France’s Concours International de Musique de Chambre de Lyon Names 2025 Winners

The Berlin-based Duo Vert has won first prize in this year’s edition for Voice and Piano duos

The Concours International de Musique de Chambre de Lyon (CIMCL) annually highlights one type of chamber music ensemble, including piano trios, violin-piano duos, cello-piano duos, woodwind quintets, and string quartets. This year’s 20th edition was dedicated to the voice-piano duo.

This year, all rounds of the competition streamed live here on The Violin Channel.

First prize with €8,000 was awarded to Berlin’s Duo Vert, which comprises bass-baritone Jeeyoung Lim, and pianist Cole Knutson. 

The €6,000 second prize and the Audience Award went to London’s Duo Nuvoletta with soprano Clara Barbier Serrano and pianist Joanna Kacperek. This duo also won the Belle Saison Prize and the Public Prize.

The Paris-Tokyo group Duo Musubi, comprising soprano Yui Nanasawa and pianist Kishin Nagai, won third place with €4,000, plus the €1,000 Prize for Best Performance of Jean-Patrick Besingrand’s “Chants du Déversoir.”

Additionally, the €1,000 SEAM Prize for Commitment to Contemporary Music was awarded to Duo Autekia, comprising tenor Abel Zamora and pianist Félix Moussiegt. The Villecroze Academy Prize went to soprano Clarisse Dalles and pianist Joseph Birnbaum of Duo Dalles-Birnbaum.

Valued at €20,000, CIMCL’s Villecroze Academy and Belle Saison Prizes include performances at live events, a Belle Saison tour, entry into the Villecroze Music Academy, plus concert engagements with the Royaumont Foundation, Palazzetto Bru Zane, and more. 

The jury comprised Bernarda Fink, Chantal Santon-Jeffery, Markus Hadulla, Mark Padmore, Susan Manoff, and Dietrich Henschel.