With a top prize of €25,000, the competition is currently taking place in Finland

Kim-Bomsori

The semi-finalists of the 11th International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition have been announced. The 20 remaining candidates will perform a varied programme over the next few days, including a violin sonata, a virtuoso piece, the specially commissioned competition work and two Sibelius Humoresques of the player’s choice. Just six candidates will progress to the finals, held from 1-3 December.

Among the simi-finalists are a number of names familiar to the competition circuit, including 2015 Queen Elisabeth Competition finalist Bomsori Kim (pictured) Richard Lin, who came second at the 2015 Singapore International Violin Competition and third at the 2015 International Joseph Joachim Violin Competition Hannover; fellow 2015 Singapore International Violin Competition finalist Fedor Rudin; Friederike Starkloff, new concertmaster of the NDR Radiophilharmonie in Hannover; and Diana Tishchenko, who reached the finals of the 2013 International ARD Music Competition.

The competition, which offers a first prize of €25,000, received a record number of applicants this year – 234 entries from 29 countries.

The full list of shortlisted candidates are:

Sarah Christian, Germany

Sara Etelävuori, Finland

Anna Göckel, France

Mayumi Kanagawa, USA

Bomsori Kim, South Korea

Christel Lee, USA

Kerson Leong, Canada

Zeyu Victor Li, China

Richard Lin, USA, Taiwan

Kyung Ji Min, South Korea

Pekko Pulakka, Finland

Fedor Rudin, France

Friederike Starkloff, Germany

Elly Suh, USA

Stephen Tavani, USA

Diana Tishchenko, Ukraine

Emmanuel Tjeknavorian, Austria

Xiao Wang, China

Minami Yoshida, Japan

Nancy Zhou USA

For full details visit the Sibelius Competition website.

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