Sonata-Sonatina Festival

About the Sonata-Sonatina Festival

We look forward to having you and your students participate in the CAMTA Sonata-Sonatina Festival 2027! The festival will be live this year and held at Music Institute of Chicago in Winnetka on Sunday, February 7, 2027.  Students are required to perform either two movements of a Sonatina or a single movement of a Sonata.  Students awarded a Gold Medal will perform in a recital the following week at Ganz Hall (Roosevelt University in Chicago) on Sunday, February 14, 2027.

Sonata-Sonatina Festival Committee

Coordinator: Dr. Anne Marie Kuhny ssf@camta.org

DATES AND VENUES for 2027 In-Person Festival

REGISTRATION OPENS: Sunday, November 1, 2026

REGISTRATION DEADLINE: Sunday, December 13, 2026

Sonata-Sonatina Festival Date (In-person): Sunday, February 7, 2027

Festival Venue: Music Institute of Chicago, 300 Green Bay Road, Winnetka, IL

Gold Medal Recitals Date: Sunday, February 14, 2027, time(s) TBD

Gold Medal Recitals Venue (In-person): Ganz Hall, Roosevelt University, Chicago, IL

REGISTRATION AND FEES

  • Members: $50 per solo or duet

  • Non-members: $55 per solo or duet

  • FEES CANNOT BE REFUNDED!

  • Registration and fee payments must be completed via the CAMTA Member Portal. See instructions by scrolling below.

Sonata-Sonatina FESTIVAL REGISTRATION

Instructions for CAMTA Members:

  1. Log in to your Member Portal account.

  2. From the top menu, select Students and update your Students roster.

    • Add any students not already listed

    • Remove students who are no longer participating in CAMTA events

  3. From the top menu, select Events, and select 2027 Sonata-Sonatina Festival.

  4. Enter your volunteer information.

  5. Use the Register button next to each student’s name to register students/duets.

  6. Complete payment through the Payment Cart in the top right corner, then “Proceed to Payment” to complete your registrations.

Instructions for non-Members

Teachers who are not CAMTA members will also need a portal account to register for the Sonata-Sonatina Festival.

  • If you already have a portal account: Log in and follow the registration instructions above. Applicable non-member fees will be added automatically.

  • If you do not have a portal account: Request non-member portal access via this form. Once your request is approved, you will receive an email from portal@camta.org with instructions for setting up your account. Then, follow the registration instructions above.

Portal accounts are provided to teachers only, not parents.

Competition General Policies

    • Participants perform two contrasting movements of (the same) sonatina or one movement of a sonata. Please see details in the “repertoire” section before assigning a piece to your student.

    • Please carefully review the online material regarding repertoire. The work performed by the competitor must be originally written for piano solo as a sonata or sonatina. If the work does not have an opus number, it may not actually be a sonata or sonatina, especially if it is published in a non-Urtext publication. If the work does not have an opus number, please email Dr. Kuhny at ssf@camta.org to inquire as to the suitability of the work for this competition. Please include any scholarly evidence as to the nature of the work. This was an issue for several competitors last year, so please check carefully. For example, Diabelli "Sonatina: Three Little Pieces in C Major" is not a sonatina but is spuriously published as such in some non-Urtext publications. It is disqualified from this competition. Please review the “repertoire” section and don’t hesitate to email Dr. Kuhny with questions. This only impacts five or fewer students a year out of about 250, but please be proactive.

    • All solo performances must be memorized. Duet repertoire does not need to be memorized.

    • Students are to perform without repeats.

    • Original scores required: Each student must bring an original score of the music, not a photocopy. CAMTA and ISMTA must comply with federal copyright laws; this is not an option.

    • Downloaded digital music: Scores may be downloaded from a reputable website as long as there is a marking that the competing student purchased it and it is licensed for their individual use (e. g. sheetmusicplus.com). Photocopies and/or lack of a score will lead to disqualification. Teachers should be careful to check the students’ scores before the competition to avoid disappointment on the day of the festival.

    • Translations: To ensure our judges can fully evaluate every submission, all non-musical text—including titles, dynamics, and other directions—must be provided in the Latin alphabet (Roman characters). Music containing text in other scripts (such as Cyrillic, Arabic, or East Asian characters) must be accompanied by a translation into the Latin alphabet to be eligible for judging.

    • Measure numbering: Please number measures at the beginning of each line. Please have your students do this prior to the competition day since it greatly increases the stress level of students to number measures while waiting to perform.

    • Eligibility: Each teacher may have both piano solo and piano duo entries. Each piano duo counts as one entry and one registration fee. Students must be 18 years of age or younger.

    • No entry limit: Each teacher may enter as many students as desired; there is no limit.

