6th Jorma Panula Conducting Competition to be held in the Finnish city of Vaasa from the 10th to the 13th of November 2015.

A competition for a new generation of conductors in November 2015

We cordially invite you to take part in the 6th Jorma Panula Conducting Competition to be held in the Finnish city of Vaasa from the 10th to the 13th of November 2015.

Background to the competition
The Jorma Panula Conducting Competition is one of the most prestigious new-generation conducting contests in Europe. The “maestro of maestros” behind the competition is Professor Jorma Panula. The event is organised by the Viljo and Maire Vuorio Foundation in collaboration with the City of Vaasa. Jorma Panula has been training young conductors for nearly four decades, and many of today’s  most illustrious conductors have studied on his courses.The competition gives young European conductors an excellent opportunity to gain valuable experience, promote their own work, increase their visibility as a conductor and to open new doors. “Charisma and the ability to communicate with an orchestra are two of the properties I look for in a winner,” says Jorma Panula.

The previous winners of the competition include the Estonian Olari Elts, Finnish Eva Ollikainen, Lithuanian Vytautas Lukocius and Bulgarian Yordan Kamdzhalov. In 2012, there was no winner and the second price was shared  by Risto Joost (Estonia) and Tobias Volkmann (Germany).

City of Vaasa admirably equipped for the competition
The city of Vaasa is a major centre of commerce, education and culture in Western Finland. The competition will be held in the culturally and historically imposing Vaasa City Hall. The orchestras will be the Vaasa City Orchestra and the Jyväskylä Sinfonia, both leading professional orchestras in their regions and maintaining a high artistic standard.

Please read the enclosed competition instructions carefully. Applications must reach us by 31 March 2015. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us; we are happy to help. We hope that the sixth Jorma Panula Conducting Competition finds an eager echo among young conductors.