The Sydney International Piano Competition (The Sydney) has announced the Composing the Future competition, a new composition contest for new or unpublished works for solo piano by Australian composers.

Piers Lane, The Sydney’s Artistic Director, will lead the judging panel, which will feature a further five Australian concert pianists to be announced at a later date.

Piers Lane. Photograph © Keith Saunders

The winner will receive $20,000 and a world premiere performance of their piece by the 2021 Sydney winner, Alexander Gadjiev, on his 2022 Australian tour. In addition, up to five other entries will receive $2,000 each, and receive premieres by members of the judging panel in 2022, the 44th anniversary of The Sydney.

The competition rules are very open-ended, with no rules about duration, style or form. The only stipulation is that the work should not require electronics or a prepared piano for performance, though there is a suggested duration of between 10 and 20 minutes.

In a statement on The Sydney’s website, the organisers state the the aims of this new competition are multiple: to continue the primacy of Australian...