Interviews

The young Turkish pianist Can Çakmur has achieved a rare success in the history of the ICMA: after winning the Young Artist of the Year Award in 2021 and the Solo Instrument Award in 2020, Çakmur has now won the ICMA Award for the third time in five years with his third recording in the Schubert+ series. Hale Tetik from the ICMA Jury member Andante made the following interview with the young pianist.

You were awarded the Solo Instrument Award for 2025 by ICMA, the International Classical Music Awards. Could you tell us what this award means to you?
ICMA is one of the leading organizations in the musical world. For all the winners, labels, producers and artists, it is a stamp of quality. While producing, we work constantly under feelings of uncertainty. There is no real formula to make a good, convincing recording. Read More →

The Danel Quartet wins the 2025 International Classical Music Awards in the Chamber Music category with their album dedicated to Dmitri Shostakovich’s string quartets, released by Accentus. Here is an interview with the Romanian violist Vlad Bogdănaș, a member of the Danel Quartet since 2004, done by Ariadna Ene-Iliescu from the ICMA Jury member Radio Romania Muzical

 How did you and your colleagues from the Danel Quartet react when you found out that you had won the International Classical Music Awards for the Chamber Music category with your album of Shostakovich’s String Quartets?
I was so happy that our work is being recognized by professionals. It means a great deal to us, especially after all the studying, rehearsing and performing. We try to create something we believe in and enjoy. If both the audience and professionals like our music, then we see it as a success. Read More →

The winner of the ICMA-Classeek award 2025 is the Italian cellist Ettore Pagano. He came to the instrument as a self-taught and, after winning various competitions, he achieved today’s fame.  Giulia Vazzoler from the Italian ICMA Jury member Musica made the following interview with him.

Bolognese mother, Neapolitan father, Ettore Pagano grew up in the Sabina countryside, in Poggio Mirteto, in a family of six children. He approached the cello at the age of nine, self-taught, picking up an instrument found at home and “given up” by one of his brothers. His was a gradual, spontaneous approach, which had no (at least in the initial phase) academic projects. And yet, from that moment on, Ettore Pagano turned everything he touched into gold. Read More →

In the Video Opera category, the ICMA jury awarded the prize to a production that critics, especially Germans, have argued fiercely about before: Die Fledermaus, staged in Munich in December 2023 by Barrie Kosky with Vladimir Jurowski conducting and singers such as Diana Damrau, Georg Nigl, Martin Winkler and Katharina Konradi in the main roles of the iconic Strauss work. Jury member Anastassia Boutsko (Deutsche Welle) congratulated Vladimir Jurowski on behalf of Jury and asked him a few questions.

Were you pleased to receive the ICMA award?
I was very surprised, because there were not only positive reviews for this production. There was also criticism, also in the direction of the music. The Munich critics in particular didn’t seem at all enthusiastic about the way I tried to interpret Johann Strauss’ music. I sometimes have the feeling that they are floating in memories of times long past without actually knowing what it was really like. Read More →

The winner of this year’s Discovery Award, the young Turkish pianist Can Saraç (b. 2007), began his studies at the age of five at the piano department of the State Conservatory of Istanbul University and has been continuing his career for the past three years at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich. As a scholarship student at the Liechtenstein International Music Academy, he regularly participated in the Academy’s intensive training and concerts. As one of those rare natural talents on the piano, Can Saraç regularly performs solo and chamber music concerts in Turkey and abroad. The brilliant young pianist recently spoke to Hale Tetik of the classical music magazine Andante, member of the ICMA Jury.

You became the winner of the ICMA Discovery Award for the year 2025, one of the most prestigious awards in the classical music world. How did this award make you feel?
First of all, I felt incredibly happy and privileged to be chosen among many talented young artists by so many esteemed professionals in the classical music world. I am very proud to be a part of the ICMA family whose members include the best classical musicians. It is also a great responsibility but I believe this exciting responsibility will be a driving force for future achievements. Read More →

Benjamin Kruithof is one of Luxembourg’s most promising young musicians. Born in 1999, he discovered his passion for the cello early on, guided by his family of string players. His journey has taken him from studies in Luxembourg, Maastricht, Cologne, and Berlin to the renowned Kronberg Academy. Winner of prestigious competitions like the Georges Enescu Competition, Kruithof is also a 2024 ECHO Rising Star. In conversation with Lex Kauffmann  from the luxembourgish ICMA jury member Radio 100,7, he reflects on his career and the classical music world today.

Benjamin Kruithof, you were born into a musical family and started playing the cello at the Conservatoire du Nord (Luxembourg) at around the age of five. How did you become interested in the cello?
It’s actually not such a spectacular story. A very good friend of the family, Raju Vidali, played tennis with my father once a week. I thought he was super cool. He plays the cello and is a professor at the Conservatoire. Read More →

The International Classical Music Awards (ICMA), often referred to as the ‘Oscars of classical music’ and among the most prestigious worldwide, announced their 2025 winners on January 14th.The award in the Symphonic Music category was claimed by conductor Cristian Măcelaru and the Orchestre National de France for the album featuring the two Romanian Rhapsodies and the first three symphonies by George Enescu, an album released by Deutsche Grammophon. Interview by ICMA Jury member Cristina Comandașu from Radio Romania Muzical.

What does this award mean to you and how do you feel about receiving it?
I am, above all, very happy for the opportunity to produce this album with Enescu’s music. This is music I have loved all my life and I have always wanted to bring it into a brighter spotlight by recording the three symphonies and the two rhapsodies. Read More →

Polish conductor Łukasz Borowicz is among the musicians honored at this year’s International Classical music Awards with the album Urlicht featuring Samuel Hasselhorn and the Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra. Jakub Puchalski from the ICMA Jury member Polskie Radio Chopin made the following interview with him.

Seeing your many CDs, one can trace an idea behind them. A discovery or rediscovery of interesting, beautiful repertoire, often once well-known but later forgotten. The same one can say about your concert programs. You must be extremely hungry for new music.
My interest in unknown music started very early. Since the childhood, once I started to collect CDs. It was at elementary school in my early years. And after getting to know the standard repertoire, I started my own research to discover new composers, new pieces, new performers. Read More →

The jury of the International Classical Music Award (ICMA) presented a Lifetime Achievement Award three years ago, an Award for Mozart’s Complete Symphonies with the Danish National Chamber in 2015 and a Special Achievement Award this year to Adam Fischer, who will also conduct the ICMA Gala Concert 2025 at Tonhalle Düsseldorf on 19 March.  Máté Ur from ICMA Jury member Papageno  (Hungary) also talked with him about Haydn, the essence of true-to-the-time performance, remakes and the eternal restlessness.

In several interviews, you have said that you are not overly concerned about the prizes, but rather look to the future. What motivates you?
I’m certainly happy to be recognized for my work, but it’s very foreign to me to give my mind a rest or to settle down. I often find myself listening to my older recordings and just getting angry with myself that I should have done certain things differently, but once I let go of them, I can’t change them. In the 80s and 90s I recorded all the Haydn symphonies, and when I listen to them I get the same feeling. Read More →