REGULATIONS ARTICLE I The Competition is open to young opera singers born after the 1st of September l978. No special dispensation will be allowed. Falsettists are not allowed to apply in the Competition. ARTICLE II The following three rounds of the Competition will take place at the Opera of Marseilles, between the 3rd and the 9th of September 2011. All the rounds will be open to the public. 1 - The Preliminary Selection : Only the candidates properly enrolled for the Competition will be accepted. 2 - The Semi-Final is open to candidates who have passed the preliminary Selection. 3 - The Final, accompanied by the Orchestra of Marseilles' Opera, is open to all candidates selected from the Semi-Final.

Furthermore : a) In order to take part in the Preliminary Selection, singers properly enrolled for the Competition must be present at the Marseilles' Opera, on the 3rd of September 2011 at 10.00 am. Unless a valid reason and a prior authorization from the Organizing Committee, each singer missing will not be considered as a candidate. The candidates will perform in front of the Jury in alphabetical order. The Competition Organizing Committee will draw lots the beginning letter of this order of appearance. The Rehearsals and the Preliminary Selection will begin on the same day. b) Singers must provide the original vocal and piano scores of each aria. All photocopies are forbidden during the competition. c) In the Final, the candidates will sing their operatic arias accompanied by the Orchestra of Marseilles' Opera with an obligatory rehearsal before. The full orchestral scores of the arias to be performed by the candidates will be provided by the Competition. d) Rehearsals with an accompanying pianist will begin just after the drawing and will take place in the order of appearance in front of the Jury (to be fair, no exception will be accepted). Each candidate will rehearse before the Semi-Final in the same conditions. e) Candidates shall only be accompanied by pianists assigned by the Competition for the rehearsals and the two first rounds.

ARTICLE III Candidates must perform each aria in the language of the original text. Translations into other languages and transpositions will not be permitted. Each candidate must sing in at least three modern languages including French. The Competition Organizing Committee retains the right to refuse candidates' programmes which do not reach a suitable musical or artistic level. The candidate must perform the programme submitted. No change in the programme will be accepted. All arias must be performed from memory. The Organizing Committee’s decisions are final. The selected aria for the preliminary selection must respect the 5 minutes allowed for this first round. The aria for the preliminary selection is the first one written in the 7-chosen arias list. Due to orchestra scores availability, Jury may choose for the Finale round an aria already sung by a candidate during the previous round.

ARTICLE IV Jury's deliberations : Preliminary Selection : Each member of the Jury will vote by show of hands with only one round of voting. The Semi-Final is open to all candidate selected with the absolute majority. Semi-Final : Each member of the Jury will select the finalists by a secret vote with only one round of voting. The Final is open to all candidate selected with the absolute majority. Final : Each member of the Jury use a secret ballot paper to classify the finalists in order of preference. Then, for each category (female and male), members of the Jury will decide with a secret vote about the opportunity to attribute each prize. For each category, prizes will be awarded according to the order previously established. The President of the Jury will have the casting-vote in all circumstances. Any problem arising from the competition, any addition or slight change of the competition rules wishes by the Jury, will be resolved or decided by the Organizing Committee. The decisions of the Jury or the Association Board are final.

.

ARTICLE V Candidates selected for the Final will receive a Certificate of Participation in the Final. Winners of a prize in a previous Marseilles’ Competition are not allowed to register for future competition. In case of equality between two participants, the amount of the Prize will be divided in equal parts between these graduates, except if the Organizing Committee announces a more avantageous decision. As far as possible, the Organizing Committee expects from each Member of the Jury to be present for all the Competition rounds. The members of the Jury will be chosen from well-known professionals (Composers, Conductors, Opera Directors, Singers, Managers, Critics). All Artistic members heavily involved in the CNIPAL's activities are not allowed to take part in the Jury. Members of the Jury who are candidates’ family members or teacher should not take part in discussion during the vote about this singer.

ARTICLE VI All candidates must pay an enrolment fee of 65 €. This fee should be sent with the application form for enrolment by international money order or credit card (on our website) for foreigners (money order must be free of bank charges) and by cheque for the French. The fee will not be refunded even if the candidate does not take part in the Competition for any reason. By enrolling in the Competition, Candidates mean their acceptance of all the regulations or any future change of it. They also mean they autorize the Association to take photo or film of their performance and use it for information, promotion, communication or filing aims. In the event of a problem, the French text of the regulations will be the final authority. Candidates will only be entitled to claim prizes that they have officially won. All unauthorised claims will be refused and candidates will be prosecuted under French Law by the Organizing Committee of the Competition. (Only the Marseilles' Tribunal is competent to deal with all litigious questions).

ARTICLE VII Should the Competition be cancelled because of war, civil or political disturbance, epidemy, flood, fire, public mourning, strikes or coalition of employees, default on funding, the Marseilles' International Opera Competition Organizing Committee would not be held responsible in any way and would not be cleared of all expenses, such as compensation or refunds.