DW broadcasts the ICMA classical music gala

The international world of classical music needs opportunities to celebrate from time to time. One of the industry's big bashes are the upcoming International Classical Music Awards, or ICMA for short, a gala celebration held on March 19 that will feature a concert with both established stars and newcomers to the classical music scene.

Each year, ICMA is held in a different location — last year, it took place in Valencia, Spain, while this year Germany takes the lead. Düsseldorf's Tonhalle will be filled with music as countertenor Andreas Scholl, pianist Anna Gourari and violinist Gidon Kremer and others present works by the likes of Mozart, Handel, Vivaldi and Tchaikovsky.

DW will broadcast the concert live on the YouTube channel DW Classical Music on March 19, starting at 8 p.m. (CET).

Searching for that special something

The ICMA are among the most significant international awards in the classical music field. The award winners are selected by 19 jurors from 16 countries, and they are largely guided by albums that have been recently released. Over the course of a year, the jury listens to and evaluates 20,000 albums before awarding prizes in over two dozen categories, from chamber music to opera, and from contemporary classical to historical recordings.

Of course it's not just the prominence of the musician or label that counts, but the quality of the release. Jurors look for exceptional newly released music — and there's always some to be found. The winners have already been announced and will receive their awards at the upcoming ceremony.

Big stars and newcomers

This year, Argentinian conductor and harpsichordist Leonardo Garcia Alarcon, based in Geneva, Switzerland, was named Artist of the Year, while the new Rising Star from Luxembourg is 26-year-old cellist Benjamin Kruithof from Luxembourg.

Violist Gidon Kremer will receive the award for lifetime achievement. "I am not a master of words, my words are the music," Kremer told DW. At the concert in Düsseldorf, he will play works by two Ukrainian composers, Valentin Silvestrov and Viktor Kossenko. "You can't save the world with music. But you can perhaps use music to support the people who need it most today," he noted. In addition to musicians, awards were also given to albums, labels and music documentaries.

DW Classical Music: From Germany to the world

DW Classical Music, Deutsche Welle's classical music channel on YouTube, is broadcasting the ICMA gala for the fourth time, and hopes to reach hundreds of thousands of music lovers worldwide. The broadcast of the prizewinners' concert in Wroclaw, Poland in 2023 was viewed by almost 2 million people.

This article was translated from German.