kiwanisfestivalstratford.com
39) Participants in virtual classes will have the opportunity to hear from adjudicators in a Zoom session.
40) Participants who elect to perform not with their class may be deemed non-competitive and receive adjudication only with no mark or placement.
41) For video submissions, participants may use live or pre-recorded (i.e. tracks) accompaniment. A list of accompanists and websites for tracks is available on the KFPA website under Festival.
42) A chord may be given on the piano at the commencement of each piece of unaccompanied music.
AWARDS AND PRIZES
43) In order to preserve a high standard in all classes, an award winner must achieve the following minimum marks: a. first prize 80% b. second and third prize 75%
Unless these marks are obtained, awards may be withheld regardless of the number of participants.
Participants with marks of 90% and higher will receive "First Class Honours with Distinction".
44) To be included in Encore concerts, participants must earn a minimum of 80% in qualifying classes. To be recommended for the OMFA Provincial Competition, a minimum mark of 85% must be obtained in at least one Provincial Qualifying class.
45) ** NEW** To be considered for the 2025 OMFA Provincial Competition in June, participants are required to enter the appropriate Provincial Qualifying class in the 2025 Syllabus.
46) To be considered for a major cash prize, participants are strongly advised to enter at least three solo classes in the same discipline.
47) Trophies and awards are presented at the discretion of the adjudicator and the Committee. Trophies and awards may be transferred from one discipline to another at the discretion of the Committee.
48) Trophies winners may keep the trophy for a year and will receive a keepsake plaque to keep.
49) Monetary awards will be paid by EFT.
50) Decisions of the adjudicators are final.
FESTIVAL COMMUNICATIONS - GENERAL
51) Due to the number of participants in the Festival, the Festival will communicate almost exclusively via email with participants and ensembles, parents or guardians, and teachers and administrators. As such, all persons or organizations who intend to receive communications from the Festival must have a valid email address that they refer to on a regular basis. **Please ensure that your Inbox recognizes info@kiwanisfestivalstratford.com**
52) The Festival will also make information available on its website and via social media accounts operated by the Festival.
53) By submitting an entry, participants, parents/guardians and teachers agree to receive, from time to time, notices from the Festival via email. An "unsubscribe" option, allowing you to cease receiving any further notices, will be clearly visible on each such communication.
54) The Festival values the privacy of all registrants, their teachers, parents or guardians, and administrators. All contact information collected by the Festival is kept entirely confidential, and at no time will your contact information be rented, sold, shared or used for any purpose other than communicating with you.
COMMUNICATIONS REGARDING THE SYLLABUS
55) The Festival reserves the right to alter this syllabus at any time during the Festival year. Once revised, the most recent version of the syllabus will replace the previous version on the Festival website at the earliest opportunity. Changes will be recorded on a page of the Festival website set aside for that purpose. Only when deemed necessary will the Festival issue notices advising of revisions to the syllabus to participants.
56) Any questions regarding the rules and regulations set forth in this syllabus must be directed to the Executive Director.
COMMUNICATIONS REGARDING THE PROGRAMME
57) The Festival Programme will be available online.
58) The Festival reserves the right to make changes to the Festival Programme at any time after its initial publication.
59) Only when deemed necessary will the Festival issue notices advising of revisions to the Programme.
60) In the event of any disagreement between the Festival Programme and the schedule possessed by the Adjudicator, the Adjudicator's schedule takes precedence.
FESTIVAL PROMOTION
61) By submitting an entry and agreeing to participate in the Festival, participants, parents/guardians and teachers understand and agree that any videos submitted may be used by the Festival solely for the purpose of promoting the Festival.
COMMUNICATING WITH THE FESTIVAL
62) Under no circumstances are participants, parents/guardians or teachers to approach adjudicators, adjudicator assistants, or Festival volunteers regarding questions or complaints about the Festival or its rules.
63) Questions and complaints during the Festival must be made in writing, either on paper or via email, addressed directly to the Executive Director. Any questions or complaints arising from a circumstance occurring over the course of the Festival must be communicated to the Executive Director within 48 hours of the incident.
64) Any matters or circumstances that are found to be not satisfactorily accounted for within the rules and regulations set forth in this syllabus shall be referred to the Executive Director.
FINAL CONCERT
65) Award winners and select participants will be notified by the Festival office if they have been selected to perform in Stars of the Festival, and what format that concert will take in 2025 (i.e. digital, live, or hybrid).
MISCELLANEOUS
66) Recording adjudicators, by any method, is prohibited without prior consent of adjudicator.
R7COMMENDATIONS, COMMENTS, OR COMPLAINTS
66) Please make suggestions or express concerns in writing to the Festival office during the Festival.