At this year’s 2nd International Josephine Lang Competition for song duos in Tübingen , which is dedicated exclusively to the works of female composers, soprano Maine Takeda (who graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Voice from Prof. Hanno Müller-Brachmann’s class in the summer semester of 2025) and her piano partner Anu Rautakoski (alumna of the Lied class of Prof. Dr. h.c. Mitsuko Shirai & Prof. Hartmut Höll) won first prize and the Tübingen concert audience’s special prize.
Xiaoran Chu, who is completing her master’s degree in Prof. Alexander Fleischer’s class, won third prize as the accompanist to the soprano Xiaoyu Dou, a master’s student at the Franz Liszt University of Music in Weimar.
Sixty-eight international lieder duos had applied, of whom 28 were invited to the final rounds of the competition in Tübingen and performed before the jury: Prof. Christian Elsner, Anke Vondung, Jeanette La-Deur, Sibylla Rubens, Karola Theil and Thomas J. Mandl.