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"The Hunger Games of Classical Music"

Julian Gargiulo with Rachel Siu - Winner of the 5th Getting to Carnegie Competition in 2019 Cello Edition (photo: Tina Ravitz)

The World's biggest stage
(formerly known as getting to Carnegie)  

Almost eight years ago, Steinway Artist Julian Gargiulo decided to try an experiment: he invited musicians from top International Conservatories worldwide to compete for a place on stage with him at Carnegie Hall. His invitation was open to all students. The rules of the game were simple: all contestants would record and send a video of themselves performing. The four chosen finalists would join him on stage and each perform a movement of his newly composed work. The audience would vote live for the winner, and the winner, aside from performing at Carnegie Hall, would travel with Julian and a team of internationally acclaimed musicians to perform at the Water Island Music Festival. After the first six years' sold-out events, which were organized by Julian and 2NYC, due to the global pandemic, last year's final round was generously sponsored by the (hyperlink) Alphadyne Foundation and streamed 'live' on The Violin Channel for its 370,000 member following, making it 'virtually' the largest concert hall in the world.  This year’s event will be streamed “live”, once again thanks to the amazing generosity of (hyper link) The Violin Channel.  The finalists will be premiering Julian's newly composed Cello Sonata. Let the games begin!

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