Twenty-one-year-old Armand Thomas (France) has won First Prize at the Premio Bonporti for Baroque Violin 2025. The prize hasn’t been awarded since 2019 and this is just the fourth time in the eleven editions since 2003. It is therefore a highly prestigious award that recognizes the young violinist’s high technical and interpretative qualities. Second Prize went to Italian Lorenzo Molinetti, third Prize to American Ela Kodžas, and fourth Prize to Cuban Maria de Lourdes Pomares Lima. The “Rovereto City of Peace” Prize was awarded once again to Lorenzo Molinetti, awarded by a large audience in the splendid eighteenth-century hall of Palazzo Piamarta (the University’s Aula Magna). Maria de Lourdes Pomares Lima won the Online Audience Award, with 407 voters watching the live streaming.
All four finalists, accompanied by the Bonporti Baroque Orchestra (composed of violinists who were finalists from previous editions of the competition), impressed the audience, playing two beautiful yet challenging concertos by Bonporti and Vivaldi (introducing their own virtuosic “cadenze” in the latter).
The jury, consisting of Emilio Moreno (Spain, president), Odile Edouard (France), François Fernandez (France), and Romano Vettori (Italy), was satisfied by the number and calibre of the participants, who came from various parts of Europe and the Americas. They emphasized the importance of the competition, which has been running since 1996.
So the 2025 Premio Bonporti comes to an end. The Accademia di Musica Antica di Rovereto, is very satisfied and invites everyone to the next edition, which will be for ensembles.
