NL / EN Facebook Instagram YouTube

Codes of Conduct

Liszt Utrecht is an event that brings together people from different backgrounds and cultures. During the course of its activities it provides a platform for different visions and opinions. Furthermore it provides a gateway to next professional career steps for a select number of aspiring musicians. In order to create a clear and safe working environment Liszt Utrecht has defined its policy in four principles:

  1. Fairness & equality
  2. Bias
  3. Working conditions
  4. Communication 

and three dedicated codes of conduct:

  1. For staff members and volunteers of Liszt Utrecht
  2. For Jury members of Liszt Utrecht
  3. For Participants of Liszt Utrecht

Principles:

1. Fairness & equality

Liszt Utrecht strives for equal opportunities for all aspiring candidates, regardless of nationality, ethnic origin, religion and gender identity. Liszt Utrecht believes that performers should only be valued and praised for three professional skills: artistic vision, technical abilities and presence (i.o. ability to (non-verbally) communicate on and off stage).

These qualities transcend all personal attributes, previous accomplishments or heritage, as such Liszt Utrecht will refrain from using quotas to artificially enforce diversity and inclusion. 

Liszt Utrecht will not exclude any candidate from the selection round, except for relatives from the executive staff or board. However Liszt Utrecht does have a fixed age range in order to narrow down its mission to support starting professional musicians in the first stages of the international career.  

2. Bias

Liszt Utrecht acknowledges the fact that running a music competition is not an scientific process, but rather an opinion based selection process. The decisions of the jury are the collective result of a variety of opinions at a certain moment in time, based on performances and conditions that are provided.  

Stichting Liszt Utrecht as an organization prides itself in being completely impartial. As such the board, director and staff of Liszt Utrecht will not interfere in the decision making process. 

This decision making process will be outsourced to a jury. Liszt Utrecht has influence over the bias of the jury by the selection of its members. It has set the following qualifications:

  • Jurors should have (had) an active career in the classical music sector and should have had experience with participating in competitions.
  • Jurors should understand and relate to the needs, the aspirations and the struggles of new generation of musicians. And should desire to actively contribute to their development. 
  • Jurors should have an open mind and a desire to discover original interpretations and artistic choices. 
  • Jurors should agree with Code of Conduct for Jury member of Liszt Utrecht (see below)
  • Furthermore the collective of jurors should represent diversity in terms of gender, nationality and age. 

3. Working conditions

Liszt Utrecht regards its participants as professional musicians and aims to treat them as such. The working hours, set-up of the performances, the facilities and practice conditions should all resemble actual concert practice. Furthermore all musicians will be paid for their performances. 

4. Communication

Liszt Utrecht believes that the foundation of healthy society is an open dialog. As such everyone involved with Liszt Utrecht is encouraged to interact with each other and share freely their thoughts and feelings. But, with this right to express oneself freely comes also the requirement to be mindful of the thoughts and feelings of others. Respect and understanding can only be achieved if opinions are shared and nothing unites people more easily than the language of music.  

 

1. Code of Conduct for staff members and volunteers of Liszt Utrecht

Professionality

  1. Be proud of classical music, music competitions and the Liszt Utrecht in particular. Never act in a way that damages the image of classical music, music competitions or the Liszt Utrecht.
  2. Take your individual responsibility for music competitions as a community of social importance. Be part of the community that supports a vital and sustainable international classical music society. 
  3. Feel your responsibility and act according to your job-profile. Be aware of your tasks inside and outside of your organization.
  4. Be aware of and act according to the statutes and recommendations of the WFIMC, as well as the Rules and regulations set out by Liszt Utrecht. 
  5. Be a team player, cooperate with others to achieve the goals of your organization. 
  6. Be a role-model to others.
  7. Aim for excellence.
  8. Refrain from taking addictive substances during working hours or at the working place in general. 

