Competition Regulations 2023

Dear friends of classical music!

Since the Queen Sonja International Music Competition (now Queen Sonja Singing Competition) was established in 1988, the competition regulations have determined that the participants represent their respective nations. In this way, we aim to reach out to a sparkling bouquet of countries within the community of classical music. Since 1995, the competition has been exclusively for singers. In recent years, the representation from each nation has been limited to four singers, to guarantee that no nation can dominate the list of participants. 501 singers representing 62 nations applied to take part in 2021.

Together with the rest of the liberal world, Norway has strongly condemned Russia’s illegal and inhuman attacks on Ukraine. We fully support this condemnation, and we stand in strong solidarity with Ukraine and its citizens in the defense of our mutual democratic values. Applications from singers with Russian or Belarusian citizenship will this year therefore not be accepted. This regulation is set to exclude Russia and Belarus as nations, rather than the individual applicant.

We truly look forward to the day it is possible for us again to invite Russian and Belarusian singers to participate in our competition.

Yours sincerely,
Lars Hallvard Flaeten
Executive Director
Queen Sonja Singing Competition