BREAKING | Finalists Announced at Sibelius Comp – Including VC ‘Young Artist’ Emmanuel Tjeknavorian

The 6 Finalists at the 2015 Jean Sibelius International Violin Competition have just minutes ago been announced, in Helsinki, Finland – including VC ‘Young Artist’ Emmanuel Tjeknavorian.

The 2015 Finalists are:

• VC ‘Young Artist’ Emmanuel Tjeknavorian from Austria
• Mayumi Kanazawa from Japan
• Christel Lee from the United States
• Friederike Starkloff from Germany
• Minami Yoshida from Japan
• Nancy Zhou from the United States

2015 SIBELIUS INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION FINALISTS, CHRISTEL LEE (USA), MINAMA YOSHIDA (JAPAN), NANCY ZHOU (USA), VC 'YOUNG ARTIST' EMMANUEL TJEKNAVORIAN (AUSTRIA), MAYUMI KANAZAWA (JAPAN) & FRIEDERIKE STARKLOFF (GERMANY) 

For the Final round, to be held on the evenings of the 1st to the 3rd of December, each candidate will present Sibelius Violin Concerto in D Minor, plus a major Romantic/20th Century Concerto of their own choice - with conductors Hannu Lintu and John Storgards and the Finnish Radio Symphony and Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestras.

The 1st prize winner will receive €25,000 (US $28,000) and a number of important international engagements – including a performance of the Sibelius Concerto with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra at the ‘Sibelius 150 Birthday Jubilee Gala Concert’ in Hameenlinna, Finland.

This year’s jury comprises: Chairman Veli-Matti Puumala, Pierre Amoyal, Serguei Azizian, Sigrun Edvaldsdottir, Pekka Kauppinen, Sung-Ju Lee, Cho-Liang Lin, Gerhard Schulz and Krzysztof Wegrzyn.

Previous 1st prize winners include Oleg Kagan, Liana Isakadze, Pavel Kogan, Yuval Yaron, Viktoria Mullova, Ilja Kaler and Leonidas Kavakos – and VC ‘Artists’ Sergei Khachatryan and Nikita Boriso-Glebsky.

The Violin Channel, as this year’s official competition media partner will be providing rolling coverage direct from the Concert Hall at Helsinki Music Centre. You won’t miss a beat!

PICTURED: 2015 Jean Sibelius International Violin Competition Finalist, VC 'Young Artist' Emmanuel Tjeknavorian

[PHOTO: SANDRA SAULO/YLE]