1.1 The order of the first round is determined by lot. The draw will take place when the participants register for the competition.

1.2 The maximum playing time in the first round per candidate is 25 minutes (including all breaks between pieces).

1.3 With the exception of the commissioned work of the Max Rostal Competition and the sonatas with piano, all works are to be played from memory, also on the video recording for the application

1.4 The competition is open to the public in all rounds.

1.5 The candidates propose their order of performance; the jury may request a different order of performance. If the program is obviously too long, it may be requested in individual cases before the start of the presentation that a part be omitted.

1.6 The second round will take place in the same order as the first round. The lot numbers of candidates who have dropped out will be skipped. A maximum of eight candidates will participate. The maximum performance time per candidate is 60 minutes (55 minutes playing time).

1.7 After the results of the second round have been announced, the jury and the artistic direction will determine the order for the third round. A maximum of three candidates per instrument will advance to the third round.

1.8 Contact between the jury and the candidates is not allowed as long as the latter are still in the elimination! After the end of a competition round, the eliminated candidates are entitled to a consultation about their presentation.

1.9 The jury's decisions are incontestable.

2.1 The participants' performance will be evaluated on evaluation sheets according to a point system. Jury members are not allowed to score their students, otherwise the right to a prize is forfeited. A student is considered to be one who has received regular instruction from a jury member, either currently or in the past three years.

2.2 When determining the performance, each jury member first enters the individually determined score on the evaluation sheet without consulting the other members of the jury. The minimum score can be zero and the maximum score can be 25 points per individual performance.

2.3 The evaluation sheets/record sheets must bear the name of the jury member and the name of the candidate and must be returned to the competition management after the competition has been completed.

2.4 When determining the total score, the sum of the individual scores is formed, omitting the best and worst evaluation scores, and divided by the number of jury members minus two. The result is the candidate's performance score. If either the best or/and the worst evaluation score was given by more than one jury member, the total sum of the performance scores is formed and divided by the number of jury members. In case of extreme point discrepancies, a discussion within the jury is desired.

2.5 Admission to the respective next round is based on the achieved performance score. Only those who have achieved at least 20 points in the first round can be admitted to the second round. Only those who have also achieved at least 20 points in the second round can be admitted to the third round. For a prize in the third round, at least 20 points must be achieved.

2.6 Decisions are considered to be made when at least 2/3 of the jury members approve the decision. In case of ambiguities in the performance evaluation (stalemate, procedural ambiguities), the jury chairperson decides on the procedure or determines the evaluation.

2.7 In case of unresolved issues and procedures, the artistic direction (Prof. Nora Chastain and Prof. Hartmut Rohde) determines the further procedure.

In case of doubt, the German version of the competition rules applies.