Gidon Kremer

Gidon Kremer, Latvian: Gidons Born (Riga, 27 February 1947) is a Latvian violinist and conductor.

He learned to play violin at the age of four with his father and grandfather. He got on his sixteenth awarded the first prize of the Latvian Republic. Two years later he began his studies with David Oistrakh at the Moscow Conservatory.

In 1967 he was third in the Queen Elisabeth Competition, he won the Paganini-Prize and the international Tchaikovsky competition in Moscow in 1970. At the end of the nineties he founded Kremerata Baltica, the two ensembles and the Kremerata Musica, made up of young musicians from the Baltic region.

During his career he was showered with prizes, such as the Unesco Prize (2001) and a Grammy (2002).

Kremer is widely respected and known as a performer of music of the 20th century, including works by Ástor Piazzolla, Philip Glass, Alfred Schnittke, Lera Auerbach, Arvo Pärt, John Adams and Kaija Saariaho. Many composers were wearing a piece of music to him, including Sofia Gubaidulina (Offertorium).

In 1981 the Lockenhaus Chamber music festival in Austria founded Gidon Kremer on. two years he took over the artistic leadership of the Gstaad Festival from founder Sir Yehudi Menuhin.