The eight successful semi finalists have been revealed in the XIIth Lionel Tertis International Viola Festival and Competition taking place at the Erin Arts Centre in Port Erin on the Isle of Man.

The competitors were announced following a recital by festival president Yuri Bashmet, the international viola virtuoso, at the arts centre on Wednesday evening.

They are: Hae-Sue Lee, 16, South Korea; Lisa Sung, 20, Australia; Ming-Yu Hsu, 16, Taiwan; So Hui Yun, 19, South Korea; Steve Doman, 27, British; Timothy Ridout, 19, British; Manuel Vioque-Judde, 24, French and Wenhong Luo, 23, China.

Each has won through from an initial entry of almost 100 prospective competitors.

Last autumn festival director Dr John Bethell and a specially convened jury in London sifted through 96 DVD applications received from 26 countries with each recording of up to 15 minutes containing excerpts from this year's repertoire.

The outcome saw 44 applications finally accepted, all of international standard.

Those players have been performing for the five strong festival jury, chaired by international oboe player Prof George Caird, in two further stages of the competition taking place in Port Erin between last Saturday and yesterday.

The repertoire has included the specially composed test piece for solo viola 'fenodyree' by Stuart MacRae, commissioned by the Tertis Foundation for the competition and funded by Friends Provident International.

Mr MacRae said of the work, which will have its world premiere at Saturday's final: "The piece has a capricious, changeable character, a little mischievous and slightly threatening at times.

"The music is mainly fast-moving and flowing but on three occasions it slows down almost to a complete halt, giving way in the middle of the piece to a slower, more reflective passage."

Commenting on the standard of playing, Prof Caird said: "The standard is most fantastic, we didn't know where to start and have been thrilled by such amazing music making."

Three finalists will be selected on Friday following two public concerts.

The series of celebrity recitals taking place as part of the festival concludes this evening with a concert by Thomas Riebl (Austria) accompanied by Sophia Rahman (piano) (UK).

Born in Vienna in 1956, Thomas Riebl has appeared with leading orchestras including the Chicago and Vienna Symphony orchestras and with conductors such as Claudio Abbado and Andrew Davies

He became a founder member of the Vienna String Sextet and for almost 35 years has been a professor at the University Mozarteum Salzburg, giving numerous master classes worldwide.

Many of his students have won international competitions and became professors at music universities or members of leading orchestras and string quartets.

Limited tickets for the recital are available in advance from the box office at the Erin Arts Centre, telephone 01624 832662.