Radio de Gidon Kremer

Gidon Kremer (Latvian: Gidons Kr?mers) (born February 27, 1947) is a Latvian violinist and conductor. In 1980 he left the USSR and settled in Germany. Kremer was born in Riga to parents of German-Jewish origin, his father being a Holocaust survivor.[1] He began playing the violin at the age of four, receiving instruction from his father and his grandfather, who were both professional violinists. He went on to study at the Riga School of Music and with David Oistrakh at the Moscow Conservatory. In 1967, he won third prize at the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition in Brussels; then, in 1969, second prize at the Montreal International Violin Competition (shared with Oleh Krysa) followed by first prize at the Paganini Competition in Genoa; and finally first prize again in 1970 at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.