A performer with a strikingly uncompromising artistic outlook, Gidon Kremer is regarded worldwide as one of the most original and compelling artists of his generation. His repertory reaches from well-known Classical compositions to modern works by leading composers of the 20th and 21st centuries.
As an internationally celebrated soloist, Gidon Kremer has promoted contemporary composers and new music for the violin with particular intensity and long-term success. He is especially committed to the works of Russian and Eastern European composers, and over the course of his career has commissioned numerous new works, some of which are dedicated to him. His name is closely associated with John Adams, Edison Denisov, Leonid Desyatnikov, Philip Glass, Sofia Gubaidulina, Giya Kancheli, Victor Kissine, Luigi Nono, Michael Nyman, Arvo Pärt, Astor Piazzolla, Aribert Reimann, Alfred Schnittke, Valentin Silvestrov and Pēteris Vasks; his interpretations are traditional while also being fresh, original and lively.
In 1997 Gidon Kremer founded the chamber orchestra Kremerata Baltica, to promote outstanding young musicians from the Baltic states. The ensemble undertakes regular concert tours and has released nearly thirty albums with labels such as Nonesuch Records, Deutsche Grammophon and ECM. Kremerata Baltica marked its 20-year anniversary in the 2016/17 season with two celebratory tours through North America and Europe.
Of especial note is Gidon Kremer’s commitment to the rediscovery of the composer Mieczysław Weinberg. His much-praised recordings of Weinberg’s orchestral and chamber music have been released by Deutsche Grammophon, Accentus Music and ECM.
Gidon Kremer has recorded more than 200 albums, and has won important international awards for his performances, among them the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize, the Federal Cross of Merit, the Russian Triumph Prize, the UNESCO Music Prize and the Italian music prize Una vita nella musica. In 2016 he was honoured with the Japanese Praemium Imperiale, which is considered an equivalent to the Nobel Prize in the arts.
