Paulo Cello Competition starts on April 16

The fifth International Paulo Cello Competition will take place in Finland from 16 to 27 April. This is a high level competition open to cellists of all nationalities, aged 16–30. Four cellists from Finland are among the 25 competitors: Lauri Kankkunen (b. 1990), Joona Pulkkinen (b. 1990), Jonathan Roozeman (b. 1997) and Lukas Stasevskij (b. 1987). The Artistic Director of the competition is Professor Arto Noras. The compulsory piece for first round has been composed by Krzysztof Penderecki

Other Finnish music competitions have been announced for 2014:

The Third International Uuno Klami composition competition was announced on 25 January. The aim is to widen the repertoire for sinfonietta size orchestras with new, 15 to 30 minute long works. The competition is directed to European composers with no age limits, and the deadline for the submissions is 2 December 2013. The jury includes composers Kalevi Aho, Magnus Lindberg and Erkki-Sven Tüür and the Artistic Director of Kymi Sinfonietta, Yasuo Shinozaki.

Turku Cello Competition, for Finnish cellists under 30 is announced to take place on 15–21 February 2014.  This is the 12th issue of the festival, arranged since 1972. The competition has commissioned a work for cello and orchestra from Sebastian Fagerlund to be played at the competition finals.