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 Maj Lind Piano Competition has an honourable history, first as a national and as of 2002 an international event. It is one of the few Nordic piano competitions of this standard, and it has, right from the beginning, had a distinct profile of its own. As an alternative to the new commissioned work, the repertoire offers either an improvisation on a given theme or a piece of the competitor’s own composition. Music by Jean Sibelius is on the competition programme for each participant. All the finalists will play an exacting chamber work, this year a piano quintet.
The status of a music competition is the sum of many things, not only the prizes it awards. Preparing for a competition is an important learning process, and participants have a chance to receive feedback from members of the jury once their performance is over. For the audience and performers, a competition is a superb music festival of a high international standard. For the professional listener, it is a good opportunity to check the ongoing trends in the arts, and for all who attend, it is a chance to meet other piano-music lovers.
This year there were nearly 200 applicants – almost twice as many as on previous occasions. We can thus with good reason look forward to a first-class event.
Just come along and enjoy it!
Erik T. Tawaststjerna
Professor of Piano Music
The Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki
