International Mendelssohn Prize in Leipzig

The International Mendelssohn Prize in Leipzig has been awarded since 2007 in memory of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's creative diversity, his distinct and varied artistic talents, and his tireless work for social progress. Mendelssohn was a musician, composer and conductor, but also a convinced humanist, European and mediator between religions. This makes him also a symbol against racism and anti-Semitism today. The International Mendelssohn Prize in Leipzig can be awarded in three categories: music, visual arts and social commitment.

It is to be awarded to personalities or institutions who have rendered outstanding services to Mendelssohn's work and honouring him in the spirit of his high aesthetic and political values. The Felix-Mendelssohn-Bartholdy-Stiftung foundation will award the prize as part of a celebratory concert in the Gewandhaus in Leipzig.

Kurt Masur was the first prizewinner on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Other prizewinners were Anne-Sophie Mutter, Iris Berben, Riccardo Chailly, Peter Sloterdijk, Helmut Schmidt, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Markus Lüpertz, Lang Lang, Peter Schreier, and Marcel Reich-Ranicki, Richard von Weizsäcker, the St. Thomas Choir of Leipzig, cantor at St. Thomas Georg Christoph Biller, Thomas Hampson and Harald Schmidt, as well as Hans-Dietrich Genscher, the Gewandhaus Quartet, and Tomoko Masur.

The bronze sculpture of the same name is modelled on the Mendelssohn monument by the artist Jo Jastram, which was erected in front of the Gewandhaus in 1993, and is cast in the workshop for art castings of Marc Krepp in Berlin.

2007

Kurt Masur

2008

Anne-Sophie Mutter and Peter Sloterdijk

2009

Riccardo Chailly, Armin Mueller-Stahl and Helmut Schmidt

2010

Lang Lang and Iris Berben

2011

Peter Schreier and Marcel Reich-Ranicki

2012

St. Thomas Choir of Leipzig and Harald Schmidt

2013

Richard von Weizsäcker, Thomas Hampson and Markus Lüpertz

2014

Hans-Dietrich Genscher and the Gewandhaus Quartet (Frank-Michael Erben, Conrad Suske, Olaf Hallmann, Jürnjakob Timm)

2016

Tomoko Masur