Igor Levit Appointed Co-Artistic Director of Germany's Heidelberger Frühling

Held since 1997, the annual music in Heidelberg, Germany, will take place this year from March 26 to April 24 and celebrate its 25th anniversary.

Next year's edition will see the collaboration between Thorsten Schmidt and Igor Levit — which is initially scheduled for a period of five years.

The idea of a joint artistic direction was approved by the mayor and other major stakeholders of the city of Heidelberg together with the four main partners festival.

Levit has been a regular guest artist at the festival since 2011 and was appointed artist-in-residence in 2013. He was responsible for shaping the festival's programmatic work in the past as Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Academy and as curator of the chamber music focus "Standpunkte."

The new artistic leadership duo has already begun working together in preparation for the upcoming season, pursuing their goal of further elevating the Heidelberger Frühling as a platform for young artists.

The aim of the duo is to enable a space for musical discourse, allowing for collaboration with other cultural partners to create a sustainable program, both ecologically and digitally.

"For me, the Heidelberger Frühling is a place of freedom and learning. For artists as well as for the audience," Levit commented. "I owe a good part of my artistic self-image to the Heidelberger Frühling. From the very beginning, I was given the confidence and security that allowed me to grow as an artist. For me, opening up such opportunities to other musicians is part of the core of my new task as Co-Artistic Director of Heidelberger Frühling."

"For me personally, this is a very moving moment, because it heralds a new era," added Schmidt. "After 25 years of festival history, the step into a joint artistic direction with Igor Levit is an almost natural development. We have been working together since 2011, developing artistic ideas, implementing projects and getting to know each other very well in terms of both our thinking and our convictions."