Applications Open for the 20th Lyon International Chamber Music Competition

Applications for the 2025 Voice-Piano Duo edition of the CIMCL are open until January 15, 2025

Applications are now open for the 20th edition of the Lyon International Chamber Music Competition (CIMCL). The competition will take place from April 23 to 26, 2025, and the upcoming edition focuses on Voice-Piano Duos.

Open to candidates under the age of 34, the CIMCL is offering a total of €19,000 in prize money — as well as concert engagements, a tour with La Belle Saison, training at the Académie musicale de Villecroze, and many other opportunities.

The application deadline is January 15, 2025. You can read more about the competition and apply here.

15-20 duos will be selected to take part in the pre-selection round of the competition, with each duo presenting two 30-minute recitals. Then, those duos who proceed to the final will perform a 45-minute recital. This will feature a new work commissioned especially for the competition, which adds a string quartet to the duo format.

The competition will be streamed live here on The Violin Channel.

In 2025, the jury will comprise mezzo-soprano Bernarda Fink, soprano Chantal Santon-Jeffery, pianist Markus Hadulla, tenor Mark Padmore, baritone Dietrich Henschel, and pianist Susan Manoff.

Past laureates of the competition include the Arete Quartet, from Seoul, South Korea — who won the 19th edition in 2024. The group is made up of violinists Chaeann Jeon and Eunjoong Park, violist Yoonsun Jang, and cellist Seonghyeon Park, and they received a cash prize of €10,000.

(PC: Lucie Colas-Luciani)