The International Maj Lind Competition is well-recognized piano competition in Finland and around the world. The competition is named after its benefactress Maria (Maj) Lind, née Kopjeff (1876–1942). A keen music lover, who studied the piano in Kuopio and St. Petersburg and married a Helsinki businessman, Arvid Lind.
When he died, she inherited a considerable fortune, some of which she then bequeathed to the Sibelius Academy “for the development of pianists”.
The first Maj Lind Piano Competition was financed by a fund set up under the bequest and held in 1945. Since 2002, it has been held every five years as an international event.
Application rules:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Application form: https://www.muvac.com/en/vac/sibelius-academy-1398ccc.
Participation fee – €80.
Awards:
1st Prize: €30000
2nd Prize: €25000
3rd Prize: €20000
PIANO repertoire:
Preselection Video:
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.
First round:
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:
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.
Final:
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