Violinist Gidon Kremer is honoured with the Lifetime Achievement award
The results of the 2025 International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) were announced on 14 January, with many string players recognised for their work. The award ceremony will be held on 19 March at the Tonhalle in Düsseldorf, Germany.
This year’s Lifetime Achievement award goes to Latvian violinist Gidon Kremer, recognising his musical influence of six decades. Luxembourger cellist Benjamin Kruithof receives Young Artist of the Year, while Italian cellist Ettore Pagano receives the ICMA Classeek award. Christoph Ehrenfellner, an Austrian composer, violinist, and conductor, receives the Composer Award.
The Chamber Music award goes to the Danel Quartet for its cycle of Shostakovich quartets, and the Concerto Award to Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang for her rendition of the Elgar Violin Concerto with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.
This year’s award for Contemporary Music honours Korean composer Unsuk Chin, recognising recordings including German violinist Christian Tetzlaff’s rendition of the Violin Concerto No.1 and German cellist Alban Gerhadt’s recording of the Cello Concerto, both recorded with the Berlin Philharmonic.
The award for the Video: Performance and Documentaries category goes to Anna Schmidt’s documentary Living Bach, which features string players, instrumentalists and singers across the globe united by a love of the Baroque composer, culminating in the Bachfest in Leipzig, Germany.
‘Our awards are recognitions of excellence in musical performance,’ said Jury President Remy Franck. ‘They can provide - and have already provided, as many of our previous winners can acknowledge - many benefits for the winners, artists as well as labels, enhancing reputation and increasing personal motivation. We have assurance that the full benefit of our awards will be felt by all our winners, in a musical environment in which revenue from streaming services, for example, brings anything but real rewarding.’
Read: Words of wisdom by violinist Gidon Kremer
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