It is to the participant’s benefit to provide a recording of high quality. Recordings with too much background noise or distortion make it difficult for adjudicators to render a fair judgment of technical and artistic qualities. However, recordings need not be professionally recorded. Video recordings must be hosted on a public video platform easily accessible in the USA, such as YouTube.

Participants will be directed in the application page to paste video links of their performances. Before going through the application process, participants must ensure that their video link(s) conforms to the following adherents and permissions:

Abstain from setting accessibility limits, privacy, or permissions of the video footage and ensure it is easily viewable to the public.
The camera angle must be fixed (no multiple angles), clearly showing the performer’s hands, feet, and face at all times.
The footage of the preliminary video must contain no more than 5 seconds of leader (silence) before the commencement of the performance(s); note that during the final round video recording, you may contain more than 5 seconds of silence before the first selection and between each subsequent selection within the continuous uninterrupted performance.

The video link audio must not contain any spoken monologue, dialogue, or any other vocalization that might identify the participant in any way, including age or gender.
The participant may list the links in his or her desired play order.
Note that failure to properly scrub any audio artifacts of the participant’s identity, including spoken dialogue or vocalization of any sort on the audio proper, or mention of the Pacific Stars International Piano Competition and Festival contained on the host’s linked page or title will result in the instant disqualification of the participant without notice or refund. The PSIPC takes no responsibility or liability to review or sanitize recordings to ensure recordings adhere to the above guidelines and requirements.

Although the video quality must be clear enough to recognize the participant and speak to the authenticity of the performance, the most important aspect is the audio quality. The use of a well-prepared and maintained acoustic piano is strongly urged, as is the efforts taken to produce an audio of high fidelity.

Avoid recording performances with cell phones and low end consumer-grade cameras. Such devices often compress the sound (removing the natural ambiance and compressing dynamic sound levels), yielding poor audio quality. Participants may opt to record at a professional studio, record audio from a sound recording device (such as a flash recorder), or use a higher-grade camera with external microphones and dedicated sound capturing capability.

Note also that providing more than the recommended music time allotment during the preliminary round rarely results in a more favorable outcome.

Review all links carefully and completely so that they are free of flaws or other unanticipated issues. Participants should therefore retain copies of all materials sent to the Pacific Stars International Piano Competition, 2023. Recorded performances must be performed entirely from memory.

Recordings and other submitted materials will not be returned.