Awarded Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
(Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland)
and
Awarded Gramophone Classical Music Award 2020 – Instrumental Category
It’s a big day for Igor Levit as two announcements were made this morning:
From Germany: The Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will award Igor Levit the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, one of the highest accolades for German citizens, on Thursday, October 1st at the Presidential Palace on the Day of German Unity. Under the motto “United and there for one another” – the Federal President will award 15 German citizens who have made excellent contributions over the past year.
About Igor Levit, the official Presidential website stated: “For him, artistic activity, socio-political commitment and solidarity with others are inextricably linked. He shines on the concert stages of the world with his enormous virtuosity as well as with profound interpretations. In doing so, he conveys to his audience what answers music has to questions that are still as topical today as they were for Beethoven 250 years ago. At the beginning of the Corona crisis, Igor Levit created a sense of togetherness across borders with daily “Corona House Concerts” that he broadcast from his living room. He dedicated his house concert on April 29 to the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Dachau camp to the survivors of the concentration and extermination camps. He is neither intimidated by death threats nor dissuaded by hate speech on the Internet from his commitment against anti-Semitism, the exclusion of minorities and for democracy.”
And from the UK – Gramophone announced its winners this morning for the Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2020 and Igor Levit has won this year’s Gramophone Classical Music Award in the Instrumental Category for his recording of Beethoven Piano Sonatas. The awards ceremony will be streamed online on October 6, (7pm London time).
ENDS