Successes in the Estonian National Violin Competition

In the autumn 2020 Estonian National Violin Competition, three students of Uniarts Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy won prizes.

Professor Réka Szilvay’s violin students Amanda Ernesaks, Triinu Piirsalu and Linda-Anette Verte were successful in the Estonian National Violin Competition held in autumn 2020. In the competition Ernesaks placed second, Piirsalu third and Verte was awarded with a special prize. In the finals, students got the chance to perform with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Arvo Volmer.

A great opportunity and experience

The trio does not find competing in the field of music to be an aim in itself and considers the experiences and opportunities brought by the competition to be more important for their own development.

”I forgot that I was in a competition, I was just so happy to play Sibelius’s Violin Concerto and share it with others”, Piirsalu says.

Hear more of Triinu Piirsalu’s thoughts on competition and musicianship in a video interview.

”I am extremely happy that I got to play the Brahms concerto with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra. Concerts and performance opportunities are the best prizes in competitions”, Verte says with a smile.

In her video interview, Linda-Anette talks more about preparing for competitions and her biggest dreams.

”The competition experience itself will certainly be useful in the future”, Ernesaks says.

In her video interview, Amanda talks about her studies at the Sibelius Academy’s Junior Academy.