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 €20,000 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.

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. Repertoire will feature a new work commissioned especially for the competition to Jean-Patrick Bésingrand from Arthur Teboul poems, and a final round which adds a string quartet to the duo format.
The competition will be streamed live on The Violin Channel.

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

Past laureates of the Voice-Piano Duo competitions include Cyrille Dubois and Tristan Raës, Tamara Bounazou and Anna Giorgi, Hagar Sharvit and Daniel Gerzenberg, Mickhaïl Timoshenko and Elitsa Desseva, Yumiko Tanimura and Jonas Vitaud…

The application deadline is January 15, 2025.