Integrity

  1. Communicate clearly and be open about your intentions. 
  2. Be reliable, keep your promises, listen and follow up to your instructions and stick to the rules and regulations. 
  3. Refrain from any form of  corruption, fraud or conflicts of interest. Refrain from accepting or giving gifts, favors or fees that might be considered bribery. Avoid the impression of corruption at any cost.
  4. Never take advantage of your position of power.
  5. Be respectful to every person you are working for, collaborating with or have interaction with. Treat everyone equally and create space for everyone to move and express themselves freely. celebrate diversity, be interested and respectful to the thoughts, beliefs and rituals of everyone.  
  6. Refrain from hurtful narratives, do not discriminate, belittle, intimidate or bully.  
  7. Be detached from political ideology or manifestations and protect young musicians from being instrumentalized by a political regime.
  8. Be inclusive, refrain from excluding intentionally and be aware of excluding unintentionally  anyone from taking part in activities or conversations. 
  9. Be respectful of everyone’s privacy. Be careful with using social media and collecting, processing and storing of personal data.
  10. Be respectful of everyone’s personal space. Refrain from unwanted intimacy, physical abuse or sexual harassment. Be careful with showing acts of affection in cases of congratulating or comforting. 
  11. Be respectful of someone else’s property. Don’t (miss)use or break what is not yours.

Responsibility

  1. Feel the responsibility for giving a positive impulse in the development of the participants. Refrain from commenting publicly in negative way and/or damaging their reputation.
  2. Feel the responsibility to act professional and with integrity, as set out above. If one is asked to act against anything that is stated within this code, or encounters any of kind of unwanted behavior, it is one’s duty to report such matters with the organizations confidential counselor www.jullievertrouwenspersonen.nl and/or the secretariat of the WFIMC. 
  3. Address others on unwanted behavior and report it and stimulate others to act likewise. 

 

2. Code of conduct for jury members of competitions 

Professionality

  1. Be proud of classical music and music competitions in particular. Never act in a way that damages the image of classical music or music competitions.
  2. Take your individual responsibility and be part of the community that supports a vital and sustainable international classical music society. 
  3. Understand that you are a paid professional, hired to do a job according to the guidelines given by your employee. 
  4. Feel your responsibility and act according to your job-profile. Be aware of your tasks and scheduled activities. Be punctual and cooperative. 
  5. Be aware of and act according to the Jury Rules and regulations and voting procedures set out by the competition you are working for. 
  6. Be a team player, cooperate with fellow judges and the staff of the competition to achieve the competitions goals. Understand and accept the fact that it is a collective decision making process, which might mean you have a different personal opinion than the majority of the group. 
  7. Be a role-model to others.
  8. Aim for excellence.
  9. Refrain from taking addictive substances during working hours or at the working place in general. 

Integrity

  1. Communicate clearly and be open about your intentions. 
  2. Be reliable, keep your promises, listen and follow up to your instructions and stick to the rules and regulations. 
  3. Refrain from any form of  corruption, fraud or conflicts of interest. Refrain from accepting or giving gifts, favors or fees that might be considered bribery. Avoid the impression of corruption at any cost.
  4. Be mindful of conflicts of interest, or the appearance of one. Refrain from bringing family and/or personal relationships into the judging process. Follow the guidelines that the competition sets out for abstentions, refrain from voting for your own students and do not discuss them with fellow jurors. Do not advise your students to apply for a competition that you are attached to yourself. 
  5. Be impartial and independent and refrains from having contact with participants until the decision have been made public. 
  6. Never take advantage of your position of power and refrains from influencing others in their decision making process.  
  7. Keep all jury discussions confidential and respect the final decisions, do not discredit the decision making process, fellow jurors nor the competition you are serving. Follow the social media protocol set out by the competition.
  8. Be respectful to the participants on ánd off stage. Be present and attentive for the whole duration of their performances and refrain from commenting during or interrupting performances.
  9. Be respectful to every person you are working for, collaborating with or have interaction with. Treat everyone equally and create space for everyone to move and express themselves freely. Celebrate diversity, be interested and respectful to the thoughts, beliefs and rituals of everyone.  
  10. Refrain from hurtful narratives, do not discriminate, belittle, intimidate or bully.  
  11. Be detached from political ideology or manifestations and protect young musicians from being instrumentalized by a political regime.
  12. Be inclusive, refrain from excluding intentionally and be aware of excluding unintentionally  anyone from taking part in activities or conversations. 
  13. Be respectful of everyone’s personal space. Refrain from unwanted intimacy, physical abuse or sexual harassment. Refrain from showing acts of affection in cases of congratulating or comforting.
  14. Be respectful of someone else’s property. Don’t (miss)use or break what is not yours.

