History

The International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition is one of the most prestigious music competitions in the world. Since 1969 it has been a member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions. The Sibelius Violin Concerto was, of course, one of the main reasons for holding the first competition in 1965. The most recent competition, the twelfth, was held in Helsinki from May 18 to 29, 2022.

The Sibelius Society of Finland launched the competition in 1965 in connection with the 100th anniversary of Sibelius’ birth. The situation at the outset was impressive. An Honorary Committee was set up and a large number of distinguished musicians agreed to become members. Among them were Sir John Barbirolli, Herbert von Karajan, Yehudi Menuhin, David Oistrakh, Eugene Ormandy, Igor Stravinsky and Henryk Szeryng. The honour of chairing the Committee naturally feel to Aino Sibelius.

Since 1965, the competition – without an Honorary Committee – has been held every five years, with the exception of the 12th competition, which was organized in 2022 due to the pandemic. Young violinists from all over the world who have not yet reached their 30th birthday have been able to demonstrate their musical talents and compete with one another. The number of applicants set a new record in 2022 with 240; of these, 49 were selected for the competition in Helsinki. The competitors play both optional and obligatory repertoire. The finalists play the Sibelius Violin Concerto and one other violin concerto with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra or the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

The members of the Jury have always been internationally well-established violinists and violin teachers, whereas the Chairmen have been Finns – so far Tauno Hannikainen, Joonas Kokkonen, Tuomas Haapanen, Aulis Sallinen, Mikko Heiniö and Jukka-Pekka Saraste.The artistic importance of the competition lies in its potential for discovering new talents and helping young artists in their careers. The competition is nowadays organised jointly by the Sibelius Society of Finland and the Sibelius Academy.

LAUREATES 1965 – 2022

1965

I Oleg Kagan, USSR

II Joshua Epstein, Israel

III Valeri Gradov, USSR 

1970

I (ex aequo) Liana Isakadze & Pavel Kogan, USSR

III Otto Armin, Canada   

1975 

I Yuval Yaron, Israel

II Ilja Grubert, USSR

III Eugen Sarbu, Romania   

1980  

I Viktoria Mullova, USSR

II Sergei Stadler, USSR

III Andres Cardenes, USA    

1985  

I (ex aequo) Ilja Kaler, USSR & Leonidas Kavakos, Greece

III Vilmos Szabadi, Hungary  

1990 

I pas attribué.

II Cristina Anghelescu, Romania

III (ex aequo) Sigrún Edvaldsdóttir, Iceland & Akiko Tanaka, Japan   

1995  

I Pekka Kuusisto, Finland

II Elisabeth Batiashvili, Georgia

III (ex aequo) Madoka Sato, Japan & Nikolaj Znaider, Denmark     

2000  

I Sergei Khachatryan, Armenia

II Natsumi Tamai, Japan

III (ex aequo) Zhi-Jiong Wang, China & Sayako Kusaka, Japan     

2005  

I Alina Pogostkina, Germany

II Jiafeng Chen, China

III (ex aequo) Hyun-Su Shin, South Korea & Wei Wen, China 

2010

I Nikita Boriso-Glebsky, Russia / Belgium

II Petteri Iivonen, Finland

III Esther Yoo, USA / Belgium

2015

I Christel Lee, USA

II Emmanuel Tjeknavorian, Austria

III Friederike Starkloff, Germany

Other finalists:
Mayumi Kanagawa, USA
Minami Yoshida, Japan
Nancy Zhou, USA

Special prizes:

Best performance of Violin Concerto by Sibelius
Emmanuel Tjeknavorian

Best performance of the commissioned piece
Friederike Skarkloff

2022

I Inmo Yang, South Korea

II Nathan Meltzer, USA

III Dmitry Udovychenko, Ukraine

Other finalists:
Diana Adamyan, Armenia
Yesong Sophie Lee, USA
Georgii Moroz, Ukraine

Special prizes:

Best performance of the commissioned piece
Inmo Yang

Instrument loan prize (Beares International Violin Society)
Inmo Yang