BREAKING | Semi-Finalists Announced at Sibelius International Violin Competition

The 20 Semi-Finalists, have just minutes ago, been announced at the 2015 Sibelius International Violin Competition in Helsinki, Finland – including 7 VC ‘Young Artists’.

This year’s Semi-Finalists are:

• VC ‘Young Artist’ Fedor Rudin from France
• VC ‘Young Artist’ Sarah Christian from Germany
• VC ‘Young Artist’ Bomsori Kim from South Korea
• VC ‘Young Artist’ Zeyu Victor Li from China
• VC ‘Young Artist’ Richard Lin from Taiwan/United States
• VC ‘Young Artist’ Emmanuel Tjeknavorian from Austria
• VC ‘Rising Star’ Kerson Leong from Canada
• Sara Etelavuori from Finland
• Anna Göckel from France
• Mayumi Kanazawa from Japan
• Christel Lee from the United States
• Kyung Ji Min from South Korea
• Pekko Pulakka from Finland
• Friederike Starkloff from Germany
• Elly Suh from the United States
• Stephen Tavani from the United States
• Diana Tishchenko from the Ukraine
• Xiao Wang from China
• Yoshida Minami from Japan
• Nancy Zhou from the United States

For the Semi-Final round, each candidate will present a major Sonata for Violin & Piano, two ‘Humoresques’ for violin and piano by Sibelius, a virtuosic work of their own choice - and a new piece commissioned by the competition.

6 finalists will progress to the Final round – to be hosted from the 1st to the 3rd of December.

All Opening Round performances available at: http://bit.ly/1QYr7Xc 

The 1st prize winner will receive €25,000 (US $28,000) and a number of important international engagements – including a performance of the Sibelius Concerto with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra at the ‘Sibelius 150 Birthday Jubilee Gala Concert’ in Hameenlinna, Finland.

This year’s jury comprises: Chairman Veli-Matti Puumala, Pierre Amoyal, Serguei Azizian, Sigrun Edvaldsdottir, Pekka Kauppinen, Sung-Ju Lee, Cho-Liang Lin, Gerhard Schulz and Krzysztof Wegrzyn.

Previous 1st prize winners include Oleg Kagan, Liana Isakadze, Pavel Kogan, Yuval Yaron, Viktoria Mullova, Ilja Kaler, Leonidas Kavakos– and VC ‘Artists’ Sergei Khachatryan and Nikita Boriso-Glebsky.

The Violin Channel, as this year’s official competition media partner will be providing live streaming coverage direct from all venues. You won’t miss a beat.

PICTURED: 2015 Sibelius International Violin Competition Semi-Finalists, VC ‘Young Artists’ Richard Lin, Zeyu Victor Li, Fedor Rudin and Kerson Leong.