Woodwind Concerto Competition: What It Is, Where It’s Run and How It’s Judged

One player performs a concerto, or a movement from one, on a woodwind instrument within a twenty-minute limit, usually with piano standing in for the orchestra, and is marked out of 100.

Woodwind Concerto is the large-scale solo class for a flautist, clarinettist, oboist, bassoonist or saxophonist who is ready to play a work written for soloist and orchestra. In competition the orchestral part is normally played by a piano reduction, so the entry is one soloist plus an accompanist, performing a whole concerto or one or more of its movements.

What separates it from the ordinary woodwind solo is scale and structure. A concerto asks the player to sustain concentration over many minutes, to hold a long first movement together, to play a cadenza if the composer wrote one, and to stay in conversation with the accompaniment instead of simply being followed by it. The class therefore rewards stamina and musical architecture as much as clean fingers.

On the template that carries it, the class is a single open entry for individual players of either gender, with no language attached and a limit of twenty minutes per performance, marked out of 100. Because the limit is generous, a complete short concerto or a substantial movement fits comfortably, though a long work may need a sensible cut agreed with the organiser in advance.

Organisers include a concerto class to give their most advanced wind players a platform beyond the standard solo, and to give audiences a showpiece. Sitting beside the equivalent string and brass concerto classes, it lets a music section recognise serious soloists on a scale of their own.

Where Woodwind Concerto is run

Woodwind Concerto appears on one eTalenter template: a British music, speech and drama eisteddfod, where it is an open solo class with a twenty-minute limit. This page records only that template; concerto classes in other festivals are organised separately and are not claimed here.

• United Kingdom

Key facts

• Individual entry, open to boys and girls together; no language is set
• Open solo class with a twenty-minute performance limit
• Marked out of 100; the source prints no judging criteria for the class, so none are assumed here
• Usually performed with a piano reduction of the orchestral part, so an accompanist is part of the entry
• A whole concerto or selected movements may be offered, within the limit
• Different from the separate woodwind solo, repertoire and duet classes the same event runs

On eTalenter, Woodwind Concerto is filed under Music and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 1 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.

Across the templates that use it, Woodwind Concerto is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to around 20 minutes where a limit is set.

What judges look at in Woodwind Concerto

What a Woodwind Concerto panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:

• Command of the whole work: a convincing sense of structure from the opening statement to the close, not a string of separate passages
• Tone and range: a sound that stays full, even and in tune from the lowest notes to the top of the instrument across a long performance
• Technical security in the showy writing: fast runs, wide leaps and any cadenza played accurately and with control rather than at the edge of the player
• Ensemble with the accompanist: matched tempo, shared phrasing and balance, so soloist and piano sound like one musical argument
• Stamina and breath planning: breaths placed so the line survives to the end, and energy that does not fade in the final pages
• Time discipline and presentation: finishing inside twenty minutes, a composed entrance and a clear change of mood between movements

Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Woodwind Concerto under Scoring Setup, or start from the full instrumental music competition judging criteria guide.

How to prepare for Woodwind Concerto

How entrants and their teachers usually get Woodwind Concerto right on the day:

• Pick a work, or movements of it, that you can play securely from start to finish; a smaller concerto played well beats a famous one played anxiously
• Time a full run-through with the piano part and cut to fit twenty minutes, agreeing any cut with the organiser and the accompanist early
• Book several rehearsals with the accompanist and rehearse the transitions between movements and the entries after any cadenza
• Practise whole run-throughs standing, as on the day, to build the stamina the later pages demand; work slow sections before fast ones
• Mark breath points and rests in the part, and prepare spare reeds, a swab, cork grease and a stand, plus copies of the piano score for the accompanist and adjudicator if requested
• Record yourself, listen for drifting intonation late in the work, and fix those passages separately

Frequently asked questions

Is Woodwind Concerto judged individually or as a team?

Across eTalenter’s templates it’s most often run as an Individual entry, though an organiser can set either participation type when assigning the item to an age group.

Do I have to play the whole concerto?

Not necessarily. The class allows twenty minutes, so a complete short concerto or one or more movements of a longer one can be offered. Check your organiser about cuts for a longer work.

Is the orchestra provided?

In festival practice the orchestral part is normally played on piano. The source for this class does not say who supplies the accompanist, so confirm that with your organiser.

Which instruments are eligible?

The class title says only woodwind, so flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon and saxophone are the usual entries. Confirm with your organiser if you play recorder or another instrument.

Is it judged individually or as a team?

It is an individual entry: one soloist, open to boys and girls together, marked out of 100.

Want the full judging picture? Read the full instrumental music competition judging criteria guide, or browse every music competition item.