The 2023 Beethoven Prize for human rights has been awarded to the Latvian violinist and ensemble leader Gidon Kremer. Kremer, 76, has been outspoken in his opposition to Russia’s wars of aggression in Chechnya and Ukraine. He has also played in jails and other places of despair.

The award will be presented to Kremer in an award ceremony and concert held in Bonn, Germany, on November 19, 2023.

For decades, Kremer, 76, has long held concerts and made statements against political grievances and injustice. He has organized concerts for Ukraine, a concert in Moscow for the victims of the Chechen war, and collaborated with theater director Kirill Serebrennikov, who was persecuted in Russia.

Further, his Gidon Kremer Foundation promotes emerging artists through instrument loans, scholarships, and performance opportunities, as well as supports the chamber orchestra Kremerata Baltica, which he founded in 1997, in bringing performances to socially disadvantaged people and hosting concerts in developing countries.

For more on this award, see: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/c05408e0-e598-11e7-a009-858a33846a9e

“I try to set my independent judgments to music every now and then, whether with the violin or with words, whether with a letter or a gesture — it’s important to me, to ensure justice,” he said in an interview with Deutschlandfunk Kultur in 2021.

This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.