Helmi Vesa piano competition brings to the stage French repertoire from the shadows of Debussy and Ravel
The competition for piano students of the Sibelius Academy, Uniarts Helsinki is being held now for the 14th time.
The Helmi Vesa piano competition brings to the stage French repertoire from the shadows of Debussy and Ravel
The competition for piano students of the Sibelius Academy, Uniarts Helsinki is being held now for the 14th time.
43 pianists of different ages will participate in the competition, which will be held in the Sibelius Academy’s Concert Hall on March 24-26, 2023. 38 of them are studying in the Sibelius Academy’s classical music department and 5 in the Sibelius Junior Academy.
The compulsory repertoire of the competition includes music composed after the year 2000 by a Finn or a composer living in Finland. Through the free-choice repertoire, this time we wanted to examine the maybe a little less-known French piano music. The competitors have chosen works from the piano compositions of Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy’s contemporaries Lili Boulanger, Nadia Boulanger, Emmanuel Chabrier, Cécile Chaminade, Gabriel Fauré, Charles Koechlin, Francis Poulenc and Florent Schmitt. The competition has great pedagogical significance for future professionals
“There is a lot of fantastic piano music by these composers, which is relatively rarely heard. Getting to know it is eye-opening for the students and certainly for the public as well. A deep dive into the music of a certain composer or period prepares students to design their own artistic programmes. When students prepare similar works and listen to each other, everyone’s knowledge and understanding of the repertoire improves,” says member of the competition committee, Sibelius Academy piano music professor Antti Siirala.
The competition has its roots in the professor’s memorial fund
The Helmi Vesa competition started when professor Mrs. Helmi Vesa from Tampere, Finland, established a memorial fund in her will. In that will she was obliged to distribute grants or scholarships to successful piano students. The first competition was organized in 1986. Students of the classical music department majoring in piano at the Sibelius Academy who have not completed a master’s degree, as well as youth education students, can participate in the one-round competition. This time, the competition’s jury includes pianists Emil Holmström, Ewa Kupiec and Jan Jiracek von Arnim, as well as Graham Scott, director of piano education at the Royal Northern College of Music.
Competition events
The competition will be held in one round on March 24-26, 2023. The competition events are organized daily from 10, 13, 15:30 and 18 in the Sibelius Academy Concert Hall of the University of the Arts (Pohjoinen Rautatiekatu 9, Helsinki). The prize distribution will take place in the same hall on Sunday 26.3. 2023 around 9:30 p.m.
More information
Terhi Luukkonen
terhi.luukkonen@uniarts.fi