IVC LiedDuo Competition announces winners

Baritone Arvid Fagerfjäll and pianist Hikaru Kanki have been declared winners of this year’s LiedDuo competition of the International Vocal Competition (IVC), located in 's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands. In Sunday’s final, four duos competed at 's-Hertogenbosch's Verkadefabriek theatre for the Eugène Pannebakker LiedDuo Prize worth €7,500.  

Of the nearly 100 duos that registered for this year’s competition, 14 were selected to compete for a place in the final. Chaired by mezzo-soprano Dame Sarah Connolly, the competition jury also included tenor Howard Haskin, Christoph Prégardien, pianist Charles Spencer, pianist Roger Vignoles and Concertgebouw programmer Mirjam Wijzenbeek. 

During the competition, both vocalist and pianist are judged, and all musicians had to choose their own repertoire within the predefined standards of the competition. The jury was impressed by the choice of repertoire which included works by George Crumb, Moritz Eggert, Rodion Shchedrin and Kaija Saariaho.  

This year’s Prize Song, included in all competitor’s recitals, was Vermeer’s Gold by composer Bart Visman and lyricist Marc Pantus. The Van Riemsdijk Prize for the best performance of the Prize Song was won by soprano Sophia Burgos and pianist Daniel Gerzenberg. 

The IVC LiedDuo competition ran from 16 - 21 November this year across various locations in 's-Hertogenbosch. Fans could follow the entire competition via the livestream on the IVC YouTube channel which attracted more than 6,000 views.