2015 International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition names shortlisted candidates

The 11^th International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition launches with an opening ceremony on Sunday 22 November at Helsinki Conservatory.

The competition, which offers a first prize of €25,000, received a record number of applicants this year – 234 entries from 29 countries. Of these, 45 contestants will take part in three live rounds, culminating in a final from 1-3 December, in which six remaining violinists will perform both the Sibelius Concerto and another large-scale concerto with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

The 45 shortlisted competitors feature a number of familiar names, including 2015 Queen Elisabeth Competition finalist Bomsori Kim; Richard Lin (pictured), 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 full list of shortlisted candidates are:

Naoka Aoki, UK

Wonhee Bae, Germany

Hannah Soojin Cho, USA

Sarah Christian, Germany

Sara Etelävuori, Finland

Marina Grauman, Germany

Anna Göckel, France

Yoo Na Ha, France

Esther Hwang, Canada

Mayumi Kanagawa, Germany

Bomsori Kim, USA

Jeein Kim, South Korea

Da Kyung Kwak, USA

Stepan Lavrov, Poland

Christel Lee, Germany

Kerson Leong, Canada

Zeyu Victor Li, USA

Richard Lin, Taiwan

Tikhon Lukiyanenko, Russia

Kyung Ji Min, USA

Rustem Monasypov, Switzerland

Yasuka Morizono, Germany

Katerina Nazarova, UK

Seiji Okamoto, Japan

Taejun Park, Japan

Pekko Pulakka, Finland

Fedor Rudin, France

Anna Savkina, Russia

Lev Solodovnikov, Russia

Friederike Starkloff, Germany

Elly Suh, USA

Ryosuke Suho, Japan

Mai Suzuki, Austria

Elena Tarosyan, Russia

Stephen Tavani, USA

Diana Tishchenko, Germany

Emmanuel Tjeknavorian, Austria

Kasmir Uusitupa, Finland

Juho Valtonen, Finland

Xiao Wang, USA

Jungyoon Yang, Austria

Minami Yoshida, Japan

Laura Zarina, Germany

Eva Zavaro, France

Nancy Zhou, USA

This year’s jury comprises Pierre Amoyal, Serguei Azizian, Sigrún Edvaldsdóttir, Pekka Kauppinen, Sung-Ju Lee, Cho-Liang Lin, Gerhard Schulz and Krzysztof Wegrzyn.

The 10^th Sibelius Violin Competition in 2010 was won by Nikita Boriso-Glebsky.

For full details visit the Sibelius Competition website.