Carnegie Mellon University junior Emma Steele has advanced to the finals of the 10th International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition. She is one of six finalists in one of the world’s most prestigious competitions, which is held every five years in Helsinki, Finland.

The Chicago native, 20, will play Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 on Wednesday and the Sibelius Concerto on Thursday with the Helsinki Philharmonic in the final round of the competition. She has studied with Cyrus Forough, professor of violin atCMU, since she was 14.

All finalists are awarded 2,000 euros ($2,629). The top three win 10,000 to 30,000 euros ($13,150 to $39,440).

Past winners of the Sibelius competition include former Pittsburgh Symphony concertmaster Andres Cardenes, who took the bronze in 1980, and is head of the string program at CMU. —Mark Kanny