Pianist Igor Levit Receives 2024 Wigmore Hall Medal 

The Russian-German pianist has won the award recognizing outstanding contributions to the performance venue

First awarded in 2007, the Wigmore Hall Medal honors exceptional musicians who have made significant contributions to London’s prestigious Wigmore Hall.

As the award’s 2024 recipient, pianist Igor Levit joins past medal recipients who made their UK debuts at Wigmore Hall and have returned throughout their careers, building sustainable relationships with the venue and its audiences. 

Levit will also receive a medal commissioned by the Hall and designed by Welsh-Maltese artist Irene Gunston, who crafts personalized versions for each year’s recipient.

Since his Wigmore Hall debut in 2013, Levit has given over 40 concerts at the venue. His next concert there will see him perform Brahms’s Piano Trios with violinist Renaud Capuçon and cellist Julia Hagen on May 4, 2024.

Levit is a regular soloist with ensembles such as The Cleveland Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the Vienna Philharmonic.

In 2019, he was appointed as a piano professor at his alma mater, the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover, where he had graduated with the highest marks in its history. 

Among his accolades include the Fifth International Beethoven Prize and the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. 

“Igor is quite rightly recognised for his outstanding qualities as one of the world’s pre-eminent pianists,” said Wigmore Hall’s director John Gilhooly, as reported in Classical Music. “His magnificent artistry reflects his questing mind. He challenges discrimination and racism, and is a staunch advocate for a fairer and more just society. Igor is a truly special figure in our musical world, and we are very proud of his long friendship with the Hall.”

“For more than 10 years Wigmore Hall has been my home in London, where I have had some of the most memorable musical experiences of my career,” Levit said. “I am absolutely delighted to receive this honor from John and very much look forward to the next chapter of this wonderful friendship with Wigmore Hall.”

Other winners of the Wigmore Hall Medal have included pianist Sir András Schiff, the Takács Quartet, and cellist Steven Isserlis.