These competitors will continue in the second round of the Fourth International Maj Lind Piano Competition (17–31 August 2017) in Helsinki. They are:
Alasaarela, Hannu, Finland
An, Tianxu, China
Bouterey-Ishido, Jun, New Zealand
In, So Hyang, South Korea
Jalkanen, Väinö, Finland
Kim, Jiyoung, South Korea
Kim, Yedam, South Korea
Lapaz Lombardo, Enrique, Spain
Lopatynskyi, Roman, Ukraine
Melemed, Mackenzie, United States
Park, Hyo-Eun, South Korea
Parkhomenko, Daria, Russia
Suh, Hans H., South Korea
Wong, Evan, United States
There are four second rounds (24–25 August). Six pianists will be selected to go through to the finals and their names will be announced after the last second-round performance on Friday evening, 25 August. The competition will be held at the Helsinki Music Centre.
The work commissioned for the competition – Arabesques et adages – was composed by Kaija Saariaho and is an elective work in the second round. Competitors may, in the second round, alternatively play a work composed by the competitor, or improvise for not more than 10 minutes on a theme devised by Jukka Nykänen and issued 20 minutes beforehand.
The second rounds will be streamed to the lower foyer of the Helsinki Music Centre (1st floor European style). The second rounds will begin at 10.00 and 17.00 in the Camerata Hall on 24 and 25 August. Admission to the lower foyer is free.
The whole competition is being streamed worldwide by the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle) and broadcast in Finland on Yle Radio 1 and the Teema & Fem TV channel.
Second rounds, Camerata Hall:
Thursday 24 August
Second round 1
10.00 Suh, Hans H., South Korea
11.00 Wong, Evan, United States
12.30 Alasaarela, Hannu, Finland
Thursday 24 August
Second round 2
17.00 An, Tianxu, China
18.00 Bouterey-Ishido, Jun, New Zealand
19.30 In, So Hyang, South Korea
20.30 Jalkanen, Väinö, Finland
Friday 25 August
Second round 3
10.00 Kim, Jiyoung, South Korea
11.00 Kim, Yedam, South Korea
12.30 Lapaz Lombardo, Enrique, Spain
Friday 25 August
Second round 4
17.00 Lopatynskyi, Roman, Ukraine
18.00 Melemed, Mackenzie, United States
19.30 Park, Hyo-Eun, South Korea
20.30 Parkhomenko, Daria, Russia
The repertoire for the first round is as stated in the rules. Details of competitors’ elective works are posted on the competition website and in the printed concert programme. The programme for the second round must not exceed 60 minutes.
Repertoire:
1) Either:
The work commissioned for the competition by Kaija Saariaho (duration 5–10 minutes)
or
A work composed by the competitor (duration 5–10 minutes)
or
An improvisation lasting not more than 10 minutes on a theme given to the competitor 20 minutes before the performance
2) A Sibelius programme lasting at least 5 minutes (original piano compositions or Sibelius’s own transcriptions)
3) A programme of the competitor’s own choice
The finals will be on 27–31 August (Concert Hall): the chamber music finals on 27 August and orchestral finals on 30–31 August. The prizes will be awarded after the finals on 31 August.
The quartets in the chamber music finals will be the Tempera and the New Helsinki. The orchestra in the finals will be the Helsinki Philharmonic conducted by Anna-Maria Helsing.
The competition jury has eight members: Dmitri Bashkirov, Dang Thai Son, Janina Fialkowska, Ralf Gothóni, Ewa Kupiec, Alberto Nosè, Roland Pöntinen and Dina Yoffe.
The first prize is worth €30,000, the second €25,000 and the third €20,000. The other three finalists will each receive a consolation prize of €8,000. Special prizes totalling €10,500 will also be awarded, and the winner will give a solo recital at the PianoEspoo festival on 9 November 2017.
Altogether 37 pianists played in the first round. The competition received a record 195 applications by the deadline on 24 April. The participants in the first round were selected by a competition team on the basis of video recordings. The competition is open to pianists the world over born in or after 1987, regardless of nationality.
The competition is being organised by the University of the Arts Helsinki, the Sibelius Academy, and financed by the Sibelius Academy Foundation out of the Maj Lind Fund. Tickets are on sale at Ticketmaster.
Further info
Terhi Luukkonen, Secretary General
tel. +358 40 710 4368
terhi.luukkonen@uniarts.fi
Katri Maasalo, Press Officer
tel. +358 50 577 2558
katri.maasalo@uniarts.fi
The Fourth International Maj Lind Piano Competition is being held in Helsinki, Finland on 17–31 August 2017. Established as a national event in 1945, the competition was made international in 2002 and is now held once every five years. It is organised by the Sibelius Academy, the University of the Arts Helsinki and financed by the Sibelius Academy Foundation out of the Maj Lind Fund set up with money bequeathed in her will by Maj Lind (née Kopjeff, 1876–1942), herself a keen music lover.
