The Jury of the Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition published the names of the eight singers who made it into the finals on Sunday night, after the last of the semi-final rounds.
In the female category the four selected finalists are all sopranos. They are Jekaterina Gubanova and Olga Šuršina (Russia), Eglise Gutierrez (Cuba), and Karen Wierzba (Canada).
In the men's event the foursome are the Korean tenor Woo-Kyung Kim, the Russian tenor Dmitri Voropayev, Turkish bass Burak Bilgili, and Timothy Mix, a baritone from the United States. None of the five Finnish entrants made it through to the finals this time.
The Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition was first held in 1984 and is arranged every five years. The final will be held at the Finnish National Opera on August 11th. Both male and female categories carry a first prize of EUR 20,000 and the prospect of singing engagements.
