2023 Bach Festival

The Seattle International Piano Festival (SIPF) is proud to present for the fourteenth iteration, the annual Bach Festival (online edition) for pianists and instrumentalists of any nationality, featuring works by Johann Sebastian Bach, as well as other Baroque masters. This competitive event was created to provide performing opportunities for those who wish to share their love of Bach’s revered music and to provide performers with constructive feedback from performing and teaching masters. Participants will receive educational evaluations by performing for adjudicators, and a chance to receive medals and certificates.

We are honored to continue the tradition of the annual Bach Festival by its original founder, Jennifer Bowman, and hope to preserve her artistic vision. The festival has always been a wonderful educational and artistic opportunity for pianists and violinists both locally and abroad, and our mission is to see that it becomes an anticipated event each year.

This festival sets forth narrowly defined age groups and specific genre groups so that participants may be fairly judged, and generously decorated. New categories include the Paired Two- & Three-Part Invention introduced in 2022 in memory of Willard Schultz, and the inclusion of Keyboard Concerti by J.S. Bach.

Substantial changes from the 2022 festival:

  • reintroduction of the Keyboard Concerti category (piano only)

Registration

The form is set to accept applications starting August 18 at 12:00 pm, accepting credit cards for application fees and online signatures. The form is available here: application form

2023 Bach Festival General Rules and Application

pdficonApplication Deadline: All applications must be completed by 9:00 PM Pacific Daylight Time (UTC/GMT-7), Sunday, October 22, 2023. Click on the icon to the left to download a copy of the rules. Results of the festival will be posted on the winners page within two weeks of the deadline after recipients have been tallied and recorded. Application Form

2023 Bach Festival Adjudicators: