Helsinki, 12 June 2024 – The winner of the 9th Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition is the Chinese mezzo-soprano Jingjing Xu. “The standard of the competitors has been extremely high, and the audience fantastic”, says Soile Isokoski, the chair of the jury.
“The standard of the competitors has been extremely high, and the audience fantastic. Furthermore, there has been a good spirit among the jury. It has been a great pleasure to be part of the competition,” says jury chair Soile Isokoski.
The €5,000 prize for the best Lied performance went to the German baritone Gabriel Rollinson for his Among the Fuchsias by Harry Burleigh. The €5,000 prize for the best performance of a Finnish song by a singer whose native language is neither Finnish nor Swedish went to the Hungarian soprano Renáta Gebe-Fügi for her interpretation of Minä metsän polkuja kuljen by Erkki Melartin.
The choice of the press jury was the Norwegian soprano Hedvig Haugerud. The press jury consisted of Anne Aavik from Estonia, Kikka Holmberg and Harri Kuusisaari from Finland, and Jürgen Otten and Michael Stallknecht from Germany.
The student jury chose the Chinese mezzo-soprano Jingjing Xu as their favourite. The members of the student jury were Liisa Kouvonen from Turku University of Applied Sciences, Tanja Niemelä from the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki, and Tiina Salminen from Metropolia University of Applied Sciences.
The Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle audience favourite award went to Kathrin Lorenzen.
The jury members were bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni, pianist Keval Shah, baritone Bo Skovhus, mezzo-soprano Randi Stene, and soprano Dawn Upshaw. The jury was chaired by soprano Soile Isokoski.
You can find the presentations and repertoires of the finalists on our website:
About
The Mirjam Helin Competition counts among the most prestigious competitions of its kind in the world.
It has a reputation for being one of the leading international singing competitions, and many of its former prizewinners, such as Olaf Bär, Elīna Garanča, René Pape, Andrea Rost and Julia Lezhneva have later risen to the top of the world of singing. Designed for outstanding young singers, it is known for its high standard, exacting repertoire, superb prizes and prestigious jury.
The competition has been organised every five years by the Finnish Cultural Foundation since 1984. From 2024, the competition will be arranged every three years.
