Chamber Music Competition

 

The Franklin Pond Chamber Music Competition is an annual event open to middle and high school ensembles throughout the state of Georgia.  The competition's preliminary round is held in April via video upload, and the live final round takes place Memorial Day weekend at Spivey Hall on the campus of Clayton State University.  Finalists perform on stage before an independent panel of distinguished judges. Winners receive cash prizes as well the opportunity to perform before a live audience at the Awards Concert.

There are two primary divisions of the competition—High School and Middle School. There are also two special prizes awarded: the School Prize, awarded to a middle or high school ensemble whose members all attend the same school, and the Founder's String Quartet Prize, awarded to a middle or high school string quartet.  It is possible for an ensemble to win a Division Prize as well as one of the special prizes.

 

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

  • April 15: Preliminary round videos, entry form, and fee due
  • May 1: finalists announced
  • Memorial Day weekend (last weekend in May)
    • Saturday: rehearsals at Spivey Hall for all finalists ensembles
    • Sunday morning through afternoon: High School and Middle School Divisions live final round at Spivey Hall
      • Exact schedule depends on the number of ensembles accepted into the final round
    • Sunday 4pm: Awards Concert and post-concert reception. Click here to reserve tickets.

 

PRIZES

High School Grand Prize: $2000

High School Second Place: $1200

Middle School Grand Prize: $1000

Middle School Second Place: $500

School Prize:$1000 ($500 to the ensemble and $500 to the school orchestra booster association)

NEW!! Founder's String Quartet Prize: $500


 

2025 JUDGES: The Blair String Quartet

Well known as interpreters of the standard repertoire, the Blair Quartet has also championed music by contemporary American composers, including works written for them by George Tsontakis, Morton Subotnick, Ellsworth Milburn, Michael Alec Rose, Rodney Lister, and Michael Kurek, as well as Michael Hersch. The ensemble has worked with many outstanding composers, including Elliott Carter, Alan Hovhaness, John Harbison, George Rochberg, Ezra Laderman, Leon Kirchner, Steven Mackey, Steven Stucky, Joan Tower, and Robert Sirota. The Quintet for Banjo and String Quartet, composed for them by Edgar Meyer and Bela Fleck, was featured nationally on the PBS series, Lonesome Pine Special.

The Blair Quartet has presented cycles of the complete quartets of Beethoven and Bartok. The group has appeared with many renowned artists including pianists Leon Fleisher, Lee Luvisi, Rolf Gothoni, David Owen Norris, Christopher Taylor, and Frederic Chiu, clarinetist David Krakauer, violinists Robert Mann and Joseph Silverstein, violists Walter Trampler and Samuel Rhodes, cellist Norman Fischer; bassist Edgar Meyer; and virtuoso of the banjo, Bela Fleck. The Blair Quartet has received grants and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Southern Arts Federation, the Tennessee Arts Commission and Chamber Music America’s C. Michael Paul Residency Program. The Blair String Quartet is in residence at the Blair School of Music of Vanderbilt University. The members of the ensemble are Stephen Miahky and Cornelia Heard, violins, Eric Wong, viola, and Felix Wang, cello.

ATTENDING THE EVENT

Both the Competition and the Awards Concert are free, family-friendly, and open to the public. Tickets are required to attend the Awards Concert.  Click here for more information.

Spivey Hall is INSTRUMENTAL in the success of the Competition!  Many thanks to Spivey's Education Director Melanie Darby for her support and dedication to Franklin Pond's students and young musicians all around the state.

2024 Competition Photo Highlights


View galleries from previous years