    • Scheduling: “No preference” is the default setting. It is nearly impossible to schedule 250 students with special requests. If a student truly has a conflict in the morning or afternoon, the registration can specify “morning” or “afternoon” with a reason for the request. SSF committee will do their best to honor these requests, but please only request something if there is a true conflict.

    • Siblings: Please be sure to indicate if there are two or more siblings participating. We will schedule them in times close to one another unless you specifically request separate times due to scheduling conflicts.

    • Teacher volunteering: Each sponsoring teacher must volunteer (or recruit a responsible adult over the age of 18 to volunteer in their stead) to serve as a volunteer during part of the event. This may be at the competition itself or at the Gold Medal recital. Volunteer work is vital to make the event flow.

    • Final assignments: Scheduling is done as soon as possible; teachers will receive ID numbers as well as specific room and time assignments for each of their competitors as soon as they are available. These assignments are final and cannot be changed.

    • Cancellations: If a competitor will not be able to perform (even last minute!), please email ssf@camta.org to notify CAMTA.

    • Judging: Each student will be judged by two adjudicators. Top scores will be recognized with medals for their achievements. Students receiving the highest honor, a Gold Medal, will be featured in the Gold Medal Recital. The Gold Medal Recital will be held live one week after the competition.

    • Each performance will be assigned a score of 0-100 points. Judges’ decisions are final and not subject to appeal. Historically, about 25-30% of students receive gold medals.

      • Gold medals (96-100 points)

      • Silver medals (90-95 points)

      • Bronze medals (84-89 points)

    • Comment sheets will be provided via email within 1.5-2 weeks after the festival. This is a complex process, and we regret that it is not possible to send the comment sheets earlier.

    • The student is encouraged to dress as if for any formal performance.

    • Teachers of students that received gold medals will be notified by email within 48 hours of the end of the festival. 

    • Gold medal winners are expected to perform live at the Gold Medalists’ Recital; it is not considered optional.

Key camta repertoire policies

These policies may differ from other regional festivals. Please review carefully before registering, including the more detailed repertoire section below.

  1. Full Performances: Students will play the entirety of the movement(s) entered. Performance times are customized to the length of the chosen piece, ensuring judges hear the complete work without time-limit cutoffs.

  2. All Movements Welcome: Any movement of a sonata or sonatina may be entered, including slower second movements.

  3. Theme and Variations Allowed: Movements in theme and variation form are fully accepted. (See the Approved Variation Movements list below.)

  4. Mozart Fantasies Permitted: Select authentic Mozart Fantasies are permitted for solo and duet entries. (See the Approved Mozart Fantasies list below.)

  5. Baroque Pairs Required: Baroque single-movement sonatas (e.g., Scarlatti, Handel) are eligible but must be performed as a complementary pair to meet the two-movement Sonatina requirement.

  6. Spurious Works Excluded: Only authentic piano literature (piece originally written for the piano as a sonata or sonatina) is permitted; spurious works are strictly excluded. If you are considering a piece that lacks a catalog number, please verify its eligibility with the festival chair prior to assigning it to your student. (See the Spurious Sonatas and Sonatinas document below.)

  7. Reclassified Repertoire (Leveling Exceptions): To ensure fair competition brackets, CAMTA reclassifies certain works based on their actual length and complexity rather than their published title. This includes advanced Sonatinas requiring only one movement, and early/brief Sonatas requiring two. (See the Reclassified Repertoire Tables below.)

  8. Ineligible Single-Movement Works: Because the Sonatina division requires two contrasting movements, sonatinas that were composed as standalone, single-movement pieces are ineligible for this festival. (See the Ineligible Single-Movement Works list below.)

Repertoire — please read thoroughly

  • Entrants will play two movements from the same sonatina. In the case of sonatinas with only two movements, the student shall play both movements.

    The following sonatas will count as sonatinas for this event due to short length and lower complexity. Two contrasting movements are required:

    • Camidge, Matthew – Sonata No. 6

    • Haydn, Joseph – Sonatas Hob. XVI: 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11

    • Reinecke, Carl – Six Miniature Sonatas, Op. 136

    • Schumann, Robert – Three Sonatas for the Young, Op. 118

    The following compositions qualify as sonatas due to the length of the pieces and complexity and therefore only one movement should be performed:

    • Beethoven, Ludwig van - Op. 49, No. 1 (G minor)

    • Beethoven, Ludwig van - Op. 49, No. 2 (G Major)

    • Clementi, Muzio - Op. 36 No. 6 (D Major)

    • Dussek, Jan L. - Op. 20 No. 6 (E-flat Major)

    • Kabalevsky, Dimitri - Op. 13, No. 1 (C Major)

    • Khachaturian, Aram - Sonatina in C Major

    • Kuhlau, Friedrich - Op. 20, No. 3 (F Major)

    • Kuhlau, Friedrich - Op. 59, No. 1 (A Major)

    • Kuhlau, Friedrich - Op. 59, No. 2 (F Major)

