Early Music Vancouver announces winners of 2025 EMV Emerging Artist Competition

A.S.A.P. Duo and three other specialists in historical performance receive recognition for innovative visions

Fortepianist Agata Sorotokin and Baroque cellist Antonio Pellegrino.

EARLY MUSIC VANCOUVER HAS named the four winners of its 2025 Emerging Artist Competition, after asking young musicians from across Europe and North America to submit creative projects.

Now in its third year, the competition invited submissions under the theme “The Future of Early Music”. The aim was to explore how early music can be presented in ways that resonate with contemporary audiences, pushing the boundaries of tradition while staying rooted in historical performance practices.

First prize went to the A.S.A.P. Duo—a play on the names of its members, fortepianist Agata Sorotokin and Baroque cellist Antonio Pellegrino. Based in The Hague, Netherlands, the duo won for its concert program focused on unpublished Neapolitan manuscripts from the turn of the 18th century. Their innovation was combining fully written works with partially sketched pieces, which the jury praised for offering a fresh and historically informed perspective on forgotten repertoire.

No second prize was awarded this year. Instead, the jury named three artists as joint third-place winners: Germany’s Andreas Kammenos, Canada’s Conor Lyons, and Belgium’s Korneel Van Neste.

Kammenos, a recorder player currently pursuing a master’s degree at the Karlsruhe University of Music, proposed Cuckoo Call, a project that integratees technology and early music. His interactive concept centres around developing a platform that allows audiences to access audio and video recordings in various locations, encouraging a reimagined relationship between music, time, and space.

Canadian harpsichordist Lyons received recognition for Terminus Montreal, the final concert of his Baroque band Twisted Pearl. Featuring newly composed works in historical styles, the project advocates for new music written in early idioms, bridging past traditions and present-day sensibilities.

Countertenor Van Neste focused on historical tools such as canons, improvisation, and the Guidonian hand, emphasizing their modern relevance, positing experimentation and artistic freedom as essential components of early music’s evolving future.

All four winners will receive financial support and be featured on EMV’s social media platforms.

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Helen Wu

Helen (Yichun) Wu is a classical musician and music critic with an interest in the performing arts at large. Before moving to Canada to pursue a Master of Journalism at UBC, she received her degrees in piano for solo and chamber music, and comparative literature in the United States.

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