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Competition Regulations

Dear singers and friends of classical music!

Since its founding in 1988, the Queen Sonja International Music Competition (now the Queen Sonja Singing Competition) has required participants to represent their respective nations.

This tradition allows us to celebrate a vibrant diversity of countries within the classical music community. Since 1995, the competition has been exclusively for singers. In recent years, participation has been limited to a maximum of four singers per nation to ensure a broad international representation. Over the years, we have received applications from 3.600 singers representing 86 different nations. A total of 650 singers from 69 nations have taken part in our competitions.

Like the rest of the free world, Norway strongly condemns Russia’s illegal and inhumane attacks on Ukraine. We fully support this condemnation, and we stand in strong solidarity with Ukraine and its people in defending our shared democratic values. As a result, applications from singers holding Russian or Belarusian citizenship will not be accepted. This decision is intended to exclude Russia and Belarus as nations, rather than the individual applicant.  

We sincerely hope for the day when we can once again warmly welcome Russian and Belarusian singers to our competitions.

Oslo, February 2025

Yours sincerely,

Lars Hallvard Flaeten
Executive Director
Queen Sonja Singing Competition