    • Kuhlau, Friedrich - Op. 59, No. 3 (C Major)

    • Kuhlau, Friedrich - Op. 60, No. 2 (A Major)

    • Kuhlau, Friedrich - Op. 60, No. 3 (C Major)

    • Ravel, Maurice - Sonatine (F-sharp Minor)

     

  • Theme and variation movements are welcome.  CAMTA SSF recognizes sonata or sonatina movements in the form of theme and variations as integral to many important works. These have traditionally been allowed. Examples include but are not limited to:

    • Beethoven, Ludwig van – Piano Sonata No. 12 in A-flat Major, Op. 26; Movement: I. Andante con variazioni

    • Beethoven, Ludwig van – Piano Sonata No. 10 in G Major, Op. 14 No. 2; Movement: II. Andante

    • Beethoven, Ludwig van – Piano Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, Op. 57 ("Appassionata"); Movement: II. Andante con moto

    • Beethoven, Ludwig van – Piano Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109; Movement: III. Gesangvoll, mit innigster Empfindung (Andante molto cantabile ed espressivo)

    • Beethoven, Ludwig van – Piano Sonata No. 32 in C Minor, Op. 111; Movement: II. Arietta. Adagio molto semplice e cantabile

    • Brahms, Johannes – Piano Sonata No. 2 in F-sharp Minor, Op. 2; Movement: II. Andante con espressione

    • Kuhlau, Friedrich – Sonatina in A Major, Op. 60 No. 2; Movement: II. Tema con variazioni

    • Kuhlau, Friedrich – Sonatina in C Major, Op. 60 No. 3; Movement: II. Tema con variazioni

    • Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus – Piano Sonata No. 11 in A Major, K. 331; Movement: I. Andante grazioso

    • Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus – Piano Sonata No. 6 in D Major, K. 284 ("Dürnitz"); Movement: III. Tema con variazione

    • Schubert, Franz – Piano Sonata in A Minor, D. 845; Movement: II. Andante poco moto

    • Shostakovich, Dimitri – Piano Sonata No. 2 in B Minor, Op. 61; Movement III. Moderato

  • Mozart Fantasies are welcome. CAMTA SSF has traditionally allowed these, and a few are entered every year. We will continue that tradition:

    • Included: Fantasia in C minor, K. 475

    • Included: Fantasia (Prelude) and Fugue in C major, K. 394

    • Included: Fantasia in D minor, K. 397: The core piece is authentic, but the final ten measures are spurious (attributed to A.E. Müller). However, the piece is entrenched in standard pedagogy and included in some Urtext editions, so it is allowed.

    • Excluded for solo, allowed for duet: Fantasias in F minor, K. 594 and K. 608: Written for organ, they are excluded from Urtext collections of Mozart's solo piano music. However, they are heavily published in four-hand Urtext volumes (often based on 18th-century arrangements) and recognized as core piano duet repertoire.

  • Baroque single-movement sonatas are allowed in pairs. Composers include Scarlatti and Handel. Please judiciously choose two movements that complement one another from the same composer.

  • Single movement sonatinas are excluded because there is no second movement to perform. While a comprehensive list is not possible, here are some common examples:

    • Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel – Sonatina in G Major, H. 119 (Wq. 64/6)

    • Benda, Jiří Antonín (Georg) – All 34 Sonatinas (including the Sonatina in A minor)

    • Biehl, Albert – Sonatina in C Major - If published as an extraction from a multi-movement sonatina. This is usually the first movement of Op. 57, No. 1. The piece is acceptable if two movements are performed, but some compilation books erroneously publish the work as a single movement sonatina.

    • Duncombe, William – Sonatina in C Major (Sometimes also published as three movements spuriously-see “Spurious Sonatas Sonatinas”)

    • Egedacher, Jean Paul – Sonatina in C Major

    • Goedicke (Gedike), Alexander – Sonatina in C Major

    • Gretchaninov, Alexander – Sonatina in F Major (from Glass Beads, Op. 123, No. 12)

    • Kabalevsky, Dmitri – Sonatina in A minor, Op. 27, No. 18

    • Moleiro Sonatina in A Minor (actually has three movements, see notes under “spurious”)

    • Salutrinskaya, Tatiana – Sonatina in D Major

    • Türk, Daniel Gottlob – Sonatina in C Major

    • Wilton, Charles – Sonatina in C Major

  • Spurious sonatas and sonatinas are excluded. In an effort to optimize the quality of literature learned by our young pianists, CAMTA SSF does not allow spurious sonatas and sonatinas. There is plenty of high-quality authentic repertoire in all categories from beginner to virtuoso. Please refer to the separate section below on this topic. Most importantly, if a piece is being considered and does not have a catalog number, be sure to check with Dr. Kuhny before assigning the piece to your student.

    View Spurious Sonatas and Sonatinas (PDF)