Leipzig gives Bach medal to ‘first woman’ (they are not woke)

Richly deserved, but still…

Press statement from the city of Leipzig:

Die Bach-Medaille der Stadt Leipzig geht 2020 erstmals an eine Frau…

In 2020, the City of Leipzig Bach Medal will for the first time be awarded to a woman: the Canadian pianist globally acclaimed for her interpretations of Bach and for her Bach tours, Angela Hewitt. The jury, consisting of the president of the Bach Archive, Prof. Dr. Ton Koopman, and its director, Professor Dr. Peter Wollny, Thomaskantor Prof. Gotthold Schwarz, Gewandhaus kapellmeister Andris Nelsons and the rector of the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University of Music and Theatre Professor Martin Kürschner, wrote in the award justification:

“…Never since the Canadian Glenn Gould has there been an artist who has placed Bach interpretations on the modern concert piano at the centre of their work as much as Gould’s compatriot, Angela Hewitt. …”

The 2020 Bach Medal will be awarded to Angela Hewitt by the Mayor of the City of Leipzig, Burkhard Jung, in Bachfest 2020 on 20 June during a gala concert in which she will perform the Goldberg Variations. The concert is sponsored by the Canada Council for the Arts | Conseil des arts du Canada and the Goverment of Canada.

Past medal holders are:
2003 Gustav Leonhardt †
2004 Helmuth Rilling
2005 Sir John Eliot Gardiner
2006 Ton Koopman
2007 Nikolaus Harnoncourt †
2008 Hermann Max
2009 Frieder Bernius
2010 Philippe Herreweghe
2011 Herbert Blomstedt
2012 Masaaki Suzuki
2013 Peter Schreier
2014 Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
2015 Peter Neumann
2016 Peter Kooij
2017 Reinhold Goebel
2018 Robert Levin
2019 Klaus Mertens