Singer Klaus Mertens receives the Saxon Mozart Prize 2025

The well-known bass-baritone Klaus Mertens will receive the Saxon Mozart Prize 2025. "His voice, his singing, whether Bach or Mozart, folk or art song, baroque, romantic or modern, has been making people around the world sit up and take notice for more than forty years now, opening their ears and hearts to the beauty of music," said the Saxon Mozart Society, explaining its choice. The award will be presented to the 75-year-old, who is also regarded in the music world as an ideal interpreter of Bach's cantata and passion texts, at the 34th Saxon Mozart Festival "geHört" in Chemnitz.

The Mozart Prize has been awarded annually since 2002 for special achievements in the interpretation of works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart or for research into the life and work of the famous composer and the communication of his life's work. Previous winners include tenor Peter Schreier (1935-2019), pianist Peter Rösel, harpsichordist Christine Schornsheim, violinist Midori Seiler and the Ensemble Tonkunst.