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: South Korea (10 competitors), Finland (6), United States (5), Russia (4), China (3), Germany (3), Indonesia (2), Israel (2), Italy (2), Spain (1), Georgia (1), Great Britain (1), Canada (1), Norway (1), Ukraine (1) and New Zealand (1).
The pianists accepted for the competition are:
Alasaarela, Hannu (b. 1994), Finland
An, Tianxu (b. 1999), China
Bouterey-Ishido, Jun (b. 1990), New Zealand
Carr, Joachim (b. 1988), Norway
David, Isabelle (b. 1990), Canada
Gogava, Ana (b. 1992), Georgia
Grinshtein, Natanel (b. 1995), Israel
Han, Kyuho (b. 1993), South Korea
Hanßen, Knut (b. 1992), Germany
Hartono, Anthony (b. 1995), Indonesia
In, So Hyang (b. 1991), South Korea
Jalkanen, Väinö (b. 1989), Finland
Kang, Hye-Lee (b. 1995), South Korea
Kim, Yedam (b. 1988), South Korea
Kim, Jun Ho (b. 1995), South Korea
Kim, Jiyoung (b. 1996), South Korea
Klein, Kathrin Isabelle (b. 1991), Germany
Klimo, Peter (b. 1990), United States
Lapaz Lombardo, Enrique (b. 1988), Spain
Lasaracina, Viviana Pia (b. 1988), Italy
Lee, Jin-Hyeon (b. 1990), South Korea
Li, Zhenni (b. 1987), China
Lopatynskyi, Roman (b. 1993), Ukraine
Melemed, Mackenzie (b. 1995), United States
Orth, Kyle (b. 1990), United States
Pan, Anke (b. 1993), Germany
Park, Hyo-Eun (b. 1995), South Korea
Park, Yeon-Min (b. 1990), South Korea
Parkhomenko, Daria (b. 1991), Russia
Peltokoski, Tarmo (b. 2000), Finland
Pierdomenico, Leonardo (b. 1992), Italy
Rajeshkumar, Kausikan (b. 1990), Great Britain
Sarasvathi, Victoria Audrey (b. 1997), Indonesia
Stasevskij, Justas (b. 1989), Finland
Strogiy, Ruslan (b. 1992), Russia
Suh, Hans H. (b. 1990), South Korea
Söderström, Fanny (b. 1993), Finland
Taratushkin, Mark (b. 1990), Russia
Vorotnaya, Anastasia (b. 1995), Russia
Wong, Evan (b. 1990), United States
Yulin, Maria (b. 1988), Israel
Zaitsev, Aleksei (b. 1995), Finland
Zang, Xiaolu (b. 1999), China
Zhang, Fifi (b. 1993), United States
The competition received a record 195 applications by the deadline on April 24. 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 order of performance will be decided by lot at the Helsinki Music Centre at 12 noon on August 17. The pianist whose name is drawn will perform first, and the others will follow in alphabetical order.
There will be three rounds in the competition, all of them public events. The first (August 18–22) and second rounds (August 24–25) will be held in the Camerata Hall and the finals in the main hall of the Helsinki Music Centre: the chamber music finals (August 27) and the orchestral finals (August 30–31). The prizes will be awarded at about 22:00, after the finals on August 31.
Arabesques et adages by Kaija Saariaho is the work commissioned for the competition and one of the elective works in the second round. The quartets in the chamber music finals will be the Tempera and the New Helsinki, and accompanying the pianists in the orchestral finals will be the Helsinki Philharmonic conducted by Anna-Maria Helsing.
The competition jury will have eight members: Dmitri Bashkirov, Janina Fialkowska, Ralf Gothóni, Ewa Kupiec, Alberto Nosè, Roland Pöntinen, Dang Thai Son 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 November 9, 2017.
The whole competition will be streamed worldwide by the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle) and broadcast in Finland on Yle Radio 1 and the Teema & Fem TV channel.
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.
The previous winners of the International Maj Lind Piano Competition are Alberto Nosè (2002), Sofija Guljak (2007) and Sergei Redkin (2012).
