Gidon Kremer

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Gidon Kremer (2008)

Gidon Kremer ( Latvian Gidons Krēmers ; Russian Гидон Маркусович Кремер / Gidon Markussowitsch Kremer ; born February 27, 1947 in Riga , Latvian SSR , USSR ) is a former Soviet , now Latvian - German violinist .

Life

Youth and Studies

Kremer was born in Riga in 1947 as the son of the violinist Markus Kremer (1898–1981) of Jewish origin and Marianne Brückner (1922–2011) of German-Swedish origin. His grandfather Karl Brückner , who was married to a Swede , and his great-grandfather Gustav Brückner were also violinists and music educators, but they came from a family of scholars. From the age of four, Kremer received music lessons from his father and grandfather at home. In 1954 he attended the Riga Conservatory and took lessons from Voldemārs Stūresteps . At sixteen he was awarded the First Prize of the Latvian Soviet Republic .

In 1965 Kremer went to the Moscow Conservatory , where he became a student of David Oistrach . In 1967 he was a prizewinner at the Concours Reine Elisabeth in Brussels (3rd place), two years later he won the Paganini Competition in Genoa, and in 1970 the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.

Musical career

As a member of the Leningrad Chamber Orchestra in the 1970s , Kremer worked with Emil Gilels and Lazar Gosman to develop reconditions of more than 200 works of chamber music, including pieces by Dmitri Shostakovich and Benjamin Britten . He gave his first concert in (West) Germany in 1975, and in 1976 he played at the Salzburg Festival in the world premiere of Hans Werner Henze's Chaconne for solo violin and chamber orchestra " Il Vitalino raddoppiato " . In 1977 he made his debut in the USA. The following year, on January 20, 1978, he married the pianist Jelena Bashkirowa .

At the beginning of 1978 Kremer asked the Soviet government for a two-year vacation and received it.

In 1980 he stayed in the West longer than his Soviet visa allowed. Kremer decided not to return to the (then) USSR ( glasnost and perestroika only started five years later).

In 1980 he switched to a Stradivarius from 1734, the "Ex-Baron von Feilitzsch ", then to a Guarneri del Gesù (ex David) from 1730. He is currently playing a Nicola Amati from 1641.

In 1981 Kremer founded the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival , which has been held every summer since 1992, under the name Kremerata Musica . In 1997 he founded the Kremerata Baltica string orchestra with young musicians from the Baltic States. In the same year he was appointed artistic director of the festival in Gstaad as the successor to Yehudi Menuhin . Since 2002 he has been artistic director of the Basel Festival les muséiques and is also on the artistic advisory board of the Kronberg Academy . Since 2004 he has been organizing a festival with the Kremerata Baltica in the Latvian city of Sigulda at the end of June / beginning of July .

In 1993 Kremer published the book Kindheitssplitter, 1997 Obertöne, 2003 Between Worlds and 2013 Letters to a Young Pianist . The books contain autobiographical narratives and discussions on artistic subjects.

Kremer has played with numerous important orchestras and conductors ( Leonard Bernstein , Herbert von Karajan , Christoph Eschenbach , Nikolaus Harnoncourt , Lorin Maazel , Riccardo Muti , Zubin Mehta , James Levine , Valery Gergiev , Claudio Abbado and Sir Neville Marriner ) and has played over 100 CDs for the labels Melodija , Teldec , BIS Records , Nonesuch , Sony , ECM and Deutsche Grammophon recorded. His chamber music partners include a. Martha Argerich , Mischa Maisky , Oleg Maisenberg , Eduard Brunner , Kim Kashkashian , Isabelle van Keulen , Valeri Afanassjew and Tabea Zimmermann .

He played numerous works by contemporary composers and also recorded them (premieres: Sofia Gubajdulina's Offertorium, Arvo Pärt's Tabula Rasa for two violins and Stabat Mater, Michael Nyman's first violin concerto). In addition to the classical composers, the program also includes works by Alfred Schnittke , Gija Kanscheli , Valentin Silvestrov , Luigi Nono , Aribert Reimann , Peteris Vasks , Kaija Saariaho and John Adams . In the nineties he worked extensively on the compositional work of Astor Piazzolla .

Prizes and awards (selection)

Publications

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Philipp Weismann: Award for life's work. In: br-klassik.de. BR-Klassik , September 13, 2016, accessed January 6, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Felix Schmidt: "I want to be able to move freely". Gidon Kremer is waiting for an answer. A conversation with the Soviet violinist, who asked his government for a two-year vacation. In: The time . 3/1978, January 13, 1978, updated November 21, 2012, accessed January 25, 2018 (limited preview).
  3. ↑ For the reasons see z. B. his interview with Klaus Umbach in Der Spiegel . 51/1979: About the music business in East and West. In: spiegel.de. December 17, 1979, accessed on January 25, 2018 (also from the state artist agency Goskonzert ).
  4. ^ Gidon Kremer and Deutsche Grammophon. Celebrated and fired. In: The time. June 6, 1980, updated November 21, 2012, accessed January 25, 2018 (limited preview).
  5. ↑ Biographies. Kremerata Baltica, archived from the original on January 27, 2013 ; Retrieved July 24, 2013 .
  6. ↑ Charlotte Higgins: 'Perfect isn't good enough'. The Guardian, November 22, 2000, accessed July 24, 2013 .
  7. ^ Anne-Catherine Simon : Kremer: "Our music world is poisoned". In: diepresse.com. Die Presse , June 7, 2013, accessed on January 6, 2017 .
  8. ↑ Gidon Kremer. Violinist and Artistic Director. In: orden-pourlemerite.de, accessed on April 12, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Kremer, Gidon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Кремер, Гидон Маркусович; Kremer, Gidon Markussowitsch (Russian); Krēmers, Gidons (Latvian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Latvian violinist
DATE OF BIRTH February 27, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Riga , Latvian SSR