I
The University of the Arts Helsinki, the Sibelius Academy, will organise the Fifth International Maj Lind Piano Competition on 14-27 October, 2022. The competition is open to all pianists born in or after 1992, regardless of nationality.
II
Application is via the competition website at www.majlindcompetition.fi. A link to this site will be activated on April 1, 2022. Applications should append a quality video of their performance for the pre-selection process. The deadline for applications is May 31, 2022. Late or incomplete applications will not be considered. The non-refundable application fee is €80.
III
A team appointed by the Competition Committee will pre-select applicants on the basis of the application documents and videos. The names of the successful applicants will be announced by June 20, 2022 at the latest.
Video repertoire
1) A Viennese Classical programme lasting at least 10 minutes (by Beethoven, Clementi, Dussek, Haydn, Hummel, Mozart or Schubert)
2) A virtuosic etude
The video must clearly show the performance, the player’s hands and face. The video must not be edited. Individual works or movements may, however, be recorded as different takes. The application must state when and where the video was made.
IV
Free accommodation will be provided for contestants for the duration of the rounds in which the contestant is in the ompetition. Contestants will pay their own travel expenses to and from Helsinki. The Competition Committee may, on application and at its own discretion, award a travel grant for participants from outside Europe. Contestants needing a visa for Finland must obtain it themselves.
V
The order of performance in the competition will be decided in a draw to take place on October 13, 2022. Each contestant must attend the draw in person or authorise a personal deputy in writing. The order of performance will remain the same in the first and second rounds. The order may have to be changed in the finals for reasons of expediency.
VI
PROCEDURE AND REPERTOIRE
There will be three rounds in the competition, all open to the public. The competition repertoire must be performed from memory, with the exception of the commissioned work to be performed in the second round, demanding contemporary works and the piano quartet in the chamber music finals. The works in the first and second rounds may be played in any order. The Chairman of the Jury will have the right to cut short a performance that exceeds the allotted time.
FIRST ROUND
About 40 participants will be accepted for the first round.
Repertoire:
1) A programme of music composed before 1757 and lasting at least 5 minutes.
2) An entire work by Beethoven, Clementi, Dussek, Haydn, Hummel, Mozart or Schubert, lasting at least 10 minutes
3) Three etudes, one from each of the following groups:
a. Chopin
b. Alkan, Bartók, Debussy, Liszt, Prokofiev, Rachmaninov, Saint-Saëns, Scriabin, Stravinsky.
c. An etude composed after 1970
4) A programme of the contestant’s own choice
The programme including pauses for the first round must not exceed 45 minutes.
SECOND ROUND
Not more than 14 participants will be accepted for the second round.
Repertoire:
1) Either:
a. The work by Outi Tarkiainen commissioned for the competition (duration 5–10 minutes)
or
b. An improvisation lasting not more than 10 minutes on a theme given to the contestant 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 contestant’s own choice
The programme including pauses should last 50- 60 minutes. The commissioned work will be mailed to the applicants selected for the competition by August 1, 2022 at the latest.
FINALS
Six participants will be selected for the finals.
Repertoire:
1) One of the following piano quartets for piano, violin, viola and cello:
Beethoven E-flat major op. 16
Brahms C minor op. 60
Dvořák E-flat major op. 87
Fauré C minor op. 15
Mozart E-flat major K. 493
Schumann E-flat major op. 47
The work will be performed with an ensemble chosen by the competition organization.
2) One of the following concertos:
Bartók No. 2 or 3
Beethoven No. 3, 4 or 5
Brahms No. 1 or 2
Chopin No. 1 or 2
Grieg
Liszt No. 1 or 2
Mozart No. 15 B-flat major (K.450), 19 F major (K.459), 21 C major (K.467) or 22 E-flat major (k.482)
Prokofiev No. 2 or 3
Rachmaninov No. 2, 3 or Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Ravel G Major or Concerto for the Left Hand
Saint-Saëns No. 2 or 5
Schumann
Tchaikovsky No. 1
Alterations to the contestant’s repertoire will be permitted up to August 14, 2022. The programme may not include works composed by the contestant. The contestant’s chosen repertoire must include music by at least one non-male composer in addition to that by Outi Tarkiainen.
VII
The Jury will consist of nine members: a Chairman, seven non-Finnish members and one Finnish member.
VIII
PRIZES
I €30,000
II €25,000
III €20,000
The Jury will have the right to award the prizes in some other way.
The other three finalists will each receive a finalist prize of €8,000.
A special chamber music prize of €8,000.
A special prize of €1,500 for the best performance of the commissioned work by Outi Tarkiainen in the second round.
Other special prizes may be awarded.
IX
The prizes will be awarded after the finals on October 27, 2022.
X
The competition organisers or a third party authorised by them will have unlimited regional and temporal right to broadcast and record, video, televise, film and make CDs of the competition performances and to post competition performances on their websites and other media without payment of compensation to the contestants.
XI
The original language of these rules is Finnish. Any disputes will be settled on the basis of the Finnish text. The procedure in the event of a force majeure will be decided by the Competition Committee.
Rules published on March 13, 2021
