Katri Maasalo

The finalists of the Fourth International Maj Lind Piano Competition are Hannu Alasaarela (Finland), Jun Bouterey-Ishido (New Zealand), So Hyang In (South Korea), Jiyoung Kim (South Korea), Mackenzie Melemed (United States) and Hyo-Eun Park (South Korea).

Six competitors will continue in the finals of the Fourth International Maj Lind Piano Competition (17–31 August 2017) in Helsinki. They are Hannu Alasaarela (Finland), Jun Bouterey-Ishido (New Zealand), So Hyang In (South Korea), Jiyoung Kim (South Korea), Mackenzie Melemed (United States) and Hyo-Eun Park (South Korea).

The orchestral finals of the Fourth International Maj Lind Piano Competition will be transmitted live to the new media wall of the Helsinki Music Centre overlooking the Kansalaistori square. They will be the first event to be projected onto the media wall. The two orchestral finals will take place in the Music Centre Concert Hall

Fourteen competitors will continue in the second round.

Summer is here at last, in both bright and vibrant green. My mind is filled with the scent of lilies-of-the-valley and piano music as I write this message from the Patroness of the Fourth International Maj Lind Piano Competition. Finland’s leading international piano competition is now about to begin at the Helsinki Music Centre. The

Brand new Bösendorfer 280 Vienna Concert Grand Piano was brought into the Camerata Hall at the Helsinki Music Centre on Wednesday.

On behalf of the Competition Committee it is my pleasure to welcome our competitors, the members of the jury, and our audience both here in the hall and the media.

The first competitor to perform in the Fourth International Maj Lind Piano Competition (17–31 August 2017) is Tarmo Peltokoski (Finland). He will begin the first round at 10.00 on 18 August and be followed by Kausikan Rajeshkumar (Great Britain) and Victoria Audrey Sarasvathi (Indonesia). There are 37 competitors in all and ten first round sessions. 14 pianists will be selected to go through to the second round and their names will be announced after the last first-round performance on Tuesday evening, 22 August. The competition will be held at the Helsinki Music Centre.

The members of the jury – Dmitri Bashkirov, Janina Fialkowska, Alberto Nosè and Dina Yoffe – will hold a masterclass in connection with the competition on Mon 28 Aug at 12.15–18.45 and on Wed 30 Aug at 10–12. The masterclass will take place in the Camerata Hall at the Helsinki Music Centre.

Works composed specifically for the Maj Lind Piano Competition began to be heard in the 1980s. These included both piano concertos and little five-minute pieces. A big step forwards was taken in the finals when the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra took the stage instead of the student orchestras.

In the 1970s, the repertoire for the Maj Lind Piano Competition included some contemporary Finnish works. It became a longer event and from 1973 onwards was held at three-year intervals. The orchestral finals were first held at Finlandia Hall in 1979.

The eleventh competition brought the Maj Lind up to the 1960s. This time it was expanded into a national event and not confined to students at the Sibelius Academy.

The Maj Lind Piano Competition was still just a small-scale event in the 1950s, open only to students at the Sibelius Academy. After the sixth competition, it began being held every other year. The 1950s laureate is now in her 90s.

The second Maj Lind Piano Competition was held on October 25–26, 1946, exactly one year after the first. Seven pianists entered for the competition, which was won by Tapani Valsta.

Altogether 44 pianists have been selected for the Fourth International Maj Lind Piano Competition to be held in Helsinki, Finland on August 17–31, 2017. They represent 16 nationalities.

The very first competitor in the Maj Lind Piano Competition walked onto the platform in the concert hall of the Helsinki Conservatory (later the Sibelius Academy) at 11 am on Friday October 26, 1945. The address was Pohjoinen Rautatiekatu 9.

The Fourth International Maj Lind Piano Competition (August 17–31, 2017) has received 195 applications representing 39 nationalities. Not more than 40 pianists will be accepted for the first round on the basis of video recordings. The names of the successful applicants will be posted on the competition website by May 26 at the latest.

Maj Lind lived surrounded by different languages and cultures. She would undoubtedly have delighted in the medley of languages that the piano competition bearing her name will be bringing to the Helsinki Music Centre in August 2017.