Prizewinners Announced at the Buchet International Cello Competition

American cellist Annie Jacobs-Perkins received First Prize

The Buchet International Cello Competition, which was hosted by the Belgium Cello Society at the Conservatoire Royal de Mons, recently came to a close. The competition is open to cellists aged 29 and under. Six players proceeded to the final round, in which they performed sonata repertoire, concerti, and other concert pieces with piano.

The 27-year-old American cellist Annie Jacobs-Perkins was named as the winner of First Prize, and she received a cash award of €3,000 — as well as a concert opportunity at the Brussels Cello Festival, an engraved bow by J. P. Bernard, a GEWA case, string sets by Pirastro, Jargar, and Larsen, and a number of instrument and bow maintenance packages from a range of luthiers.

18-year-old French cellist Maxime Grizard received second prize of €2,000, while third prize of €1,000 went to 24-year-old Youbien Lee from South Korea.

The winner of the 2023 Pierre Fournier Award, Annie Perkins-Jacobs will soon present a recital in London’s Wigmore Hall, record her debut album on the Champs Hill label, and perform as a soloist with the London Philharmonia. She is currently the Artist-in-Residence of the Austin Chamber Music Center (2023-25); previously she was the Artist-in-Residence at the EstOvest Festival Contemporary Cello Week in Turin, Italy, and was a 2021 Young-Artist-in-Residence at NPR’s Performance Today.

A graduate of the Barenboim Said Akademie, the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler, the New England Conservatory, and USC’s Thornton School of Music, she has studied with Frans Helmserson, Troels Svane, Laurence Lesser, and Ralph Kirshbaum.

In 2024, the Buchet jury comprised Han Bin Yoon (chair and artistic director of the Belgium Cello Society), Roel Dieltiens, Anne Gastinel, Marie Hallynck, Frans Helmerson, Judith Van Eeckhout, Ulrich Hauschild, and Veerle Simoens.

(PC: Vance Jacobs)