COVID-19 and the 2020 Virtual Festival

You may not notice any orange construction barrels, but you probably have seen that we have a slightly different “look.” The Falcone Festival website is undergoing a complete upgrade. The site is now responsive and you should still be able to find everything you are looking for under the menu items, which have not been changed. We are working to make sure everything is still operating properly, with some design changes, and ultimately some upgraded functionality coming, but we may be unavailable off and on until roughly mid-January. We apologize for any inconvenience. If you have an urgent question, feel free to email Jane Goodrich or send a question to the Leonard Falcone International Euphonium & Tuba Festival on Facebook.

Read: Journey to the 2020 Virtual Festival

FALCONE FESTIVAL ANNOUNCEMENTS REGARDING THE COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS

May 15, 2020

2020 Falcone Festival Goes Virtual: The Falcone Festival is making plans to proceed with a virtual competition for 2020, where the semifinal and final rounds will be submitted via video from all named semifinal competitors. Required competition repertoire will remain the same as posted, with music for each round performed without accompaniment. The Festival will be conducted during the weekend of August 8-9, 2020. In the coming weeks, the Festival will announce further details regarding the competition and the Festival schedule. It is expected that all semifinal competitors will be announced following the preliminary round review process, by early June 2020. Thank you for your interest in the Festival, and we are delighted to be able to hold an alternative Festival in these challenging times!

April 13, 2020

Today, April 13, 2020, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp announced that due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, their entire summer season will be cancelled. Blue Lake has been host to the Falcone Festival for the past 34 years, and an integral part of the success of the Festival, and we are saddened to learn of this development.

The Falcone Festival is evaluating plans for an alternative Festival in 2020, including both live and virtual platforms. We are working toward this goal and expect further updates in the coming weeks. We encourage all artist and student level entrants to submit preliminary round recordings on or before the April 30, 2020, deadline.

If there is a need to cancel the 2020 Festival prior to the start of the preliminary round adjudication process, all entry fees will be returned.

March 15, 2020

During the past few days, the impact of the COVID-19 Coronavirus has altered and challenged most every aspect of normal functions. In the USA, as well as in many international locations, universities and public schools are now shut or in virtual instruction mode for the coming weeks, and the regular plans for student and professional musicians and teachers have been suspended for the time being. Access to facilities, lessons, pianists, and recording engineers have become challenging.

As a result, the Falcone Festival Board has today supported two changes to the preliminary application requirements for the 2020 Festival.

The Festival application deadline has been extended to April 30, 2020, giving an extra month to complete and submit materials.

The requirement of submitting recordings of works with piano accompaniment has been waived. The required repertoire remains the same for 2020, but it is your choice whether to submit with or without piano accompaniment.

If you have already recorded and/or submitted a Falcone application for 2020, there is no need to alter your entry. If you opt to record without piano, please make every effort to observe notated rests of one measure or less, but to reduce any longer rests in the music.

The Falcone Festival looks forward to our 35th annual Festival and competition, taking place at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, Twin Lake, Michigan, from August 7-10, 2020. We have every expectation that the Festival will occur as scheduled, and will continue to provide updates as the Coronavirus situation develops.