International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition

Prize winner at the 2nd International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition 1970: Liana Isakadze (recording 1967)

Prize winner at the 2nd International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition 1970: Pavel Kogan (recorded in 2008)

Prize winner at the 5th International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition 1985: Leonidas Kavakos (recorded in 2008)

Prize winner at the 8th International Jean Sibelius Violin Competion 2000: Sergey Khachaturyan (admission 2016)

The International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition ( Finnish : Kansainvälinen Jean Sibelius -viulukilpailu), named after the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius , is an international competition for young violinists that takes place every five years in Helsinki .

history

The Sibelius Society of Finland launched the competition in 1965, eight years after the death of Jean Sibelius and on the occasion of the composer's 100th birthday. The focus of the first and subsequent competitions is the Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47 by Sibelius, which is to be interpreted by all finalists of the competition.

From the beginning, a large number of respected musicians participated in the honorary committee of the music competition, including Sir John Barbirolli , Herbert von Karajan , Yehudi Menuhin , David Oistrach , Eugene Ormandy , Igor Stravinsky and Henryk Szeryng . The committee was headed by Aino Sibelius , the composer's wife.

Since its inception in 1965, the prestigious competition has been organized every five years (-00 and -05) by the Sibelius Society of Finland and the Sibelius Academy .

The competition always had high-ranking participants and winners like Oleg Kagan , Viktoria Mullova and Leonidas Kavakos who became internationally recognized violin soloists.

The last competition, the 11th International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition, took place from November 22nd to December 3rd, 2015. In contrast to previous competitions, this competition was held at new venues. The first and second rounds were held in the Helsinki Music Conservatory Concert Hall in Ruoholahti . The three-day finals took place at the Helsinki Music Center . In 2015, the competition was one of the anniversary events for the 150th birthday of Jean Sibelius.

The International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition has been a member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions since 1969 .

Goal and process

target

The aim of the competition is to discover new talents in violin playing and to promote young artists in their careers.

participation

Young violinists from all over the world who have not yet turned 30 can take part in the competition. In order to be accepted into the competition, candidates must submit an official application and a performance example to the competition committee for pre-selection of the participants.

The number of applicants has steadily increased in the course of the competitions and in 2015, at the 11th International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition, reached a new high with 234 applicants from 29 countries. Of these 45 applicants from 13 countries were selected to take part in the competition in Helsinki

from Germany : Wonhee Bae, Sarah Christian, Marina Grauman, Mayumi Kanagawa, Christel Lee, Yasuka Morizono, Fedor Rudin, Friederike Starkloff, Diana Tishchenko, Laura Zarina
from Finland : Sara Etelävuori, Pekko Pulakka, Kasmir Uusitupa, Juho Valtonen
from France : Anna Göckel, Yoo Na Ha, Eva Zavaro
from Japan : Seiji Okamoto, Taejun Park, Ryosuke Suho, Minami Yoshida
from Canada : Esther Hwang, Kerson Leong
from Austria : Mai Suzuki, Emmanuel Tjeknavorian, Jungyoon Yang
from Poland : Stepan Lavrov
from Russia : Tikhon Lukiyanenko, Anna Savkina, Lev Solodovnikov, Elena Tarosyan
from Switzerland : Rustem Monasypov
from South Korea : Jeein Kim
from Taiwan : Richard Lin
from the UK : Naoka Aoki, Katerina Nazarova
from the United States : Hannah Soojin Cho, Bomsori Kim, Da Kyung Kwak, Zeyu Victor Li, Kyung Ji Min, Elly Suh, Stephen Tavani, Xiao Wang, Nancy Zhou

procedure

The competition has three rounds. After each round, the jury will select a number of competitors who will advance to the next round and after the final round the finalists will be evaluated. In the final ranking, the performance in each round is considered as a whole.

The program of the first round typically consists of works by Johann Sebastian Bach , a sonata by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Niccolò Paganini's Capriccios to assess the participants' dexterity, understanding of style and technical skills. At the 11th International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition, works by Béla Bartók , Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Jean Sibelius had to be interpreted.

The second round or the semi-final typically consists of a sonata for violin and piano, some works by Sibelius, a contemporary Finnish and a virtuoso piece of music.

At the 11th competition in 2015, the participants

from sonatas for violin and piano by Béla Bartók (No. 1, 2), Ludwig van Beethoven (No. 1–6), Johannes Brahms (No. 1–3), Claude Debussy , Gabriel Fauré (A major), Leoš Janáček , Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (F major), Franz Schubert (A major), Sergei Sergejewitsch Prokofjew (No. 1, 2), Maurice Ravel (1927) and Alfred Schnittke (No. 1, 2)
the two humoresques by Sibelius (Op. 87 and 89)
pieces of music commissioned for the competition and
a virtuoso piece of music by the composers Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst , Jenő Hubay , Niccolò Paganini, Maurice Ravel, Camille Saint-Saëns , Pablo de Sarasate , Pjotr Iljitsch Tschaikowski , Franz Waxman , Henryk Wieniawski and Eugène Ysaÿe

choose.

In the final round, the finalists play two concerts with a full symphony orchestra . One of the concerts is always the Violin Concerto in D minor op. 47 by Jean Sibelius.

At the 11th competition in 2015, the finalists could choose between works by the following composers as the second violin concerto: Béla Bartók (Violin Concerto No. 2), Ludwig van Beethoven, Alban Berg , Johannes Brahms, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (Op. 64), Carl Nielsen , Niccolò Paganini (No. 1), Sergei Sergejewitsch Prokofjew (No. 1, 2), Dmitri Dmitrijewitsch Shostakowitsch (No. 1) or Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The finalists played the violin concertos together with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of John Storgårds or the Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Hannu Lintu .

Prices

The winner of the competition receives prize money in the amount of 25,000 euros, the second-placed winner 18,000 euros, and the third-placed winner 12,000 euros. All other finalists will each receive 2,000 euros as prize money. In addition, the winners have the opportunity to participate in concerts.

Additional special prizes will be awarded for the best interpretation of the Sibelius Violin Concerto (3,000 euros), the best interpretation of the piece of music commissioned for the competition (2,000 euros), reaching the semi-finals (1,000 euros) and successful Finnish participants.