Musikfest Prize presented to Hervé Niquet and Deutschlandfunk Award to Jan Liebermann

On Tuesday, 2 September, after the concert »Vokalpracht aus Florenz« in St. Petri Cathedral, the Musikfest Bremen invited guests to a reception in the Small Auditorium of the Glocke to honour this year's winners of the Musikfest Prize and the Deutschlandfunk young musicians' Award.

The Deutschlandfunk Award, with which the Musikfest and its national media partner have honoured highly talented young artists at the start of their promising careers since 1998, was presented to Jan Liebermann by Wibke Gerking, head of the music department at Deutschlandfunk and Deutschlandfunk Kultur. The organist, who turned 20 just a few days ago, was delighted to receive the award. He said it was an honour to be the first organist in the illustrious ranks of previous award winners. The award was a sign of confidence and an incentive to keep going and remain curious. He looks forward to the recordings associated with the award at the radio station and his concert at the next Musikfest Bremen.

The Musikfest Prize has been awarded annually since 1998 by the festival to outstanding artists, ensembles and orchestras who have made their mark on the international music scene through their exceptional artistic achievements and have played a decisive role in shaping the profile of the festival. The 2025 Musikfest Prize was awarded to Hervé Niquet and his ensemble Le Concert Spirituel, which he founded in 1987. After his laudatory speech, Musikfest artistic director Prof. Thomas Albert presented the award, a hand-cast bronze »Orpheus« by Bremen sculptor Bernd Altenstein. The 67-year-old French conductor expressed his heartfelt thanks for the great honour. For him, making music is synonymous with speaking from the heart. He said it had been a privilege to have been invited to the Musikfest Bremen several times since 2005. and expressed his special thanks to his ensemble who enable him to realise his projects. As on this evening at St Petri Cathedral, when Le Concert Spirituel and he reconstructed a pompous festive service from the mid 16th century in Florence for St John's Day in honour of the city's patron saint, centred around Alessandro Striggio's »Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno« for five eight-part choirs, with great success.