Responsibility

  1. Feel the responsibility for giving a positive impulse in the development of the participants. Refrain from commenting publicly in negative way and/or damaging their reputation.
  2. Feel the responsibility to act professional and with integrity, as set out above. If one is asked to act against anything that is stated within this code, or encounters any of kind of unwanted behavior, it is one’s duty to report such matters with the organizations confidential counselor www.jullievertrouwenspersonen.nl and/or the secretariat of the WFIMC. 
  1. Address others on unwanted behavior and report it and stimulate others to act likewise.

 

3. Code of conduct for participants of competitions

Professionality

  1. Be proud of classical music and music competitions in particular. Never act in a way that damages the image of classical music or music competitions.
  2. Take your individual responsibility and be part of the community that supports a vital and sustainable international classical music society. 
  3. Feel your responsibility as a professional and act accordingly. Be aware of your tasks and scheduled activities. Be punctual and cooperative. 
  4. Be aware of and act according to the Rules and regulations set out by the competition.
  5. Be a team player, cooperate with fellow participants and the staff of the competition to achieve the competitions goals. 
  6. Be a role-model to others.
  7. Aim for excellence.
  8. Refrain from taking addictive substances during working hours or at the working place in general. 

Integrity

  1. Communicate clearly and be open about your intentions. 
  2. Be reliable, keep your promises, listen and follow up to your instructions and stick to the rules and regulations. 
  3. Refrain from any form of  corruption, fraud or conflicts of interest. Refrain from accepting or giving gifts, favors or fees that might be considered bribery. Avoid the impression of corruption at any cost.
  4. Be mindful of conflicts of interest, or the appearance of one. Refrain from having contact with jurors until the decision have been made public. Be open about the connections you might have to jury-members and provide a detailed overview of your teachers to the staff of the competition. 
  5. Be respectful to every person you are collaborating with or have interaction with. Treat everyone equally and create space for everyone to move and express themselves freely. Celebrate diversity, be interested and respectful to the thoughts, beliefs and rituals of everyone.  
  6. Be respectful of the final decisions, do not discredit jury members, fellow participants nor the competition. 
  7. Refrain from hurtful narratives, do not discriminate, belittle, intimidate or bully.  
  8. Refrain from nationalism, political ideology or manifestations. You are taking part as an individual, not as representant of a country. Avoid becoming an instrumentalization of a political regime. 
  9. Follow the social media protocol set out by the competition.
  10. Be inclusive, refrain from excluding intentionally and be aware of excluding unintentionally  anyone from taking part in activities or conversations. 
  11. Be respectful of everyone’s personal space. Refrain from unwanted intimacy, physical abuse or sexual harassment. Refrain from showing acts of affection in cases of congratulating or comforting.
  12. Be respectful of someone else’s property. Don’t (miss)use or break what is not yours.

Responsibility

  1. Feel the responsibility to act professional and with integrity, as set out above. If one is asked to act against anything that is stated within this code, or encounters any of kind of unwanted behavior, it is one’s duty to report such matters with the organizations confidential counselor www.jullievertrouwenspersonen.nl and/or the secretariat of the WFIMC. 
  2. Address others on unwanted behavior and report it and stimulate others to act likewise.