Schedule and Repertoire

13TH INTERNATIONAL JEAN SIBELIUS VIOLIN COMPETITION

Updated November 11, in 2024, regarding pieces to be played from memory.

I
The 13th International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition will be held in Helsinki from 18 to 29 May 2025, organized by the Sibelius Society and the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki. The competition is open to all violinists born in or after 1995.

II
A registration link will be available here in December 2024. The closing date for applications is 29 January 2025, at 12 noon EET.

A jury appointed by the Competition Committee will pre-select applicants based on their application documents and video recordings. Those accepted for the competition will be notified by 4 March 2025.

III
Competition schedule
The order of performances will be decided by a draw at the competition’s opening ceremony 17 May 2025. All contestants must be present in person or represented by a proxy. The order of performances will remain the same for all three rounds.

First round, 19-21 May 2025
Approximately 40 participants will be accepted to the first round.

Second round, 23-25 May 2025
18 participants will be accepted to the second round.

Final round, 27-29 May 2025
Six participants will be accepted to the final round.

IV
Competition repertoire
The Competition Committee encourages contestants to create a recital programme that reflects their personalities as violinists in the best possible way and the diversity of music and its makers.

The competition consists of three rounds that are open to the public. The entire repertoire, with the exception of the commissioned work performed in the 2nd round, a possible chamber music piece and the freely chosen concerto in the final round, must be played from memory. In the 1st and 2nd rounds, the order of the programme is free. The duration of each programme shall be monitored by the Competition Committee in advance.

Preliminary audition round
The repertoire for the preliminary round must consist of the following works from the contestant's competition programme.
1. Bach: one movement from a Solo Sonata or Partita
2. Paganini: one Caprice or Ernst: 'Letzte Rose' variations or Ernst: ‘Erlkönig’ (Schubert)
3. Sibelius: 1st movement of Concerto in D minor, Op. 47

1st round, 19-21 May 2025
1. 2-3 movements of Bach's Solo Sonata/Partita or Ciaccona
(In Bach's Partita in B minor, Double belongs to the previous movement.)

2. Choose one of the four options: 2a, 2b, 2c or 2d
2a) Two caprices by Paganini
2b) Paganini: one Caprice and Salvatore Sciarrino: one Caprice (Caprices 2-6)
2c) Paganini: one Caprice and Jörg Widmann: one Etude
2d) Ernst: 'Letzte Rose' variations or Ernst: 'Erlkönig' (Schubert)

3. Sibelius: Two Humoresques, freely chosen from Op. 87 and Op. 89

Duration: each participant is allowed a maximum of 30 minutes on stage.

2nd round, 23-25 May 2025
The programme may include works for solo violin or for violin and piano, but not violin concertos or parts of them with piano accompaniment.

Compositions from the 1st round cannot be played again in the 2nd round.

1. Sibelius: at least 2 freely chosen pieces for violin and piano

2. Outi Tarkiainen: commissioned piece for violin and piano

3. Recital programme of the contestant’s own choosing

Duration: each participant is allowed a maximum of 70 minutes on stage.

Final, 27-29 May 2025
1. Sibelius: Concerto in D minor, Op. 47
2. One of the following concertos:
Kaija Saariaho: Graal Theatre (1994)
Unsuk Chin 1 (2001)
Oliver Knussen (2002)
Magnus Lindberg 2 (2015)