International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition Announces 2025 Candidates

The competition's finalists will play one of four concertos by Unsuk Chin, Oliver Knussen, Magnus Lindberg, or Kaija Saariaho

Founded in 1965, the International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition takes place every five years and is open to violinists under the age of 30. The 2025 competition will take place from May 18 - 29, 2025 in Helsinki, Finland.

The competition has announced its 2025 candidates:

• Otto Antikainen
• Rio Arai 
• Karisa Chiu
• Wonbeen Chung
• Gabrielle Després
• Hiu Sing Fan
• Matthew Hakkarainen
• Ria Honda
• Adrian Ibañez-Resjan
• Amia Janicki
• Jueun Jeong
• Nakyung Kang
• Minchae Kim
• Marika Konishi
• Alice Lee
• Anna Lee
• Youjin Lee
• Lina Leikola
• Hyun Jae Lim
• Yeji Lim
• Charlie Lovell-Jones
• Bohdan Luts
• Hannah Park
• Sueye Park
• Lilia Pocitari
• Aoi Saito
• Jona Schibilsky
• Jake Dongyoung Shim
• Jiwoo Son
• Charlotte Spruit
• Leonard Toschev
• Yukiko Uno
• Marina Wako
• Chenming Wang
• Julia-Xiaozhuo Wang
• Shihan Wang
• Sara Watanabe
• Jaewon Wee
• Claire Wells
• Qingzhu Weng
• Esther Yang
• Muyan Yang
• Yebin Yoo
• Minami Yoshida
• Shaoheng Zhong

The competition has in total three rounds — the first and second rounds will be played at the Sibelius Academy Concert Hall (Pohjoinen Rautatienkatu 9), and the final rounds at the Helsinki Music Centre Concert Hall.

Chaired by conductor John Storgårds, the jury consists of violinist Elise Båtnes, violinist-conductor Jan Söderblom, violinist Jinjoo Cho, violinist Levon Chilingirian, violinist Liza Ferschtman, violin professor Réka Szilvay and violinist Sung-Ju Lee.

The final rounds will be played with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Pekka Kuusisto and the Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Dima Slobodeniouk.

In the final rounds, participants will now play the Sibelius Violin Concerto, and one of four pre-selected concertos composed between 1994 and 2015 by Unsuk Chin, Oliver Knussen, Magnus Lindberg, or Kaija Saariaho.

Contemporary music will also be heard in the semi-finals of the competition, where the mandatory piece is a work commissioned from Outi Tarkiainen by the Sibelius Violin Competition.