The Praemium Imperiale Awards are annual prizes granted by the Japan Art Association, in the fields of painting, sculpture, architecture, music, and theatre/film, areas of artistic endeavour that are not represented by Nobel Prizes.
Each of the laureates receives a prize of JPY 15 million, or around EUR 105,000.
At 65, Zimerman is universally hailed one of the greatest living pianists.
Born in Zabrze, southern Poland, into a family with a tradition of music-making, Zimerman took his first piano lessons at the age of five, initially under his father’s supervision and subsequently working with Andrzej Jasiński, then a lecturer at the State Higher School of Music in Katowice. Jasiński remained Zimerman’s teacher until 1976.
Spectacular career
Zimerman’s victory at the 1975 International Chopin Competition in Warsaw, at the age of 19, skyrocketed him to international stardom. He has since enjoyed a spectacular career, performing with the world’s leading orchestras and giving a select number of recitals in the most prestigious concert venues.
Zimerman has collaborated with many pre-eminent musicians, including Yehudi Menuhin and Gidon Kremer, and conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Herbert von Karajan, Pierre Boulez, Zubin Mehta, Bernard Haitink and Sir Simon Rattle.
Earlier this year, Zimerman marked the 140th anniversary of the birth of Polish composer Karol Szymanowski with a new Deutsche Grammophon recording of a selection of his works for piano.
Zimerman’s distinctions include the Commander’s Cross with a Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta and honorary doctorates from the Music Academies in Katowice and Warsaw.
A resident of Switzerland since 1984, Zimerman has dual Polish-Swiss citizenship.
(mk/pm)