AboutGidon Kremer
Geiger, Artistic Director and founder of the Kremerata Baltica – with his unusually uncompromising artistic stance, Gidon Kremer is globally recognized as one of the most original and compelling artists of his generation. His repertoire spans from well-known classical compositions to modern works by leading composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. He is particularly dedicated to the works of Russian and Eastern European composers and has performed many important new works throughout his career, some of which are dedicated to him. His name is closely associated with various contemporary composers, including Alfred Schnittke, Arvo Pärt, Giya Kancheli, Sofia Gubaidulina, Valentin Silvestrov, Luigi Nono, Edison Denisov, Aribert Reimann, Pēteris Vasks, John Adams, Victor Kissine, Michael Nyman, Philip Glass, Leonid Desyatnikov, and Astor Piazzolla; his interpretations are respectful of tradition yet fresh, original, and vibrant. Without a doubt, Kremer has promoted contemporary composers and new music in the violin world more intensely and sustainably than any other internationally successful soloist.
Kremer has recorded over 120 albums; many have received significant international awards for their remarkably profound interpretations. The long list of his accolades includes the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize, the Grand Cross of Merit, the Moscow Triumph Award, the UNESCO Music Prize, and the Una vita nella musica – Artur Rubinstein Prize. In 2016, Gidon Kremer was also awarded the Praemium Imperiale, widely considered the Nobel Prize of music.
In 1997, Kremer founded the chamber orchestra Kremerata Baltica to promote outstanding young musicians from the Baltic States. The ensemble regularly undertakes extensive concert tours and has already recorded nearly 30 albums with Nonesuch Records, Deutsche Grammophon, Burleske, and ECM. After Mozart (Nonesuch Records 2001) won an ECHO Klassik and a Grammy Award in 2002; the album of works by Mieczysław Weinberg, recently released on ECM, was nominated for a Grammy in 2015.
In the 2016/17 season, Gidon Kremer will lead the two anniversary tours of the Kremerata Baltica, which the orchestra is undertaking across North America and Europe to celebrate its 20th anniversary and Kremer's 70th birthday.