We are thrilled that you have chosen to take part in the Rubin Institute for Music Criticism by submitting your review of one of the four specific concerts listed below. Members of the Institute’s Everyone’s a Critic committee will critique the reviews, and the winner of the Audience Review Prize will be named at the Institute's closing ceremony on November 10.

Submission guidelines

• Members of the public who attend one or more of the four concerts (November 6-9, 2014) may submit a 400-word review of each performance they attend by 9:00 a.m. the following day, with one exception. Please note the review of the November 9 performance by the Czech Philharmonic is due by 9:00 p.m. the same day.
  
• Reviews should be written from the perspective of an informed listener, but with a general audience in mind. Opinions should be supported with examples while avoiding technical musical terms. Reviews will be judged on critical acumen, fluency of writing, and clarity of thought.
• Only one review per person, per concert, may be submitted.
• The Everyone's a Critic Audience Review Prize judging panel will be chaired by Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle music critic and Rubin Institute Critic-in-Residence. Other panel members are Robert Commanday, founding editor of San Francisco Classical Voice; Wynne Delacoma, contributor Chicago Sun-Times, Classical Review and Musical America; and Steven Winn, San Francisco Classical Voice. The panel will consider all submissions using a process of blind review; authors’ names will not be revealed to the critics.
• Top reviews chosen by the critics will be posted at http://www.sfcm.edu/rubin-institute by 3:00 p.m. each day. Daily finalists will be contacted by Conservatory staff and invited to attend the closing ceremony on November 10.
• From the daily finalists, the critics will award one review the $1,000 prize, to be publicly announced by David Stull, President of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) and Stephen Rubin, president and publisher of Henry Holt & Co., on Monday, November 10 at 10:00 a.m. at SFCM’s Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall.
• Please begin the on-line submission process in good time to ensure you have no technical problems.

Concerts for review:

November 6: San Francisco Symphony
Review Deadline: November 7 at 9:00 a.m.

November 7: Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
Review Deadline: November 8 at 9:00 a.m.

November 8: San Francisco Opera
Review Deadline: November 9 at 9:00 a.m.

November 9:* Czech Philharmonic presented by Cal Performances
Review Deadline: November 9 at 9:00 p.m. *Same day as the performance!

For questions regarding technical issues with the submissions form please e-mail Shase Hernandez at shernandez@sfcm.edu.