Germany’s Kaiser Otto Prize Announces 2025 Recipients

Violinist Lisa Batiashvili and pianist Igor Levit have won the award for their commitment to promoting European democratic values

First awarded in 2005, the City of Magdeburg’s Kaiser Otto Prize is a biennial prize for people or institutions that have made significant contributions to the progressive European unification process and democratic values.

The Georgian violinist Lisa Batiashvili and German pianist Igor Levit have been selected as the 2025 winners by the prize committee and the Kaiser Otto Cultural Foundation.

Honored for their long-standing commitment to speaking out against conflict and anti-Semitism, Batiashvili and Levit have “repeatedly expressed themselves very decisively,” wrote BR Klassik. 

Batiashvili played on Munich’s Odeonsplatz in the first year of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and Levit has spoken out publicly against emerging anti-Semitism and for the release of the Israeli hostages.

According to the City of Magdeburg’s website, the two artists were chosen from a pool of 12 others who were considered for the nomination. Although only politically committed people have been awarded the Kaiser Otto Prize so far, the circle of potential nominations was not limited to politics.

Batiashvili and Levit will receive the honorary prize from Magdeburg’s mayor Simone Borris at a ceremony in Magdeburg Cathedral on July 2, 2025. 

“They give a voice to people who cannot speak for themselves or who are not heard sufficiently,” Borris said.

Previous winners of the prize include the former Federal President Richard von Weizsäcker, the former Chancellor Angela Merkel, and the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.