Never-ending competition

"For better or worse, the occupation of a musician is largely defined by competing," writes Lasse Lehtonen.

How similar are the fields of music and sport? Violinist Pekka Kuusisto and snowboarder Enni Rukajärvi discuss performance, art, competition and overcoming oneself. This article is part of a series that has previously featured composers Kaija Saariaho and Olli Virtaperko discussing composition, and pianist Kirill Kozlovski and runner Topi Raitanen discussing competition.

"It must be very important to achieve competition success, but how important, and for what reasons?" In this column, composer Olli Virtaperko discusses the role and importance of competitions in musical life.

Competition is part of the fundamental nature of life, whether we like it or not. Just as animals compete for habitat, food, partners and status in a herd, people vie for study places and jobs, socioeconomic status and in many skill-related sports. Even if it’s not always an actual competition, the mind organises the surrounding world by comparing itself to others. At the same time, however, a significant proportion of the competitions in human life are waged against oneself.

Music and sport are, one might imagine, completely separate worlds – but there are surprisingly many similarities between the work of a musician and of an athlete. One of these is the importance of competitions in their careers. Pianist Kirill Kozlovski and steeplechaser Topi Raitanen sat down to talk about the commonalities and differences of music and sports.

"The very word ‘competition’ prompts negative associations with elbow tactics and aggression. And when someone wins, someone else inevitably loses." In her column, accordionist and composer Johanna Juhola discusses the meaning and importance of competition for her career.

On the subject of competitions, opinions are highly divided amongst the music fraternity, competitions are seen as furthering the careers of those who do well in them, but it is not always easy to reconcile art and a system of ranking according to marks or points awarded. The first International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition was organised in 1965. In this article, originally published in 1985, Veikko Helasvuo examines the various phases the competition has gone through from its modest beginnings to its present position as a prominent international event.

In 2022, several international competitions as well as annual local ones were organized in Finland. The competition year kicked off with The XII international Jean Sibelius Violin Competition held in Helsinki in May. Take a look at this list compiled by FMQ and get familiar with some of the most well-known Finnish music competitions across genres!