Accompanying programme with exhibition in the cathedral and town hall talk in the town hall

Preparations for the Emperor Otto Prize 2025 award ceremony on 2 July in Magdeburg Cathedral are entering the final phase. This year, violinist Lisa Batiashvili and pianist Igor Levit will be honoured with the state capital’s most important award. Magdeburg residents who would like to attend the award ceremony for the two internationally renowned artists can register free of charge until 26 June exclusively online at www.magdeburg.de/kop2025. Admission to the cathedral is only possible with a valid ticket.

With this award, the prize committee and the Emperor Otto Cultural Foundation are honouring the long-standing commitment of the two internationally popular artists against war and anti-Semitism. At the request of the prizewinners, the internationally renowned German actor and author Christian Berkel will give the laudatory speech in honour of the two recipients. The keynote speech will be given by the former Foreign Minister of Luxembourg, Jean Asselborn. He is a passionate advocate and visionary of the European idea and will be travelling to Magdeburg from London for the award ceremony.

The Minister President of the State of Saxony-Anhalt, Dr Reiner Haseloff, and the French Ambassador for Human Rights, Isabelle Rome, will deliver welcoming addresses. Delegations from Magdeburg’s twin cities of Le Havre and Radom will also come to the Ottostadt to honour the two artists.

‘The 10th Emperor Otto Prize award ceremony is one of the cultural highlights of this year in Magdeburg,’ says Lord Mayor Simone Borris, looking ahead to the ceremony in the cathedral. ‘I am therefore delighted that there will be more seats available to the general public this year than in the past. Anyone who would like to attend this special ceremony can now register digitally. All interested parties are very welcome. The maximum capacity is 600 guests.’

The Emperor Otto Prize has been continuously developed since its premiere 20 years ago. The aim is to take the prize and its associated message far beyond national borders.

‘In times of crisis, European cooperation must not slacken. Reflecting on the fundamental European idea is more important than ever,’ emphasises Regina-Dolores Stieler-Hinz, Mayor and Chairwoman of the Emperor Otto Cultural Foundation. ‘As a unique selling point of the Emperor Otto Prize, we want to strengthen the cultural idea of European cooperation. Because we see art and culture as a unifying element with great impact.’

Accompanying art exhibition in the cathedral
The aim of the Emperor Otto Cultural Foundation is to promote art and culture. For this reason, a project by Magdeburg’s youth art school will provide an artistic backdrop to this year’s ceremony. For more than a year, pupils from the youth art school have been studying the historical figure of Emperor Otto. Numerous exhibits were created under the motto ‘Otto I as a world designer’. These will be presented to the public for the first time at a vernissage on 24 June at 6 p.m. and will form an artistic backdrop for the award ceremony on 2 July.

Townhall talk the evening before in the town hall
On 1 July at 5 p.m., another event in the ‘Townhall Talk’ series in the Kaiserin-Adelheid-Foyer of the Old Town Hall will get people in the mood for the award ceremony. The guest is Christian Pernhorst, a consultant at the Federal Foreign Office with many years of expertise in Eastern Europe from previous activities. Among other things, he worked at the German Embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia, as well as being responsible for the Eastern Europe departments at the Federal Foreign Office and the Federal Chancellery. He also has relevant experience from his work at NATO in Brussels, focussing on the security of Eastern Europe.

It is also planned to include the director of the opera in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Igor Tuluzov, in the discussion via video link. He brilliantly keeps the opera going in times of war and is happy to share his experiences of the unifying power of art and culture in times of war, death and destruction. The discussion will be moderated by Manuela Schwartz, Rector of Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences.

Anyone interested in taking advantage of this opportunity for dialogue on the eve of the award ceremony is asked to register by e-mail at protokoll@stadt.magdeburg.de.